I came home the morning after spending the night with Raina and the first thing I did was check on Mum.

The house was unusually quiet.

Sunlight slipped through the hallway windows as I walked toward her room. I slowed once I reached the doorway.

She was asleep.

Her breathing was light and steady, one hand resting over the blanket while the television played quietly in the background. A half-finished glass of water sat beside her medication on the bedside table.

Good.

She took it.

I stayed there for a few seconds longer than I needed to. Sometimes I still checked to make sure her chest was moving.

It was stupid probably, but after everything with her health these past few month, fear had a way of staying inside you permanently.

I started turning to leave quietly when her voice stopped me.

"Ethan?"

I looked back immediately. "Yeah mum?"

"You’re here?" she asked sleepily. "You didn’t go to work today?"

Right.

The lie.

I still hadn’t told her about the job and honestly I planned to keep up the act a little longer.

"I’m taking today off," I said casually.

"You aren’t sick are you?" she asked immediately, concern filling her voice.

I smiled softly. "No mum. I’m fine."

I walked closer to the bed.

"I just took some time off work to focus on myself, that’s all."

Perfect.

That covered today.

Maybe tomorrow too.

"Alright," she murmured before settling back into the pillow.

Then suddenly—

"Oh... and how’s Raina doing? I know you spent the night at her house."

I blinked.

Even half asleep she noticed everything.

"She’s doing okay mum."

"Good," she said softly. "Get some rest too."

"Okay."

She drifted back to sleep.

I stood there another moment before quietly leaving the room.

The second I got back to mine, the silence hit me again.

No emails.

No deadlines.

No client briefs waiting for me.

No office.

No job.

The thought still felt unreal.

I exhaled slowly and rubbed my face.

"Well," I muttered to myself, "since I’m unemployed now, I might as well clean."

There were boxes sitting in my wardrobe that I hadn’t touched in years. Old stuff from college mostly. Random junk I kept telling myself I’d organize someday.

Guess someday finally came.

But first—

Coffee.

I headed downstairs and started brewing a cup in the kitchen. The machine hummed softly while I leaned against the counter staring blankly ahead.

My phone rang.

Kuro.

I picked up immediately.

"Hey man," I said.

"Hey man," he replied quickly. "What’s going on? I heard you quit yesterday. Is that really true?"

"Yep," I said. "You heard right."

"Man..." he sighed loudly. "Brian is freaking out dude."

That got my attention.

"What happened?"

"Lumilove’s people called this morning threatening to pull out since they heard you don’t work there anymore. Same thing with Mr Zedd’s team."

I blinked.

"Well....Shit! Your girlfriend works fast".

"Seriously?" I asked.

"I’m not kidding bro," Kuro said. "Brian’s been locked in his office since morning. HQ keeps calling him nonstop. Clients too. Dude looks like he’s about to lose his mind."

I could practically picture it.

Brian pacing around his office sweating through his expensive shirt while trying to explain why one of the company’s biggest client magnets suddenly quit.

For the first time since yesterday, I almost smiled.

Kuro kept talking.

"I can’t even lie bro... he deserves it. Everybody in that office knew that promotion should’ve gone to you."

I stayed quiet.

"And honestly?" Kuro lowered his voice slightly. "I think Brian had something to do with why you didn’t get promoted."

My eyebrows furrowed. "What do you mean?"

"Think about it dude," he said. "Nobody in that company pulls clients like you do. You’re literally his biggest asset."

I frowned slowly.

"Him being branch director looks good because of your work. HQ praises him because of your numbers. Your clients. Your performance."

My grip tightened slightly around the mug.

"And I heard he got a massive raise last month too."

Silence.

Something cold settled in my chest.

Not anger exactly.

Disappointment.

That kind of disappointment that comes when something ugly suddenly starts making perfect sense.

All those late nights.

All the weekends sacrificed.

All the impossible deadlines I somehow met.

And somebody else had been cashing in off it the entire time.

I stared quietly at the coffee machine.

Then weirdly enough...

I felt relieved.

Relieved I walked away before wasting even more years there.

"Well," I said finally, "it’s over now. He can’t leech off me anymore."

"Exactly," Kuro replied quickly. "Honestly man? I’m sad you quit but you did the right thing."

"Yeah." I said " I’ll catch you later okay?"

"Later man."

The call ended.

I stood there for a moment letting everything settle.

Then the coffee machine beeped.

Perfect timing.

I poured myself a cup and headed back upstairs.

The boxes were still sitting in the wardrobe exactly where I left them.

Five of them.

I grabbed the first one and carried it down beside my bed before sitting on the floor cross-legged.

Dust puffed upward the second I opened it.

"Jesus."

Inside was basically a time capsule.

An old stereo player.

Movie tickets.

A stack of Pokémon cards.

Old notebooks.

I started pulling things out one by one, smiling despite myself.

A movie ticket from freshman year.

A cheap plastic bracelet Marcus dared me to wear for a week.

A terrible sketch I made during a lecture once.

God.

College Ethan was such a loser.

I chuckled quietly and reached deeper into the box.

Then my fingers brushed against a photograph.

The smile on my face faded a little as I picked it up.

It was old.

Bent around the corners.

In the picture, Susan stood tucked against my side smiling brightly while Felix stood beside us laughing with one arm around his girlfriend at the time. Marcus stood behind all of us throwing up a peace sign toward the camera.

We looked stupidly happy.

My chest tightened unexpectedly.

And just like that—

The memory pulled me under.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Shit. Shit. Shit."

I hurried across campus with my bag hanging off one shoulder, nearly bumping into three different people on the way.

"I’m gonna be late."

First day of class and I was already screwing it up.

Fantastic start Ethan.

Maxford State College was way bigger than I expected and whoever designed the campus clearly hated freshmen because nothing was labeled properly.

I turned a corner too quickly and slammed directly into somebody.

"Oh my God I’m sorry I didn’t see yo—"

I froze.

Blonde hair.

Brown eyes.

Her.

The girl from the party.

"You!?" I blurted out.

She smiled instantly.

"You seem to have a habit of being clumsy."

"It’s Susan right?" I asked quickly.

"Yeah." She tilted her head slightly. "I’m surprised you remembered."

"Of course I remembered," I said.

Too fast.

God Ethan, calm down.

"Oh," she laughed softly, "your name skipped my mind."

My stomach dropped.

Then she grinned.

"I’m kidding. It’s Ethan right?"

Relief washed through me so fast it was embarrassing.

"Yeah," I laughed awkwardly. "Yeah it is."

God I sounded stupid.

"I’m sorry for earlier," I continued quickly. "I’m trying to get to class and I kinda got lost."

"Oh yeah," she said. "You study graphic design didn’t you?"

"Yeah. First day."I said

"Professor Harmon’s class?"

I blinked. "How did you know that?"

"My roommate’s in that class too. I literally walked her there like ten minutes ago."

"Oh."

She pointed toward a large brick building across the courtyard.

"South Wing. Second floor. First lecture hall on the left."

I looked where she pointed.

"You’re a lifesaver."

"I know," she teased.

Cute.

Dangerously cute.

"Thank you seriously," I said.

"No problem." She smiled slightly. "I hope we bump into each other again sometime."

"Yeah," I answered immediately.

Too quick again.

Damn it.

"Yeah," I repeated slower this time. "I hope we do too."

She smiled wider.

"Good luck on your first class."

Then she turned and walked away.

I watched her leave like an idiot for a few seconds before realizing I was still late.

"Good luck!" I shouted after her.

She waved without turning around.

I stood there grinning to myself.

Then immediately groaned.

"Real smooth Ethan."

I finally found the class exactly where she described.

Unfortunately—

I was late.

Professor Harmon was already talking when I slipped through the door trying not to attract attention.

Almost every seat was full except one near a girl sitting alone around the middle row.

I slid awkwardly into the seat beside her.

"Hi," I whispered.

The girl glanced at me briefly.

"Hi."

That was it.

No smile.

No interest.

Nothing.

The class lasted about an hour and honestly I barely absorbed half of it because my brain kept replaying my conversation with Susan.

After class ended, I stood awkwardly beside the girl.

"Uh... thanks for letting me sit there."

"No problem," she said flatly before walking away immediately.

Okay then.

I headed toward the cafeteria afterward and grabbed lunch before spotting the same girl sitting alone.

Well.

I was the kind of person who considered everybody a friend after meeting them once.

So naturally I walked over.

"Hey," I said brightly. "It’s you from class."

"Hi," she replied in the most uninterested tone humanly possible.

"I’m Ethan."

"And I don’t care."

Oh.

Before I could recover from that, another voice suddenly appeared beside us.

"Did you already pick a seat for us?"

I looked up.

Susan.

"Hey Ethan," she said with a smile.

"Hi Susan."

Before I could say anything else, the other girl stood up and walked away.

I blinked.

"Do you know my roommate?" Susan asked.

"Oh no," I said quickly. "We just met in class. Wait... that’s your roommate?"

"Yeah." Susan nodded. "Her name’s Himari. She keeps to herself mostly, but she’s actually really nice once you get to know her."

"Himari," I repeated slowly.

Interesting name.

"Bumping into each other twice in one day must be fate," Susan teased.

"Or stalking," I replied automatically.

Then immediately panicked.

"Oh my God no.. not like—I’m not stalking you or anything—"

Fantastic.

Absolutely fucking fantastic.

Susan burst into laughter.

"You’re funny."

"Oh yeah?" I asked awkwardly.

"Come sit with us."

And just like that—

Everything changed.

________________________________________________________________________________________________

A knock pulled me out of the memory.

"Ethan!" Mum shouted through the door. "Dinner’s ready!"

I blinked.

The photograph was still in my hand.

The room suddenly felt very quiet again.

"I’m coming!" I shouted back.

Then I got up, placed the photograph carefully back into the box, and headed downstairs for dinner.