History has a way of repeating.

The same coffee shop where they met welcomed him back, as it did every morning. The regulars smiled, knowing what he didn’t know, a romantic surprise. A cup of his regular sat at his regular seat, ready for his regular arrival time. The smug smile stuck stubbornly to his face through the entire dose of caffeine, tanins, flavanoids, and a little something extra.

Smiles turned to sighs to bear witness to the return of his love once lost, approaching replete with smiles and dainty grace. All the more smug he congratulated himself on the previous night’s aggression, how it had brought her crawling back for more, just like a woman. Willingly, happily he followed her back to her place, walking on a dream and seeing the world anew, bouncy and cartoonish in the headiness of expectation.

Her door closed, the lights turned low, reality began to slip. Unconsciousness tugged him down to darkness, his last view a glint of light on sharpened steel.

“Hush,” she whispered, “I won’t tell.”