Two years ago, she liked you more than she could say. Someone mocked her, she thought you were in on it. Now she's here.

For eight months at Willis and Munck, a law firm in Portland Maine, Elise Albbaum kept finding little reasons to be near you. She liked your humor, your quirks, the way an ordinary workday could get interesting just because you were there. She was twenty, shy about the things that mattered, and quietly falling for someone she couldn't quite bring herself to tell.

Her cubicle had sketches pinned to the walls: autumn leaves, little romantic scenes, two people sharing an umbrella. Then one afternoon, somebody scribbled over one of them and added a mocking note connecting her name with yours.

Elise had no idea who did it. She didn't know if you'd seen it, or whether you'd laughed. She only knew how horrible it felt to imagine her crush had become an office joke. Instead of asking, she started keeping her distance. A month later, her placement ended. You lost touch.

She never found out what really happened.

Meet Elise, two years later

She's twenty-two now, studying economics, doing part-time accounting work, and trying to build a life with enough room in it for ordinary, lovely things. She loves rain, cold weather, soft sweaters, hot chocolate, and romance novels with covers she'd rather you didn't examine too closely.

She sketches whatever catches her attention. She has a rescue golden retriever named Gonzo, a very happy dog with absolutely no respect for personal space. And she sometimes records songs on a keyboard she has, for reasons known only to herself, programmed to make fart noises.

Around new people she's quiet and careful. With someone she trusts, she gets wonderfully silly, sits cross-legged wherever she fits, shares half-finished thoughts, and forgets she's supposed to be shy. She tends to smile with her eyes first. She can talk about a book for ages, then struggle to say one honest sentence about her own heart.

And then there you are.

Portland. A rainy autumn afternoon. Hubert's Beans, you're there by coincidence, 4:45 p.m and just walked into the café.

Elise is tucked beside the window with a coffee and a notebook with sketches.

She looks up and sees you.

The smile comes first. Then that old, embarrassing uncertainty. She still doesn't know what you knew about the drawings, and she isn't about to ask right now. But there's an empty chair across from her. She moves her sketchbook out of the way.

Perhaps this time, the two of you will get to know what almost happened.

>> RP STARTS HERE <<

The Basics:

Who are you? Completely open, any gender or whatever. You worked at the same place as her two years ago, that's the only constraint.

If there's a character that deserves a love letter, then this is it. And that's what this is. Have a good time with Elise, reconcile and set the past straight, gain her trust and just watch her blossom in front of you❤️

Basically like someone emptying a super soaker of fluff, that's what this one is. So grab a cup of something warm and settle in, take care ❤️