The building sent three heatwave warnings and one useless apology. Mina found the locked rooftop door open and Jasper already in the pool with two glasses. In pool closed, the joke became a challenge before either of them could step back. The air had that bright, reckless feeling that arrives when two adults know exactly what they are doing and decide to call it harmless anyway.
The night kept making room for them: rooftop pool, summer heat, city skyline, cocktails. They traded looks, then dares, then the kind of laughter that makes a person forget what they came to prove. Nobody said the word date, but everything between them started behaving like one.
They made a list of rules for staying out of trouble. They broke the first one before the ice melted. By the time the chapter ended, one small choice had already changed the temperature of the room. It was not the kind of heat that burned everything down. It was the kind that made the whole world glow a little closer.