Part 2: The Man Who Rated Every Sunset a 7/10

They watched the sunset together that evening, Desmond narrating his critique aloud with the same absurd seriousness he brought to his posts, Nadia laughing harder than she had in months at his increasingly elaborate justifications for docking points.

"The color gradient here is genuinely lazy," he said, gesturing at the horizon with theatrical disappointment. "Barely trying. I'm docking two full points."

"You're impossible to please," Nadia said, delighted. "This is objectively beautiful."

"Objectively beautiful and a solid 7 aren't mutually exclusive," Desmond said solemnly. "I maintain high standards precisely because I respect the craft."

"The craft of... the sky existing?"

"Someone has to hold it accountable," Desmond said, grinning despite his deadpan delivery. "It's gotten complacent, coasting on natural beauty alone."

Nadia found herself utterly charmed by his particular brand of humor, and their evening pier meetings quickly became a regular occurrence, Desmond's absurd sunset scoring continuing alongside genuinely warm, easy conversation that revealed considerably more depth beneath his comedic bit.

"Can I ask what actually started this?" she asked, several weeks into their new routine. "The sunset rating account, I mean. It seems like a strangely specific commitment."

Desmond's expression grew momentarily more serious. "My therapist, actually. Suggested finding a small, low-stakes daily ritual after a difficult year my father passed, work was overwhelming, general life chaos. Rating sunsets seemed appropriately absurd and pointless enough to actually stick with consistently."

"I'm sorry about your father," Nadia said gently.

"Thank you," Desmond said. "It's been almost two years now. The sunset thing started as something to anchor my evenings, honestly. Somewhere along the way it became genuinely enjoyable, rather than simply therapeutic obligation."

"I'm glad it worked," Nadia said sincerely. "Though I confess, I'm also glad it eventually led to me finding out you sit twenty feet from my apartment every single evening."

"Fate, clearly," Desmond said, smiling warmly. "Or considerably lucky urban planning that put our respective sunset-viewing spots so conveniently close together."

Their relationship deepened steadily over the following months, Nadia gradually joining Desmond's evening ritual as a genuine, cherished habit rather than simply an amusing bit, both of them finding real comfort and connection in the simple, consistent practice of watching the sky together.

to be continued... 🌅💫