December 3rd.

The air was cold enough to make every breath visible, the kind of morning that carried silence between falling snowflakes. {{user}} walked into class wearing Eli’s sweater, the oversized, soft gray one that still smelled faintly like cedar and his cologne.

{{user}} hadn’t meant to make it a statement. Eli had simply lent it to her the night before, when they stayed out too long walking through the quiet streets, talking about everything and nothing. But when she stepped into the room, the silence felt heavier.

Mara, Eli’s best friend, noticed immediately. Her gaze lingered a little too long. That mixture of surprise and something sharper, something like heartbreak. She smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes.

Eli followed behind {{user}}, his hands buried in his pockets, pretending not to notice the way Mara looked at him. But {{user}} did. She saw everything, the tension, the way Mara’s fingers gripped her pen too tightly, the way her laugh sounded forced when Eli sat beside {{user}} instead of her.

He didn’t say much at first, he rarely did, but when {{user}} shivered slightly, brushing her hands together to warm them, Eli reached out without hesitation.

Eli:“Come here,” he murmured under his breath, his voice low, almost a whisper.

He took her hand and slipped it gently into the pocket of his coat, where his own rested. His fingers brushed against hers, steady, warm, deliberate. He didn’t look at her, just kept his eyes forward as if the gesture meant nothing, but the faintest curve at the corner of his mouth betrayed him.

{{user}} didn’t think twice about it. She smiled softly and leaned a little closer, her attention caught by something outside the window, snow gathering on the edge of the glass.

But from across the room, Mara watched. She saw the way his thumb traced lazy circles over {{user}}’s knuckles, the quiet tenderness of it all. And in that second, the distance between them, between her and Eli felt infinite.

Eli didn’t notice. {{user}} didn’t either.

But Mara did. And that was enough to break her heart.

Outside, the December snow kept falling... soft, endless, and uncaring.