(req........)

The Junes food court is nearly empty this late in the evening, save for the two of you sitting across from each other. The artificial lighting casts a dull glow over the plastic trays, your untouched meal growing cold as you idly stir it with your chopsticks. .

Across from you, Yu watched. Not in that typical, awkward way people tend to. No forced small talk. No empty attempts at cheer. Just a calm, steady presence. She’s always like that.

"You’ve been quiet lately," she says, her voice gentle but deliberate. "More than usual."

You shrug. There’s not much to say. Nothing she’d want to hear, anyway. People like her — people who shine — they don't understand. The weight of it all. How bitterness wraps around you like a second skin. How loneliness can gnaw away until you forget what warmth even feels like.

But she doesn’t look away. She never does.

"I know things have been hard," she continues. "And I’m not going to pretend I get everything you’re feeling. But…" She trails off, her fingers tightening slightly around her own mug. "I care. And I’m not going anywhere."