dopamine : luke

soulmate

EIGHTH HOUR
12AM

"where are we going now?" clio asks, looking up at luke.

they have been walking for a few minutes now, both of them feeling pretty tipsy from the alcohol in their systems. clio, most especially.

"guess." luke chuckles, extending his hand out for clio to take. clio immediately intertwines their fingers, the butterflies in her stomach returning.

"uhm," she says, swaying their hands back and forth, "can you give me a hint?"

luke smiles down at her, suddenly feeling a sense of admiration for this girl. he doesn't know if it's the alcohol, or the parisian atmosphere, or maybe it's just really clio, in her simplest form.

"we're going to a place," he starts, "where proof of love lives."

clio furrows her eyebrows together, thinking hard.

where proof of love lives? she thought, almost thinking that they're on the way to a motel or something. she dismisses the thought entirely, though, because she knows luke isn't that type of guy.

clio, however, is no longer given more time to think, as the answer to where they're going slowly starts to present itself to her as they walk closer and closer to it.

"do you see it, peach?" luke asks.

"the pont des arts," clio says, her eyes widening, "of course! the bridge of romance! where proof of love lives!" she starts growing more and more visibly excited, as it's clio's first time here.

she's never went to the pont des arts alone, as she feels as though she'll just feel out of place by the number of couples that will surround her.

"why are we going here at midnight, though?" she asks as they approach the bridge, "there might be no one here."

she looks up at luke, and the shimmer in his eyes is as present as ever.

"i don't know," he smiles, "i just have a feeling that we'll be able to watch some interesting people tonight. surely, the people here at twelve midnight have a story to tell, right? just like us."

"right," clio smiles, "i get it now."

they step foot on the bridge, eyeing the people around them as they walk. they start looking separately at the different padlocks, at the different writings on them.

"wait here," luke tells clio, "i think i can find it here somewhere."

clio nods, mouthing the different names she reads to herself.

"stefan and loise, zach and winona forever," she mutters, "hans plus zoe, e heart j–"

"it's here!" luke shouts, causing clio to stop, "peach, come here!"

he waves his arm around frantically, a big smile on his face as he calls clio to come over to where he's standing.

from a few meters away, clio sees him holding on to one padlock, and she starts jogging faster.

"look at this," luke says proudly, "i put this here last year."

clio crouches down to the yellow padlock luke's pointing at.