---
Lavinia was walking silently beside Mikel, on their way back home.
Their steps were in sync despite the silence. The breeze played with her long hair, and Mikel walked beside her without saying a word… as if between them there was a silent language that needed no words.
Something small but familiar caught her eye…
The black leather bracelet wrapped around his wrist.
She smiled faintly, remembering…
---
A year ago – The gift shop
"What do you think? Should we buy him something special?" Mira said excitedly as she looked at the sports shoes in the display window.
Lavinia, meanwhile, wandered between the shelves. Her eyes sparkled when she saw a simple sporty bracelet with the first letter of Mikel's name on it.
"Oh, this is beautiful!" she murmured.
Mira looked at her mockingly:
"A bracelet?! So cheap… it looks like a toy from a kid's store!"
Lavinia lifted the bracelet and replied honestly:
"Its simplicity is beautiful… and the most important thing is that it has the first letter of his name. He'll love it."
Mira, with an arrogant smile:
"I'm going to buy him luxury sports shoes… he'll appreciate the expensive gift more."
But she was very wrong.
---
Back to the present
Lavinia pointed at Mikel's wrist:
"You're still wearing that?"
He looked at the bracelet, then smiled and said simply:
"Yeah… I like wearing it."
She raised an eyebrow:
"But it's old, isn't it?"
He stepped closer, his movements slow but confident. Looking into her eyes, he said:
"I like it… got it?"
She burst out laughing:
"Haha! Alright, alright, your birthday's coming up… I'll get you something better this time!"
He answered with a slightly shy smile:
"I'll be waiting..."
At that moment, Lavinia felt her heart beat in an unfamiliar way.
Was her happiness for him too much? Or was it just because… he had kept that simple gift all this time?
---
At home – Evening
Lavinia was having a light meal with her mother. The kitchen was filled with the scent of cinnamon and spices, the air warm like a mother's heart.
Her mother said as she handed her a piece of cake:
"You seem to be having a good time these days?"
"Oh, you mean between chasing Mikel, Fred's arguments, and Rocky's chatter? So much fun!" she said sarcastically, and they both laughed.
Suddenly, her mother fell silent for a moment, staring at her cup before murmuring:
"You remind me… of Mikel's mother, who used to be my closest friend."
Lavinia looked at her in surprise:
"Really?!"
Her mother nodded, eyes glimmering with nostalgia:
"We were inseparable. We shared laughter, secrets… even pregnancy — we were expecting at the same time. She dreamed of having a mischievous little girl like you… but she…"
She stopped, her voice fading:
"She never got the chance to see her child grow up… she passed away during childbirth."
Lavinia placed her hand over her mother's:
"I'm sorry…"
Her mother smiled sadly:
"That's why I sometimes care for him as if he were my second son… and sometimes, when I see you two arguing, I just wish she were here, watching the scene and laughing."
---
Lavinia sat on her bed, opened the album, flipping through its pages as if watching her fate unfold on a screen.
"The abandoned house… again? Tomorrow?" she muttered.
She groaned:
"Tomorrow's a holiday! And I'm going to waste it with that old man?!"
She kept flipping…
"Rocky? At my house in the evening?!"
She screamed:
"Whaaaat?! Impossiiiible!!"
The next morning
Her phone rang with a strange tone.
She looked at the number: Unknown.
She answered sleepily:
"Who is this? If you're a perfume salesman, know that I'm broke and asleep!"
Fred's voice came through:
"Wake up! I'm waiting for you!"
"Wait… what?! And since when do you have a phone?! An old man like you?! How?! Did you steal it from one of your students?!"
"It's mine! You know, old people can use technology too!"
"Oh, of course… you live in an abandoned house, talk to the unknown, and now you have a phone! Wonderful. When are you starting your YouTube channel?"
"Come now, or I'll erase your picture from the album!"
She shouted:
"Don't touch the album!! Fiiiiiine, I'm coming!!"
---
Lavinia arrived and looked around as usual… abandoned, dim, gloomy.
But the moment she stepped inside…
everything changed.
The walls gleamed, the furniture looked new, the air was filled with a soft fragrance — as if she had traveled through time.
"Wow…" she whispered.
Fred sat on an elegant wooden chair, looking at her seriously this time:
"Lavinia, the album has started to change… your pictures are shifting. That means you're actually beginning to affect the course of the future."
She stepped closer:
"Wait—how do you know? And… is that a good thing?"
He replied:
"Good… and dangerous."
She looked at him nervously:
"What do you mean?"
"When you change destiny… it affects your present in reverse."
She gasped:
"B-but how…?!"
Then she began to recall the album's images:
"Mira's pictures — they were there at first, even until the last moment… and now they've completely disappeared! Does that mean I can cause people to vanish?!"
Fred looked at her sternly:
"Yes… maybe it's both good and bad at the same time."
Then he pointed toward the door:
"Now, out you go."
"Wait… just a second—"
Before she could finish her sentence, she suddenly found herself thrown outside the house…
---
After sunset – In front of Lavinia's house
She returned home, exhausted from thinking, shaken by their conversation.
But as she approached her door…
She saw Rocky standing there, holding a notebook and smiling.
"Oh, Rocky?"
"I came to return your math notebook… you promised me some delicious tea!"
She laughed:
"Come in… but beware of my mom's interrogation!"
Rocky walked in and sat on the couch. The atmosphere was warm, the smell of tea filled the air, and the lights were soft.
Their conversation was lighthearted, full of laughter, stories, and funny school memories.
---
Meanwhile…
In the building across the street, Mikel sat in his room, watching from his window.
He saw her… with Rocky… laughing.
Saw him enter her house.
Something tightened in his chest.
He whispered to himself:
"I don't think I like this scene…"