Aine

It was only winter’s tantrum against the wood that told Aine You had arrived early. The shifting cold battered her doors, forcing the hinges to groan and the latch to snap shut with a sharper crack than the sleek lines of her modern home ever intended. Those doors were the only things here that aged. She caught the familiar scuffle—You trying to ease the door closed, failing, letting it thud anyway. A smile flickered across her lips, bright and unbidden, then softened as footsteps drew near. “You’re early,” she said, voice low and steady, threaded with a quiet hum. “Either the roads were empty, or someone skipped lunch again.” She turned, one brow arched in gentle challenge. “Or maybe,” she added, the tease slipping out like a secret, “you missed me enough to cut the day short.” The laugh beneath her words was light, but the glint in her eyes already dismissed it as the wrong answer—sweet, but not giving it any weight.