"Harper? Are you okay?" Elijah's voice cut through her thoughts, pulling her from the deep trance she had fallen into. He had hesitated before speaking, unsure of how she would react. The last thing he wanted was to upset her or make her feel uncomfortable, but he couldn't ignore the nagging feeling inside. He needed to know how she was feeling. He needed to understand what was going on behind those eyes of hers that had become so familiar to him in such a short time.

Harper's gaze dropped, her eyes avoiding his. She bit her lip in an attempt to suppress whatever emotions were stirring inside her.

She disliked those words. "Are you okay?" They felt too loaded, too heavy.

They made her feel vulnerable, and exposed. But the thing was, whenever Elijah looked at her with those eyes, those soulful, searching eyes, she couldn't bring herself to lie. It was as though he was silently pleading for an answer, asking for her to be honest with him, and she couldn't deny him that.

She could feel it. There was a deep connection between them, something undeniable. Elijah was important to her—so much more than she ever thought someone like him could be. But that was exactly what terrified her. She was falling for him, and it felt so out of her control. She was already terrified of what was happening to her body, knowing that her time was limited.

The thought of letting herself fall in love, knowing that she wouldn't have the chance to fully live that love, was almost too much to bear. But even so, she knew it was already too late. The fire had already been lit between them, and no matter how hard she tried to ignore it, it continued to grow. Each day they spent together, the deeper she fell into these feelings for him. Love was an unpredictable thing, a force that couldn't be ignored. You couldn't just close your eyes and pretend it wasn't there, no matter how badly you wanted to.

"Depends if you mean, currently," Harper finally responded, her voice barely above a whisper, as though she had said the words more for herself than for Elijah. She could see the way his eyes fell at her response, his lips pressing into a thin line. She knew he wasn't hurt by her words, but they still stung. He could see it in her eyes, the truth of what she wasn't saying.

Elijah took a deep breath, the tension in his chest tightening. He wanted to apologize for asking, to take back his words. But as his eyes met hers again, he realized something. There was no need to apologize. She knew him. She understood him. And she understood that sometimes, questions like that couldn't be left unasked. Sometimes, you have to confront things head-on. He was sure she knew that even though she wasn't ready to admit it.

He reached out his hand to her, a soft, almost hesitant gesture. "Why don't I take you out for a day?" he asked, trying to lighten the mood. His voice was gentle, as though he was offering her a moment of escape, something different, something to take her mind off everything that weighed on her.

Harper, who had been distracted by her phone, looked up at him at the sound of his voice. She had been staring at the screen, the countdown silently ticking away in her mind. Seven months. She could feel it—the end was coming, and she didn't know how to stop it. But now, looking at Elijah, she realized how much she wanted to be free from that suffocating countdown. She wanted to live. Even for just a little while longer, she wanted to feel alive.

"I'd love that," Harper replied softly, setting her phone down on the table. She didn't want to let the weight of the device control her emotions anymore. The reminders of time slipping away were too painful to look at.

Elijah's smile was warm and genuine, a spark of light in his eyes. "Shall we?" he asked, holding out his hand to her.

Harper took his hand without hesitation, a sense of peace washing over her as their fingers intertwined. "We shall," she said, a playful glint in her eyes.

Elijah chuckled, clearly amused by her attempt to mock his accent. "It was horrible, wasn't it?" she asked, her cheeks turning a shade of pink at her own poor imitation.

"Oh, I've heard worse," Elijah teased with a smile, but there was a tenderness in his gaze that made her heart flutter. "Don't worry, my dear, I can teach you."

Harper felt her heart skip a beat at his words. There was something so reassuring, so sincere about the way he spoke to her. It was as if, in that moment, all the pain and uncertainty of her situation melted away, replaced by the warmth of his presence. He smiled at her, pulling her closer. "Hold tight," he said softly.

Without waiting for any more words, Elijah sped off, taking her with him. In an instant, they were soaring through the streets, the wind rushing past them, and the world blurring in a dizzying rush. Harper's breath caught in her chest as she clung to him, her heart racing—not just from the speed, but from the overwhelming emotions that surged within her. She had never felt so alive, so free.

Elijah didn't care about her illness. He didn't care that time was slipping away. All that mattered to him at that moment was showing her everything that life had to offer. He wanted to make her feel alive, to make her experience every moment as if it were her last because for all he knew, it could be.

He knew it was too late to deny his feelings. The moment he laid eyes on her, something inside him had shifted. He hadn't been looking for love, especially not after everything he had been through, but there she was—Harper, the human who had wormed her way into his heart, completely without warning. It wasn't just her beauty, or her kindness, or her strength that had drawn him in. It was something deeper, something that resonated with the core of his being.

For the first time in centuries, Elijah felt genuinely alive. Her presence in his life was the spark he had been missing, the piece he didn't even realize he was searching for. And now, as they sped through the world together, he knew that he would do everything in his power to make her life as full and beautiful as possible, no matter how short it might be.

As they reached their destination, the weight of reality was still there, looming in the back of his mind, but for now, all that mattered was her smile, the way her eyes lit up as she looked at him. He had no idea how much time they had left, but he would make every second count.

Elijah wasn't going to let her face the end alone. Not when he had the chance to show her what it meant to truly live.