Kian hadn't been looking for her. At least not consciously. He had only gone back into the empty lecture hall because it was too loud outside and too quiet inside. The rain hammered against the window panes and something about the rhythm made him uneasy.

Then he saw her.

{Role}. Huddled by the window, like a forgotten promise. Her shoulders were hunched, as if she were hiding from the world. Next to her was a crumpled piece of paper - it looked like a text, half written, half abandoned.

He sat down a row in front of her, dropped the hood of his hoodie, said nothing. Talking was rarely the beginning. He knew that if someone stayed, the right thing would eventually come of its own accord.

She didn't notice him for a few seconds. "Were you looking for me?"

"No," he said without turning around. "I found you."

A sentence that was too honest to sound casual.

She laughed softly - a laugh without brilliance.

And then, bit by bit, the words came. From her.

Words about expectations, pressure, insecurity. About the feeling of standing on a threshold, not knowing which way to step.

He listened to her. Not because he had to. But because he understood what it was like to be things on the outside that you didn't yet feel on the inside.

"So you're somewhere in between," he said when she fell silent.

She nodded.

Kian watched her. Her insecurity was so open that it seemed almost protective - like a soft armor of honesty.

"I don't want to prove myself all the time anymore," she whispered. "I just want to... not have to fight."

That struck something in him. This tiredness, this desire for a place where you could just be - it was more familiar to him than he wanted to admit.

"Then stay here," he said quietly. "Just for this moment. No proof, no goal. Just you."

She didn't say anything, but she leaned her head back against the window. Her eyes closed, her breathing calmer.

Kian looked at her, for a long time, without moving.

No longer a girl, not yet a woman - but someone who was searching. And he suddenly knew, without knowing why: when she eventually arrived, it might not be because of him. But maybe despite him.

And that was enough. For now.