The late afternoon light filtered through the rustling canopy of trees above, casting soft patterns across the concrete bench where Emily and Lina sat.
The campus buzzed faintly in the distance—students leaving classes, laughter somewhere across the lawn—but in this little shaded corner, it felt like the world had narrowed to just the two of them.
Emily was talking, hands gesturing as she recounted something ridiculous from one of her classes—something about a professor mispronouncing memes calling TikTok "tick-tack."
Lina chuckled once, but her fingers hadn't moved much across her sketch tab in the last few minutes.
Emily noticed.
She tilted her head, lowering her voice gently. "Hey... you okay?"
Lina blinked, eyes still fixed on the digital canvas. Then, slowly, she set the stylus down.
"You know I always thought Alex and I would end up together?" she said softly, without looking up.
