“Tito, look!” Jiko excims, yanking on his brother’s arm with frantic urgency. His voice is sharp, desperate. “Julie’s in trouble!”

  Tito frowns, his brows knitting together. “Who’s Julie?”

  The question hung in the air, unanswered, and Jiko felt a jolt of fear. This was before everything he knew—before Julie and Tito eve, before Tito was supposed to be the oo save her. This was just Jiko, alone, watg his future py out in a way it wasn't supposed to.

  Without even thinking, Jiko started running, his legs moving as fast as they could as adrenaline rushed through him. He was faster, running on pure instinct. The dog snarled, snapping at Julie’s heels, but Jiko quickly reached into his bag. He pulled out a heavy textbook and threw it at the dog’s snapping jaws. The dog lunged forward, biting down on the book. Jiko didn’t stop—he grabbed another book and swung it at the dog’s he hit made the dog stumble back, whimpering in pain before it ran away into the shadows.

  Julie stopped running, shaking from the shock, her chest rising and falling quickly. She turo Jiko, her eyes wide. He could see the relief in her face, and tears welled up in her eyes as she held her arm. “Thank you! You saved me!” she whispered, her voice trembling with gratitude.

  Jiko forces a small, tight smile, but inside, something twists. This wasn’t supposed to happen. This wasn’t meant to be his moment. The moment she reaches out to thank him wasn’t part of the pn—it was meant for Tito. This was supposed to be Tito’s eet Julie, to step in and protect her.

  Instead, it’s Jiko—the one who shouldn’t feel this e yet, the one who shouldn’t be standing in front of her. The knowledge settles heavily in his chest, like he’s disrupted something he never had the right to touch.

  Julie’s eyes glimmer with a mix of fear and awe, and Jiko feels something stir—something familiar but too soon, too early. A protectiveness, an overwhelming sehat he’s already begun to ge the course of things, and it makes his stomach twist with dread.

  He knows—this wasn’t the way it was meant to happe, here they are. In this moment, it feels like fate has shifted just slightly, like a crack has formed in what was supposed to be a simple, natural sequence of events. And now, Jiko ’t ig.

  Tito turo Jiko, his forehead creased in a frown. “Are you alright?” he asked, in his voice. “Why did you jump in front of that dog like that? What if it had bitten you?”

  Jiko just shrugged. “Because if you were in my pce,” he expined, “you would have dohe same thing. You always help people, Tito. You would have jumped in to save her.”

  Tito’s frown deepened for a moment, but he didn’t argue. He knew Jiko robably right. Tito had a tendency to help others without even thinking twice, a natural instinct to protect.

  Then, Tito turned his attention to Julie. “Are you alright, sis?” he asked, his voice full of brotherly .

  Hearing Tito call Julie “sis” made Jiko wiernally. It felt se, knowing that this “sis” would one day be his brother’s wife. He kito was pletely unaware of the future, but it still made Jiko feel uneasy. It was a stark reminder of the strauation he found himself in.

  Julie gave Tito a reassuring smile. “I’m fihank you,” she replied, her voice still a little shaky from the scare. “Your friend just saved me from that terrifying dog. I was so scared of getting rabies.”

  Tito returned her smile with a polite one of his own, satisfied that she was okay. He didn’t press her with any more questions, assuming the i was over.

  Julie insists on walking with Jiko to school. She’s chatty and endlessly curious, her eyes sparkling as she bombards Jiko with question after question—what he likes to do in his free time, what his favorite subjects are, what kind of music he enjoys. She speaks so easily, her voice filled with energy, and Jiko, caught off guard by her warmth, finds himself answering without thinking too much. His responses are polite, careful, but there’s something about her genuine curiosity that leaves him feeling slightly unnerved.

  Tito, meanwhile, walks a few steps ahead, headphones in, pletely detached from the versation. He doesn’t even gnce back at them, his attention focused on the ground. He doesn’t know who Julie is yet—not beyond this casual iion—and his obliviouso her preseings more than it should. This girl—the one walking alongside him now—will one day be his wife. Yet, right now, she’s just a girl Jiko doesn’t reize, someone who’s weaving her way into their lives with ease.

  Jiko watches his brother with a growing sense of uhis was supposed to be the moment when Tito first is with Julie, the moment when fate begins t them together—their story unfolding in the way it was meant to. But now, instead of waiting for that destined e, Jiko finds himself standing at the ter of it, caught between what was supposed to happen and what has already shifted.

  The weight of it settles heavily on his chest. He feels like he’s meddled where he shouldn’t have, like he’s disrupted something fual by stepping in too early. His mind races with questions—how much has he already altered? What happens if Tito never meets Julie the way he was supposed to? Will it ge the course of everything?

  Julie’s voice breaks into his thoughts. “What about you, Jiko? Do you py any instruments?” She tilts her head slightly, curiosity shining in her eyes.

  Jiko blinks, caught off guard by the personal nature of her question, Jiko was thinking we didn’t get to the point where you ask something like this. “Oh, uh, I used to py the guitar a little bit,” he replies, hoping his answer sounds casual. “It’s been a while though.”

  She smiles brightly, clearly intrigued. “That’s cool! I love pying the piano. It’s such a calming thing to do when I’m stressed.” Her words e out so naturally, like they’re meant te the gap between them.