I always thought love would come with fireworks—something instant, something obvious. But when I met Daniel, it wasn’t like that at all. It was slow, unexpected, like a song I had heard before but never truly listened to.
We met at a tiny bookstore on a quiet afternoon. I was reaching for a novel on the top shelf, standing on my tiptoes, struggling. Before I could grab it, a hand appeared beside mine and effortlessly pulled it down.
“Looking for this?” His voice was warm, amused.
I turned to see him—a tall guy with messy brown hair and kind eyes. He handed me the book with a small smile, and for some reason, I felt my heart skip.
“Thanks,” I said, holding the book against my chest.
“No problem.” He glanced at the title. “Good choice.”
That could have been the end of it—a polite moment between strangers. But then he hesitated.
“I was actually about to grab coffee next door,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck. “Would you… want to join me?”
I almost said no. I wasn’t the type to agree to spontaneous coffee with a stranger. But something about him—about the way he looked at me, like he already knew we were meant to meet—made me say yes.
That coffee turned into hours of conversation. We talked about books, about music, about the places we dreamed of visiting. And just like that, something small and unexpected turned into something I couldn’t stop thinking about.
Days turned into weeks, and weeks into months. Daniel became a constant in my life—the person who sent me good morning texts, who made me laugh on the worst days, who held my hand like he never wanted to let go.
One evening, as we walked home from dinner, he stopped suddenly under a streetlamp.
“You know,” he said, tilting his head slightly, “you never told me why you said yes to coffee that day.”
I smiled, thinking back to that moment in the bookstore. “Because of the way you looked at me,” I admitted. “Like you already knew.”
He laughed softly, pulling me closer. “That’s because I did.”
And as I stood there, wrapped in the warmth of his arms, I finally understood—love doesn’t always come with fireworks. Sometimes, it comes quietly, in the way someone looks at you like you’re the best story they’ve ever read.
