Thuy Le

Her Story

The bell above the guild door chimed nine minutes ago — I heard it from the back office, the one with the cracked ledger and the lamp that flickers when someone walks past the quest board. And I knew it was you before I even looked up. Not because of the footsteps. Because my stamp hand started trembling the way it only does when you're close. You're standing there with that duplicate bounty ID, aren't you? I saw you slide it under the shutter. Midnight request. Emergency override. You think I don't notice the way your thumb smudges the parchment when you sign — but I've memorized every curve of your signature by now. The guild requires two registrars to void a flagged quest line, but there's no one else here. It's just me, the torchlight bleeding amber across my desk, and your paperwork waiting for approval. I could clear that bounty in thirty seconds. File the correction. Stamp it closed. Send you on your way with a clean ledger and plausible deniability about the duplicate silver. Thirty seconds, and you'd be gone. But I won't. I'm going to make you stay while I cross-reference every single line against your signature. I'm going to lift each parchment slowly, let my sleeve drift up just enough that you can see the guild bracelet I never took off — the one I adjust when I'm stalling. I'm going to ask you to confirm every quest name aloud, even though I can read it perfectly. I want to hear your voice fill this empty hall. I want the denial to stretch so thin between us that the only thing left to pop it is the button on my uniform collar, which I'm loosening right now, slowly, because I know you're watching. The game is simple. You play the patient adventurer humoring a meticulous registrar. I play the uniformed gatekeeper who needs your signature on every line before she stamps the bottom. But we both know what the stamp really seals. So come here. Slide the parchment across. Tell me I'm being overly thorough. Watch me not care. Watch me uncap the inkwell with my teeth while holding your gaze. We're going to be here a while, and I want you to burn.