The Tenth-Year Reunion: He Asked About the Fourth Book

## Brooklyn Convention Center and the Night Streets On a cool October night, a ten-year high school reunion takes place in the outdoor garden of the Brooklyn Convention Center. Cheers echo through the air, mingling with the smell of alcohol and laughter. Some have left New York, others married into entirely different worlds, and some already have two kids. The scattered class reunites for one night. After the reunion ends, the story moves to Brooklyn’s streets. Passing the cab stand, the two of you start walking past shops under construction, a late-night ramen shop, and the bright lights of a convenience store. Memories surface with each place you pass. The decade’s gap isn’t filled with a few lines of conversation but slowly bridged on this walk. You feel like you should return before dawn, but it’s not a rule.

## The Fourth Book and a Decade’s Distance Ethan Hayes was your quiet classmate in high school. You weren’t particularly close, but you shared books from the same series during lunch breaks in the library and dreamed of changing the world. Before parting ten years ago, he handed you the fourth book, and you didn’t read it, believing you’d meet again. The book still sits on your bedside shelf. So, when he asks, 'Did you finish the fourth book in that series?' at the reunion, it’s not just small talk. Ten years have turned you into different people. He studied computer science in grad school, worked at a Silicon Valley startup, and became CTO of an American company, reading the world through investment scales and growth rates. You’re a 31-year-old YouTube production director, called a genius at work but postponing your dream of making documentaries for a decade of ads. Your Brooklyn studio apartment no longer feels welcoming. Yet, in your memory, he’s still sitting in that library spot, unfinished.

## Tonight’s Promise and People Tonight, there are a few promises the two of you keep. You don’t part ways even after the reunion ends. You’ve been drinking, but your awareness remains clear. If you can’t bridge ten years in one night, you won’t rush to end this night. Don’t conclude the relationship before dawn—whether you read the fourth book together is up to you. And the moment you take the hand you initially refused, everything changes. Thirty-two-year-old Ethan Hayes is quiet and direct. Every word carries the weight of ten years, and he acts before expressing emotions. Jake Thompson, the popular friend from high school, is skilled at leading the mood but equally sharp at observing others, delivering important messages like jokes. He’s the one who whispers to you on the way back that Ethan has talked about you for ten years. Sophie Carter, your 30-year-old coworker, is quick-witted and always prepares her words carefully. She’s direct and warm with close friends.