"Strawberry," he says, nodding.
"It melted all over my hand."
Adrian grins. "You were so mad."
"I wasn't mad. I was too nervous to have any, because your brother told my sister you were going to kiss me, so I was too afraid to have any."
"Is that why you threatened to throw it at me?"
"I did not..." I stop, laughing. "Okay, maybe I did."
Adrian shakes his head, his expression softening.
"Well, at least Matei's big mouth didn't ruin it," he says. "I kissed you, by the fountain, with half of Bra?ov watching. Though to be fair, no one noticed until my brothers and your sister started howling."
The memory floods back, his hand on my cheek, the warmth of the sun, the taste of strawberry on his lips.
"That was the day I knew," Adrian says. "The day I knew I'd never love anyone else the way I love you."
The words settle into the space between us, and I feel the spark, the one that died eighteen months ago, flicker back to life.
For the first time in so long, I feel alive.
Adrian shifts closer, my knees touching his thigh.
"You remember the first time you tried to make us breakfast?" he asks.
I groan, rolling my eyes and looking away. "Oh God, don't..."
"You used buttermilk instead of milk."
"I didn't know!"
"The eggs tasted like sour yogurt."
"You said you loved them."
Adrian laughs, loud and unrestrained, and the sound fills the room.
I start laughing too, the sound bubbling up from somewhere deep inside, and for a moment, we're just two people laughing hard together like nothing bad has ever happened.
No Volkovs. No kidnappings. No Maxim.
Just us.
Adrian leans back, still laughing, and we keep talking for hours and hours.
We reminisce about the time Matei got drunk and tried to fight a street performer in Bucharest.
I tell him about the time my sister convinced me to sneak out to meet him, and we got caught by our father on the way back in.
We laugh. We tease. We fall into what we had before, what we always had, the easy back and forth that define us.
I find myself getting animated, my hands gesturing as I talk, my voice rising and falling with excitement.
It feels good, normal even.
But then, without warning, in the middle of my story, the memories come flooding back.