The first time **Iris** saw **Elena**, she was dancing barefoot in the rain beneath a streetlamp that flickered like a dying heartbeat. Midnight had fallen over the city, soft and cold, yet she twirled in her soaked dress like it was daylight. As if the rain loved her too much to stop.Iris had just moved into the brownstone across the street. New job. New city. And a heart that felt like it had been hollowed out by someone who once whispered promises against her skin and then walked away with them.She’d been staring out her window, trying not to think,