even believed the smile herself.
But when the day ended and she returned to her apartment, the silence seemed to grow larger with every passing hour.
She had spent years trying to build the life she thought she was supposed to want. She worked hard, maintained friendships, went on dates, and told herself that happiness would eventually arrive if she kept moving in the right direction.
Instead, she found herself exhausted.
Her relationships had followed a familiar pattern. At first, someone would show interest. They would exchange messages late into the night, make plans for the weekend, and talk about the future as though it were a place they could visit together.
Then the promises would become vague.
A message would go unanswered. A planned dinner would be postponed. Someone who had insisted that Yuki was special would suddenly become too busy to make time for her.
to ask too many questions. She learned to pretend she didn’t care. She learned to leave first emotionally, even when the other person had already walked away.
