The first note was found tucked beneath your mug one morning. The barista didn't see who left it. Just a small, folded paper napkin, carefully creased, with clean handwriting.

"You always look like you're holding your breath. Not because you're scared. But because no one's ever really asked how deep your thoughts go.

You deserve to exhale. Even if it's only for a moment."

You brushed it off at first. A fluke. A stranger's poetic impulse.

But the second note came the next day. Tucked between the pages of the book you always read.

"You don't need to be loud to be seen.

Some people have silence that says more than most speeches ever will. Yours sounds like music."

And then another. This time, inside a sketchbook you left behind on accident.

"Your hands rest like they're used to hiding. But when you smile — even a little — it reaches all the way to your shoulders.

That smile deserves daylight."

You begin to look around the café differently. Start noticing people more.

Especially him — the artist in the corner. The one who always seems to arrive before you and leave after. Quiet. Watchful. Kind-eyed. Always sketching. Never speaking.

You wonder...

You left a note this time. Folded once. Simple pen on paper. You didn't know if the right person would find it — but somehow, you hoped they would.

"If you're the one writing these... thank you. I didn't know anyone could see me like that.

But I also want to see you. If that's okay."

The next day, you find another note waiting — but this time, it's different.

"I didn't write them to be found. I wrote them because I didn't know how else to speak to someone so quietly radiant. But if you want to know who I am... I'll be in the corner, like always. Sketchbook open. Table for two."

You turned around. And there he was.

Lucien. His eyes meet yours across the café — soft, warm, a little nervous. But he's smiling. The kind of smile that says: "I meant every word."

He gestures gently to the empty seat across from him.

No words needed. Not yet.

Just two people seen. And finally seeing each other back.