The Night Fate Chose You

Chapter 1: The Encounter

Ivy wakes up to the coldness of the morning, harsh, biting, and unforgiving as it seeps through the cracks in the wall of the small room she shares with her stepbrother's muddle. Her blanket, light and overwashed clung to her legs as if it knew letting go would mean facing another disappointing morning. Outside, the wind wailed. Inside, her alarm flashed a relentless red: 7:30 AM.

She had an interview at ten. Another one. Another ten maybe

She gazed at the ceiling, letting her eyes trace the faded paint, a daily ritual that bought her a few more moments before the weight of reality surged in.

She sighed and swung her leg over the side of the bed, her feet momentarily hesitant as they touched the icy floor. Her blonde hair was a mess of waves falling stubbornly as she made her way to the mirror perched above the dresser. The dark circles under her eyes were more pronounced than usual; another night of restless sleep had taken its toll.

Ivy averted her gaze from the mirror.

The house was eerily quiet, but that wasn't new. It had been like that since her father died- silent, chill, and calculated. Her stepmother, Evelyn, barely endured her presence. And Rowan, her stepbrother, rarely speaks unless he has to. When he did, It was sharp and cold.

She walked into the hallway, mood already sullen as she heard Rowan's voice from the kitchen.

"I thought serious interviews started before ten," he said, not looking at her as he poured coffee.

"I didn't realize you were monitoring my calendar," Ivy replied striding past him to the fridge to grab a bottle of water. She maintained a steady tone.

Rowan glanced at her -slow and expressionless. His hair was flawlessly styled as always with his jaw contracted, his dark pants crinkled, his shirt ironed and spotless. He always looked like he belonged in a courtroom.

"You've been pursuing interviews for what - four years now?" he asked, taking a sip of his coffee. "I'm curious about what the end goal is."

She slammed the fridge door harder than necessary. "The end goal is to not breathe the same air as you, Rowan."

A faint smile played on his lips, but it never reached his eyes. "I'll toast to that."

She despised him most when he smiled.

Evelyn appeared a moment later in her silk robe, her hair swept up as if she were still gracing the front page of a Vogue magazine. She glanced at Ivy before turning to Rowan and touching his arm.

"Have you eaten darling?"

Rowan's smile softened. "Not yet".

Of course.

Ivy returned to her room to get ready and emerged an hour later. She left without saying a word, keys in hand and a bag slung over her shoulder. The door slammed shut behind her as the cold air stung her cheeks. It was better than feeling numb.

The bus ride to downtown Timberline was quiet. Ivy gazed out the window, watching the city she had always hoped to escape come into view. She had thought college would provide her with a way out, her ladder to a better future. But now, four years later, the rungs of that ladder felt broken. She realized that degrees didn't hold much value without the right connections and money.

And her hope had faded away with her father's passing.

Her phone buzzed with a reminder: "Interview - Inkwell PR, 10:00 AM."

She hadn't heard of the firm until yesterday. The job listing was vague: assistant-level, full-time, with benefits included. She didn't care; she just needed something. A foothold.

The building was a tall, sleek structure of glass and concrete, nestled between two skyscrapers. She checked her reflection in the doors - a clean blue blouse, black skirt, and mascara holding up. Not the most lustrous look, but enough.

The lobby was modern and minimalist. A woman at the front desk nodded and gestured Ivy to the elevators.

She rode up alone.

Upon exiting, she was struck by the deep silence-sterile and weighty.

She walked to the receptionist's desk, "Hi, I'm Ivy Hart. I have a ten o'clock-"

"Please take a seat," the man replied without looking up. "Someone will be with you shortly."

Ivy sat, and time seemed to crawl.

She anxiously ran her hands over her knees and checked the time on her phone. It was 9:58.

She could hear the faint sound of footsteps down the hall, approaching slowly. Then they stopped.

The office door swung open.

For a moment, everything around her froze.

The man who stepped out was not the HR assistant she expected. He was tall, broad-shouldered, and wore a tailored navy suit. His hair was slicked back, and he had a chiseled jawline, with intense gray eyes that seemed to see too much yet revealed nothing. His presence was commanding and inscrutable.

When his eyes met hers-deep, frosty, and strangely familiar-her breath caught in her throat.

It was him.

The man from that night years ago.

She didn't know his name, but she could never forget his face.

He studied her as if trying to place a stranger.

"Miss Smith?" he asked, his voice smooth and almost bored. "Follow me."

She stood slowly, every nerve on edge, the hallway behind him becoming a blur.

As she stepped into the office, one thought burned louder than the rest in her mind:

What the hell is he doing here?....

**Chapter 2: Silent Recognition**

The clear glass doors closed behind her with a soft hiss, and she was surrounded by the cold air in the building, which did away with the leftovers of the humid morning outside. Ivy waited for a second, so she could adjust to the peace of the space -the floors were shiny, the walls were stark white, and the air was filled with a strong scent of expensive cologne. Everything about the place emitted power, success, and wealth, making the flutter in her chest feel completely out of place.

Liam Hartwell

Ivy could hardly remember the last time her heart raced like this. Two years ago, one night that was a blur, and then, nothing.

She hadn't thought she would see him again - not like this. Especially not in this setting. Not in a corporate office, not with his name on the door, and not with important documents in front of her.

The man behind the elegant desk didn't look up right away. His brows were furrowed in concentration as he focused on his paperwork.

Ivy noticed how the muscles in his jaw tightened as she studied him as if he was already aware of her presence before she entered the room. His eyes, which were hidden behind glasses, glanced up just as she stepped forward wearily.

Minutes passed and neither of them made an effort to move. The outside world felt far away as time seemed to stretch, a strong silence hanging in the air. She had hoped, just for a second, that maybe it was all in her imagination. That somehow this was all just an unfortunate coincidence.

But it wasn't.

Ivy had never been good at lying to herself.

"Miss Smith," Liam called as his voice broke the uneven silence. His voice sounded slick, maintained, almost hushed.

It gave her the chills

His tall frame stretched out as he strides slowly in her direction, not breaking their eye contact.

A little bit of smile tugged at the corner of his lips - the same smile that made her heart race on the night they shared that reckless night.

Ivy had just one thought screaming at the back of her head... "he remembers"

Her throat felt dry.

"Liam", she finally managed to say, the single word hanging in the air. His name was like a faded memory she wasn't aware she still had.

It felt so foreign but at the same time so familiar

She was brought out of her thoughts by his question.

"Are you always this surprised when you see an old friend?" he asked in a low and teasing voice.

His voice wasn't just teasing, there was also something about his gaze - something indecipherable in the intensity of his stare.

"I wasn't expecting...." Ivy faded out, not quite certain of what she had been expecting "I had no idea that this was your company."

With lips parted slightly, Liam looked at her, as though he was considering what she had just said.

"Well it is as they say, it is a small world," he said smiling smugly. "Perhaps not so small. You wouldn't have foreseen or expected me to be here, conducting your interview." Even as his voice was relaxed, she could still feel the tug of his overwhelming presence. It was the same as the tenseness and sizzling fire that had portrayed the stolen night they had together.

She bit her inner cheeks, seeking to summon some sort of facade of self-control. "I wouldn't have, I guess."

Liam hinted with his hands to the chair at the other side of his desk, the chair was smooth and unaccepting.

"Have a seat, please. Make yourself comfortable." His voice brimmed with an easy authority that had without doubt given him the status he maintained, and the admiration he commanded. As Ivy proceeded to take the seat, she could feel the weight, and for the first time in a very long while, she felt she was in a place she didn't belong.

With her fingers curling into her palm as she mentally reminded herself to breathe, she sat upright in the chair. She had nothing to be anxious about. This was simply a job interview, after all. She had been to countless others. It should've been a regular thing now.

Except it wasn't.

Nothing about this was regular.

Liam sat back down. His stance was loosened up however somehow cautious as he watched her seated across his desk. He picked up the file in front of him, turning it over as his eyes skimmed the contents, glancing back up at her for a beat as though to gauge her reaction.

Ivy swallowed hard. She knew this wasn't just an interview, it was a lot more than that. She could feel it immediately her palms turned sweaty, her hands clenched, and her heart rang loudly in her ears and skipped a beat every time they made eye contact.

"So," he began in a measured, calm, and collected voice, "I see you've had some experience in administrative roles. But I don't see much in the way of full-time on your resume."

"I do what I can," Ivy replied, mentally screaming at herself to concentrate. "Freelance, temp work, admin support - whatever sails the boat."

Liam's lips tugged once again, with a soft glimmer of amusement almost unnoticeable "Determination."

"Determination is the only thing that keeps me going," she let out, her voice coming out stronger than she intended.

Liam's eyes narrowed -just slightly, but enough to notice it.

"I respect that," he said. "And yet I wonder... are you truly prepared for the life you're stepping into? This company doesn't just give you a job, Miss Smith. It demands everything."

She held his gaze, steady despite the flicker of heat behind his words. Don't flinch. "I'm used to demanding."

For a beat, he said nothing. No smile, no smirk-just quietly calculating. He studied her like he was weighing something far heavier than a resume.

Then his gaze softened-barely. Just enough to mask the intent behind his eyes.

"We'll see," he said.

Silence settled thick between them. Liam shuffled a few papers, though his eyes never left hers. She could feel the weight of his attention-like it was pressing against her chest, measuring the cracks.

A minute passed.

In a tone she couldn't quite place, he finally said, "I'll reach out to you when I make my decision."

She stood abruptly, almost losing her footing but catching herself on the rim of his desk. Thank you," she let out, her voice sounding clipped.

She proceeded to reach for the door handle, but was halted by his voice

"Ivy."

She hesitated, taking a quick look back at him over her shoulder.

"You're not unexceptional," he said. "You never were."

She didn't answer. She didn't need to.

The door clicked shut behind her.

The minute she stepped out, she breathed out. Her chest was hurling with the breath she hadn't noticed she'd been retaining.

She hurried out of the building like she was being chased. Liam's last words danced at the back of her mind.

"You are not unexceptional. You never were."

They played on a loop, tugging at something buried too deep to name.

By the time Ivy returned home, night had fallen. Evelyn had already retreated upstairs, likely with a glass of wine and a face mask.

Rowan hadn't come back yet from wherever he spent most of his evenings pretending the Smiths' name still meant something in this town.

The house was silent.

She dragged her leg down the hallway into her room, and went straight into the shower.

After the shower, she changed into a big t-shirt, and coiled into the far corner of her bed like she was trying to tuck into herself. The day had drained her, her mind was humming with a million not-so-welcome thoughts.

But slowly-finally-exhaustion began to drag her under.

Just as the haze of sleep started to pull her in, her phone beeped.

She blinked, reached for it, and frowned.

It was a message from an unknown number

Her breath seized as she opened the message.

"What???"

Chapter 3: smoke and sparks

Unknown Number: your beauty is as radiant as ever...just like I remembered.

Ivy stared at the message as though it might disappear if she as much as just blinked her eyes. Her thumb was suspended over the screen, her mind raced, and her heart thumped. The light from her phone cast a silhouette across her room.

She did not reply. She couldn't bring herself to.

She turned off the phone and flung it on the drawers as though it scorched her. She did not attempt to move and just sat there, looking at the wall with her pulse roaring in her ears.

It was just an unknown number. Maybe a prank... not anything to be worried about.

Yet it felt so unmistakable and personal.

The oddest part was that only one face came to her mind immediately after she read it.

Liam...

She picked up the phone and opened the message again. Her fingers hovered over the keyboard, contemplating.

Who are you?

Too immature.

What do you want from me?

Too guarding.

She erased the reply sighed frustratedly and flung the phone on the bed.

It was morning and the sun shined too bright for the heaviness in her heart. Ivy strolled to the kitchen wearing just a big T-shirt and shorts. Evelyn had already left- to God knows where... she most likely went to some charity event or spa day or whatever rich widow thing she was feigning made her fulfilled.

And thankfully Rowan was nowhere to be seen.

The comforting silence was cut short as the front door swung open.

"Ivy"!

Charlotte's voice vibrated through the silence like a thunderclap.

Ivy winced. "Ugh, you have a spare key, char. Do you always have to yell like you're being chased by something?"

"Yes, because someday something or someone might be, maybe then you'll realize I was being reasonable," Charlotte said as she threw her bag on the kitchen counter and headed straight for the fridge.

"Since when do you not respond to my texts, I sent you many texts yesterday."

Ivy helped herself to coffee, her eyes still blurry. "I had a strange day."

Charlotte twirled around, holding a bowl of berries. "Strange,? as in I saw a monkey doing the hula strange or talking chicken strange?"

"What,? Char, no. What goes on in that head of yours.?

"I'm just asking" Charlotte shrugged.

"So tell me, how was your day str...?"

"I met him" Ivy blurted interrupting Charlotte.

Charlotte batted. "Him, who...?"

"The him."

Her best and only friend dropped the berries. "You are kidding."

"I want to"

" wait, you mean the same Liam with no last name?" Charlotte said with her voice sounding a little high-pitched. "The Mr one Night Stand with eyes that could see through your soul Liam?"

"Yes, the one and only. And oh turns out he has a last name. It's Hartwell."

Charlotte dramatically flung both hands in the air. "Girlfriend, why am I hearing about this just now?!"

"Because I was trying to convince myself that it didn't happen, that none of it was real," Ivy said taking a sip of her coffee. "As I saw him, all the feelings I tried so hard not to feel for two years just blasted back to me."

With her eyes narrowed, Charlotte stretched out and held Ivy's hand in comfort. "Here, sit. You're going to tell me everything without leaving out any details.

Ivy's grip on the coffee mug tensed as she took a pause. She inhaled the aroma of the coffee which did nothing to soothe her nerves.

"Everything about him was and felt different," she muttered.

Charlotte adjusted her posture and posed like a tiger prepared to pounce. "Girl tell me, how precisely did you guys meet? Don't tell me you bumped into each other at the coffee shop."

"No" Ivy answered shaking her head "Interview. For the secretary job."

"You're joking right?"

"I had no idea it was his company, Char. Seriously. I was seated like usual, waiting and hoping that the interview wouldn't end like the previous ones I've had. Then he strode through the door like destiny longed to whack me in the face."

Charlotte gasped and placed her hand dramatically on her chest. "So did he recognize you?"

"Yes. Absolutely"

"Holy fuck! Charlotte whispered, then loudly holy fucking shit."

"Jesus char! My eardrums are bleeding"

"Right. I'm sorry, but girl are you okay?"

Ivy sighed and rubbed her temple " I'm fine. I just wasn't expecting to see him. Or receive any text from him but i ..."

"Wait, what! Did he send you a text?"

Ivy unlocked her phone and gave it to Charlotte

With one of her brows furrowed Charlotte went through the message.

"I didn't reply."

"You shouldn't. I mean we don't even know if it's him. For all we know, it could be some random prank call" Charlotte shrugged

"I know it's him, I can feel it char. You should have seen the way he looked at me with so much intensity. And I'm sure it was just because he recognized me, he looked at me like he was making a decision."

"What decision Ivy"

"I have no idea. Probably deciding on whether to devour me or give me the job."

"Hot," Charlotte joked, then reached over and gave Ivy's hand a soft squeeze. "You're sure you are good?

Ivy paused, then bobbed her head. "I'm okay, I was just caught off guard and confused. His appearance now just seems like a threat to all the effort I have put into moving forward from everything. I just...."

Charlotte moved to give her a squishing side hug. "It's okay love, you know you've got me. Now can you give your Char one of those award-winning smiles?

Regardless of herself, Ivy chuckled softly.

"That's my girl," Charlotte said teasingly as she Ivy cheeks.

"I have to go now, text me if anything comes up. I love you!!" Charlotte yelled moving toward the door and stepping out.

"Love you too!" Ivy yelled back.

The house returned to being silent as a cemetery. Ivy decided to return to her room to read a book. She proceeded to dump the remaining coffee in the kitchen sink but hesitated immediately after she heard her phone buzz.

She reached out to grab the phone from the counter. It was a text message from an unknown number. But it was a different one this time.

Ivy's eyes widened, and her mouth fell open as she opened the message. The phone almost dropped to the ground from shock.....