Lara’s POV – Age 10
We were in the big field behind my grandma’s house — the one with the wildflowers that grew like they were chasing the sun, and the sky above us was the kind of blue that made you feel like anything was possible.

Liam had stolen two chocolate bars from his brother’s stash and we were lying on the grass, giggling with sticky fingers and no regrets.

“Hold still,” I said, hovering over him, trying to tuck a daisy behind his ear.

“I’m not a flower pot, Lara,” he grumbled, but he didn’t push me away. His freckled nose scrunched up in that way that always made me laugh. “You’re going to make me look ridiculous.”

“You already do,” I grinned, collapsing next to him. “But at least now you’re seasonally appropriate.”

He rolled over on his side, propping his head on one hand. His brown hair was all messed up and his cheeks were smudged with chocolate, but his smile—his smile made the whole day feel brighter.

That’s when I saw it.

A butterfly.

Delicate and orange, its wings edged with tiny black lines like an ink drawing come to life. It fluttered near us, slow and fearless, then landed—right on my knee.

“Whoa,” I whispered, afraid to breathe. “It picked me.”

Liam’s eyes widened. “Told you. You’re a butterfly magnet.”

“What does that even mean?” I laughed.

He shrugged, a little shy now. “You’re just… like them.”

“Like bugs?” I teased.

“No,” he rolled his eyes. “Like… you’re always smiling, and moving, and—bright. Like you don’t belong in boring places.”

That made me sit up straighter. “So, you’re saying I should live in a garden?”

He grinned. “Exactly. Or a fairy tale.”

Then, out of nowhere, he reached out and tapped my nose gently. “Butterfly.”

I blinked. “What?”

“That’s your new name. Butterfly. It fits.”

I laughed. “What if I don’t want a nickname?”

“Too late,” he said, hands behind his head, gaze on the sky. “You can’t fight fate.”

And from that day on, I didn’t.

He called me Butterfly like it was the most natural thing in the world. Like he’d always known. Like somehow, that word belonged to me.

And every time he said it, it felt like sunshine curling around my ribs.

I didn’t know what love was back then.

But maybe... maybe that day was where it quietly began.