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The clock on the wall of the "Café am Rande" didn’t tick; it hummed, a low vibration that Elias felt in his teeth. On the scarred wooden table sat a leather-bound notebook, its edges frayed and darkened by the oils of his palms.

For three years, that notebook had been his anchor. It was filled with the blueprints of a life that no longer existed: architectural sketches of a house he never built, grocery lists for a woman who was no longer there, and frantic prose written in the middle of sleepless nights. It was a book of "almosts." Nächstes Kapitel

He didn't write a poem. He didn't draft a plan. Instead, he took his pen and wrote two words at the very top, in letters so bold they felt like a heartbeat: The clock on the wall of the "Café

He felt the eyes of the waitress, a young woman with silver earrings, as she wiped down the counter. She had seen him here every Tuesday, staring at the same page. It was filled with the blueprints of a

Elias looked down. "I think I’m just afraid of what comes after the 'Fine'."