> (Note: Continuation of the previous chapter. Same day. Same Ryan. Just with more wind and a little rooftop drama.)
**✶✶✶[Roof to Department| Same day ]✶✶*
I stood at the edge of the rooftop—arms wide open.
My diploma flapped in the wind like I was in a low-budget K-drama intro.
I imagined my future. My salary. My future wife.
Then I looked down.
And there she was.
> Me (eyes widening): "Rachel?!"
She was walking below. Cool. Casual.
Like she hadn't witnessed me lift a random dude three chapters ago.
> Me (yelling, hopeful): "Hey Rachel! Hellooo!"
She looked up. Squinted. Raised an eyebrow.
> Rachel (shouting): "Hey, what?!"
My heart jumped. My brain shut down.
My mouth took over.
> Me (screaming from rooftop): "I LOVE YOU!"
Pause.
She blinked.
> Rachel (deadpan): "Didn't hear you, idiot!"
My soul left my body.
Panic kicked in.
> Me (sweating bullets): "I SAID… HOW ARE YOU?!"
> Rachel (arms crossed, smirking): "Learn to confess properly, Romeo!"
She walked away—still smirking.
> Me (whispering dramatically, wind blowing through my budget hair): "One day… one day."
I looked at the sky like it owed me answers.
Yup. That's the sun. Still rude. Still bright.
But me? Still breathing.
> Me (softly): "It's been three years and seven months."
I smiled. A small one. The kind that hides something bigger underneath.
> Me (thinking): "I'm surviving. Barely. But surviving."
The breeze brushed against my face again.
Not dramatic this time. Just soft.
Like a whisper I needed to hear.
> Me (softly): "Maybe… I should visit Mom today."
A pause.
> Me (nodding to myself): "Yeah. Tomorrow."
---
[ Day 1100 End]