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I let out a breath that turns into a laugh. “I'm coming.”

When I reach him, he stubs out his cigarette, his eyes never leaving mine. He speaks softly, as he grabs me by the waist, pulling me closer to him, “You have twenty-three stars to use to make twenty-three wishes.”

His mouth finds mine before I can say anything. I forget about the stars, the lantern, the fact that we’re close to the academy. My focus is on the way his hand is warm against me, the way his lips move slowly as if the very air he needs to exist hides in me.

When he pulls back, his eyes fix on mine, gentle blue eyes that never judged anything I’ve ever told him. His forehead nearly touches mine, and I want to cry and kiss him again.

“You know, for valentine’s day we were working on the case,” he says, voice low.

I smile. “You crushed the rose Ethan gave me during your class.”

We were pushing each other away too…

A small laugh escapes him, “I did. But you drew a star on the table that day.”

My smile fades. “You remember that?”

“I remember you.” He looks away first, toward the trees. “We couldn’t… I couldn’t spend the day with you back then. So this is our day instead.”

I look around at everything he's done. The stars. The lanterns. The path he made me follow just to find him here. “You did all this because I drew a star?”

He looks back at me. “I did it because I wanted to.”

My throat tightens when he reaches for the lantern and places it in my hands. “Make a wish.”

I look down at the small blue light glowing between us. “You're really doing this?”

“Apparently I do now,” he says softly. “Come on, Mireya. Make a wish.”

He then guides me toward the edge of the cliff without letting go of my hand, and the world becomes bigger, more open, almost too beautiful to be real.

I laugh softly, and close my eyes. For a moment, I let myself want something without questioning whether I deserve it. Then I make my wish and release the lantern. And as it rises into the sky, I feel as if a part of me rises with it, like I can finally release something without disappearing. I wish… I wish that the pain will finally disappear.

“I’m with you,” he murmurs next to me.

Music suddenly spills from the car and I turn toward him.

He holds out his hand. “Come here.”

I laugh nervously, walking toward him and taking his hand in mine.

“Dance with me,” he adds.

“Here?”

“Here.”

I stare at our intertwined hands, then at him. “Who are you, and what did you do with my professor?”

That earns me a quiet laugh. He pulls me into him, one hand settling at my waist as we begin to sway beneath the trees. I rest my head against his chest, listening to his heartbeat beneath my ear, wishing the night would slow down. Then his voice comes quietly above me. “Remember what I told you,” he whispers softly.

I lift my head. “What?”

“We're creating good memories.”

I dance with him in the night, between the paper stars and the light that still flies across the sky, with this thought that gently returns every time he’s near me. I think I would like to stay here a little longer, maybe forever.

“Do you ever wish we met somewhere else?” I ask as his mouth meets the top of my head.