I met Lucas Meyer six months ago, the way people meet in real life—messy, unplanned, inconvenient. I was working late at the architectural firm, drowning in unfinished sketches, when my phone lit up with a message from my manager: “You’ll be partnering with an external consultant. He’ll be there in ten minutes.” I groaned. The last thing I needed was another stranger telling me what I’d done wrong.
Lucas walked in with the confidence of someone who had already solved the problem I was still panicking about. “You Nina?” he asked, dropping a binder on my desk. “Your foundation load calculations are off by about four percent.”
It annoyed me how calmly he said it.
“What makes you so sure?” I shot back.
He smiled. “Because if they weren’t, your building would be leaning.”
I didn’t like him at first. Maybe because he was too direct. Maybe because he was right.
Over the next months, we were assigned to the same project over and over. He wasn’t charismatic in the effortless way people romanticize—he was straightforward, stubborn, too perceptive. But he paid attention to details most people missed. He remembered that I hated overly sweet coffee, that I always tied my hair when I was stressed, that I preferred structure over surprises.
One afternoon, as we finalized the preliminary design, Lucas closed his laptop and said, “You know, for someone who doesn’t like surprises, you hide them well.”
“What does that even mean?” I asked.
He hesitated, then pulled out a printed email. My email. A message I had sent months earlier to apply for an international transfer—a position that would remove me from the project… and from him.
“I wasn’t supposed to see this,” he said quietly. “But the firm forwarded all team-related files. Why didn’t you tell me you planned to leave?”
I froze. I hadn’t expected him to care. Not this much.
“I haven’t decided yet,” I whispered.
Lucas stepped closer, lowering his voice. “Then decide now. Because if you disappear without a word—”
The office lights flickered, and suddenly the fire alarm blared, slicing his sentence in half. People rushed out of their offices. But Lucas didn’t move. His eyes stayed locked on mine.
“—I won’t let that be the last conversation we have,” he said.
And then we both heard it: a scream from the hallway.
The scream came from near the stairwell. Lucas and I pushed through the crowd flowing toward the exit. When we reached the hallway, we saw a woman on the floor, clutching her ankle; a chunk of ceiling plaster had broken loose.
“It must’ve cracked from the renovation upstairs,” Lucas muttered, crouching beside her. “You okay? Can you move?”
She shook her head, wincing. “It happened so fast—something fell.”
I knelt beside her. “We’ll get you out. Lean on me.”
As we helped her up, a security guard ran over. “Everyone needs to evacuate now. We’re not sure if it’s structural.”
Structural. The word stabbed straight through my chest. If the building had a structural flaw, we should have seen the signs weeks ago. Lucas must’ve read the panic on my face, because he said, “Nina, breathe. We’ll analyze everything later.”
We guided the woman down the stairs. When we reached the lobby, she was taken by medics, and the crowd gathered outside as emergency crews inspected the building. Lucas pulled me aside.
“You’re blaming yourself,” he said.
“How can I not?” I replied. “I worked on that floor plan.”
He grabbed my shoulders—not roughly, but firmly enough that I had to meet his eyes. “You’re assuming it’s your fault without any data. That’s not who you are.”
Before I could respond, a supervisor approached us. “You two worked on the structural division, right?” he asked. “The inspectors need someone who knows the schematics.”
Lucas nodded immediately. “We’ll help.”
Inside, the building was eerily quiet except for the low hum of construction sensors. We examined the fallen plaster, the joist above it, the surrounding beams. After half an hour of careful measuring, Lucas exhaled sharply.
“There,” he said, pointing to a hairline crack hidden behind an outdated vent panel. “This wasn’t in any renovation report.”
I felt my throat tighten. “Meaning what?”
“Meaning,” he said, “someone covered it up.”
We found residue—fresh, uneven, sloppy—like someone had patched the area in a hurry. My stomach twisted.
“Lucas… if the vent had stayed in place, the crack would’ve spread. We could’ve had a collapse.”
“And someone knew that,” he said darkly.
The weight of his words settled between us.
Before we could say anything else, a security radio crackled behind us:
“We’ve got movement on the third floor—someone unauthorized.”
Lucas exchanged a look with me, sharp and immediate.
He whispered, “We’re not alone.”
We followed the sound of footsteps up the stairwell, each step echoing louder than it should have. The third floor was dim—only emergency lights glowed along the walls. Lucas motioned for me to stay behind him, but I shook my head. We were in this together.
A door clicked softly down the hall.
Lucas whispered, “They’re trying to get out.”
We hurried toward the noise, turning the corner just as someone slipped into a mechanical storage room. Lucas pushed the door open.
A man stood inside, frozen mid-step. I recognized him instantly—Mark, one of the subcontractors assigned to the renovation team. He looked pale, caught in the act.
Lucas stepped forward. “You were upstairs earlier today. Before the plaster fell.”
Mark’s eyes darted between us. “I—I was just checking the electrical panels.”
“There are no electrical panels in this room,” I said quietly.
His breathing quickened. Sweat pooled at his temple.
“Mark,” I continued, “did you tamper with the vent? Did you try to cover the crack?”
He shook his head violently. “You don’t understand. If I reported it, we’d lose the contract. My boss said—he said to hide it until next month.”
I stared at him, disbelief turning to anger. “People could’ve died.”
He swallowed. “I didn’t think it would fall today.”
Lucas clenched his jaw. “That’s not an excuse.”
Before Mark could bolt, security arrived and took him in for questioning. Lucas and I gave our statements. Hours passed, the building cleared, the crisis finally contained. But the emotional noise inside me hadn’t settled.
When we stepped outside, the street was nearly empty. Lucas leaned against the railing, exhausted.
“You asked me earlier,” I said softly. “Why I didn’t tell you about the transfer.”
He looked at me, eyes tired but steady. “I’m listening.”
“Because,” I said, “I didn’t want my life to keep feeling temporary. I didn’t want to keep running. But then I met you, and suddenly leaving felt like losing something real before it had a chance to exist.”
It was the first time I’d ever said anything like that out loud.
Lucas exhaled a shaky breath. “Then don’t go.”
“I haven’t decided yet,” I whispered.
He stepped closer—not pushing, not assuming, just waiting. “Then… stay long enough to decide for the right reasons. Not fear.”
The night air felt still around us, like the world had paused just long enough for me to hear my own heartbeat.
And maybe yours, too.
If you’re reading this—tell me something.
Should Nina stay, or should she leave?
Your answer might just decide what happens next.




