Unread until you

She works in a bookstore filled with stories she refuses to believe in.
He visits every weekend, searching for love in books because real life already took it from him.
From the start, they don't get along.
She's cold, sharp, and unimpressed by romance.
He's quiet, observant, and too gentle for her bitterness.
They clash over words, over silence, over everything they refuse to feel.
She's hiding a past that once ruined her name.
He's carrying grief he never learned how to put down.
Neither of them wants connection.
Neither of them believes in endings that don't hurt.
But somewhere between the shelves, in the quiet they both pretend doesn't matter,
hatred softens into understanding
and understanding becomes something far more dangerous.
Because some stories aren't meant to be read.
They're meant to be lived.