And If All Fail

It felt like Kore Rowen had ruined him. She stepped into his life and stepped back at her own will, without thinking of the devastation that might follow. She had walked into his tattoo parlor, and for that hour, Omar could focus on nothing else. Just one tattoo out of a hundred, impossible to pick out from the growing scene that creeped up her arm. Omar Waters was just one out of a hundred.

And then she is brought back. A mutual friend brings them together for a night out at a bar, and Omar finds her just as mysterious as before. Just as unreachable, even when he reaches out to take her hand, even when he discovers her favorite color, even when he wakes up in the same bed as her.

And she strikes a deal with him.

He would have his chance to convince her that he wasn't just one of a hundred. Not just another wonderstruck stalker. And if all fails, they will go back to being strangers again.