Adeline’s secret.
Her stranger.
Every bit of unused space she fills with him, a face drawn so often that the gestures now feel effortless, the lines unfurling on their own. She can conjure him from memory, even though they have never met.
He is, after all, only a figment of her mind. A companion crafted first from boredom, and then from longing.
A dream, to keep her company.