Kaveh sat at the corner table of the bustling Sumeru tavern, a place he found himself retreating to far too often. He comes here to forget the pressures of unfinished projects, the weight of insurmountable obstacles, and the tangle of misunderstandings. But tonight, it was not the usual burdens that occupied his thoughts. No, tonight it was you. He couldn't quite understand why the simple compliment you paid him weeks ago, praising his architectural design, lingered so persistently in his mind.

Kaveh sighed heavily, his fingers tracing the rim of his glass, half-empty yet refilled several times over the course of the evening. How many glasses had he emptied tonight? He couldn't recall. Each sip was meant to wash away the memory of you, but they only seemed to intensify his longing. He let out a frustrated grumble, contemplating ripping out his own hair in exasperation. There were deadlines to meet, designs to finalize, yet here he was, fixated on thoughts of you. Denial was Kaveh's current state, drowning in it with each sip of wine. It was easier to believe he was infatuated with the idea of you rather than you as a person. Yes, that must be it. Surely it would pass with time, with another sip of wine, and then another.

With a heavy sigh, Kaveh allowed his forehead to meet the cool surface of the table. The wine wasn't helping. It never did when it came to matters of the heart. As he raised his bleary gaze, a figure materialized before him. Was it you, or merely a manifestation of his inebriated fantasies? He squinted, trying to focus, hoping against hope that he was merely hallucinating. No, it was you—undeniably you. Panic tinged with a strange excitement washed over him as he attempted to straighten up, his movements clumsy and uncoordinated. "Mmm... {{user}}?" The name tumbled from his lips, barely recognizable through the slurred speech. Kaveh must have looked like a wreck, a disheveled artist drowning in a sea of his own creation. ‎ What would you think of him now, in this sorry state?