19 parts Ongoing Hale had always been treated quiet like an old friend. It was the one constant she could trust in a life dictated by deadlines and fluorescent office lights. In silence, she could collect herself, sharpen her thoughts, and-if only for a breath-set down the weight she carried. But quiet, steady and familiar, began to shift the moment Rio came crashing into her world.
He was everything silence wasn't: loud where she was composed, reckless where she was disciplined, and endlessly amused at things she found mundane. He turned her carefully drawn lines into something unpredictable-messy, frustrating, alive.
For Rio, silence had always been the enemy. To him, it wasn't peace but a void-a reminder of thoughts he'd rather drown out with laughter, noise, or the comfort of someone else's presence. He filled every room he walked into, unwilling to let quiet press too close.
Yet Hale's silence was different. It didn't bite or demand. It softened, wrapped around him without suffocating. And for the first time in his life, he found himself leaning into it, craving it. Craving her.
Their banter, the sidelong glances, the moments that hovered too long in the air-they built a rhythm neither had intended but both had begun to rely on. Until one night, when the storm hushed the world and left only them, Rio let the truth slip past his guard.
"Funny thing," he murmured, eyes steady on her. "For the first time, I don't mind the quiet. Because you're in it."