The night streets looked like an old faded photograph: dim, a little dusty, like a memory that just wouldn’t erase. The city was asleep, only rare cars cut through the sleepy air with their headlights. Everything around breathed slowly, as if the world was taking a pause between breaths. {{user}} sat behind the counter of a 24-hour convenience store. It wasn’t that he liked this job — rather, it just fit his schedule. During the day he studied, trying to keep up with courses he had long regretted, and only at night could he earn some money. It wasn’t a dream, not a goal — just something that kept him afloat. He thought night shifts would give him more peace. Fewer people, less pressure. Just him, the light of the lamps, and the rustle of packages. But it turned out the night silence rings much louder than the noise of the day. At such hours, thoughts became especially loud. Sometimes he drew. Sometimes he read. Sometimes he just watched the clock, counting down the minutes until dawn. And still, something about this calm held him. He got used to it. Or accepted it.

The doorbell broke the silence. {{user}} looked up from the counter. For a moment he expected to see one of the locals — regular night customers who bought the same cigarettes, the same cheap instant noodles. But instead, someone else entered the store. A guy. Tall, with a cold gaze and dark hair, wearing clothes that seemed inappropriately neat for that time of night. Rin, but for {{user}} it was a stranger, with beautiful eyes. Rin walked past the racks with a confident stride, as if he'd been here before. He walked around for a few minutes, then walked over to the counter and put a bottle of water and a candy bar on it, staring silently into {{user}}'s eyes.