XH did not sleep well.
He slept in fragments, waking every hour as if his body had memorized the word tomorrow and refused to relax until it arrived. Each time he opened his eyes, the same thought returned.
Rooftop.
After class.
June's message sat on his phone like a weight. Kitty's words sat in his chest like another.
Trying is not the same as choosing.
By morning, he felt older than he should.
He went to class anyway. He took notes. He answered a question when the lecturer called on him. He nodded at jokes he barely heard. He moved through the hours like someone walking through shallow water, slow, careful, aware that one wrong step would sink him.
When class ended, students spilled into corridors, laughing and talking like the world had not changed. Their normalcy felt almost insulting.
XH packed his bag slowly.
June was already standing near the door when he looked up, waiting as if she had been there the entire time. She did not wave. She did not signal. She simply turned and started walking.
XH followed.
The stairwell to the rooftop was quieter than the halls below. Each step echoed. The air grew cooler. The sound of campus faded into a distant hum.
At the door, June paused.
Her hand rested on the handle, but she did not open it immediately.
She looked at XH over her shoulder.
"You came," she said.
XH nodded. "You told me to."
June's lips twitched, almost a smile, but it disappeared quickly. "Don't make it sound like an order."
Then she pushed the door open.
The rooftop greeted them with wind.
Not violent, but persistent. The kind that pulled at clothing and moved loose strands of hair, the kind that made the sky feel closer than usual. The city stretched beyond the campus, buildings stacked like silent witnesses.
June walked to the railing and leaned her hands against it, staring out for a moment as if she needed the view to steady herself.
XH stayed a few steps behind.
The silence between them lasted long enough that it began to feel like its own confession.
Then June spoke.
"I don't like waiting," she said.
XH did not respond.
June turned slightly. "I know you think you're being careful. I know you think you're protecting everyone."
He swallowed. "I am trying to."
June's eyes sharpened. "Trying is not choosing."
The words were the same as Kitty's, but coming from June, they felt like an accusation.
June stepped away from the railing, facing him fully now.
"Tell me the truth," she said. "Why are you doing this?"
XH frowned. "Doing what?"
June let out a breath that sounded like she had been carrying it for weeks. "This. Standing in the middle. Making both of us wait. Making every conversation feel like it's unfinished."
XH's chest tightened. "I never asked you to wait."
June's laugh was short and bitter. "You didn't have to. Your silence asked for you."
The wind lifted her hair slightly, and she pushed it back behind her ear with a controlled motion that looked practiced.
"I need to know something," she said, voice lower now.
XH kept his gaze steady. "Okay."
June's eyes held his.
"Do you love her?"
The question hit him like a slap.
His mouth went dry.
He tried to answer, but his tongue felt heavy.
June did not flinch. She did not look away. She waited with the kind of patience that was not patience at all, but discipline.
XH swallowed hard. "June…"
"No," she said quietly. "Answer."
The rooftop suddenly felt too open. Too exposed. Like the sky itself was listening.
XH exhaled slowly. "I care about Kitty."
June's expression did not change. "That's not what I asked."
XH's throat tightened. "Yes. I care about her a lot."
June nodded once, as if checking a box. "And me?"
XH felt the question twist inside him.
"June, you know I care about you too."
June's eyes shimmered for a split second, but she forced it down, steadying herself like she always did.
"I'm not asking if you care," she said. "I'm asking if you love me."
XH stared at her.
He wanted to say yes.
He wanted to say it cleanly and clearly, the way a confident person would.
But the truth was tangled. The truth was that he loved in a way that was frightened of consequences.
He hesitated.
June's expression hardened immediately.
"There it is," she said softly. Not angry. Not loud. Just hurt.
XH stepped forward. "June, it's not that simple."
June shook her head. "It is simple. You're just afraid."
XH's chest tightened. "Afraid of what?"
June's voice rose slightly, carried by wind. "Afraid of being wrong. Afraid of hurting someone. Afraid of choosing and then having to live with it."
She took a breath, then continued, quieter.
"And the worst part is you act like your fear is kindness."
XH flinched.
June looked away toward the city for a moment, then back to him.
"You think you're protecting us," she said. "But you're protecting yourself."
The accusation landed deep because it was true.
XH's voice came out rougher than he intended. "What do you want from me?"
June stared at him. "I want you to be brave."
The wind pushed against them again, as if insisting that the moment move forward.
June took a step closer.
"I don't expect perfect love," she said. "I don't expect fairy tales. I don't expect someone to promise me the world."
Her voice softened, turning into something almost fragile.
"My definition of love is simple," she said. "Don't expect too much from the person you love. Because expecting too much makes you blind. It makes you foolish. It makes you break when reality comes."
XH listened, heart pounding.
June continued, eyes steady. "That's how I survive. That's how I protect my heart."
XH whispered, "That's not love. That's fear."
June's eyes flashed. "Maybe. But it's honest fear. Not hidden fear."
XH felt his throat tighten. "My definition of love is different."
June waited.
XH exhaled, forcing words out as if they were heavier than they should be.
"I believe love is worth risking everything," he said. "I believe if I love someone, I can put my life and career on the line for them."
June stared at him.
Then her expression twisted into something painful.
"And yet you can't even choose," she said quietly.
The contradiction hurt more than the argument.
XH clenched his hands. "It's not that I can't choose. It's that choosing feels like I'm betraying someone."
June stepped back slightly. "So you betray both by delaying."
Silence again.
Then June said softly, "Kitty asked you too, didn't she?"
XH's eyes widened slightly.
June's expression tightened. "I can tell."
XH did not deny it.
June's voice dropped lower. "And you still didn't answer."
XH's chest burned. "I didn't want to hurt her."
June nodded. "So you hurt her anyway."
The truth sat between them, sharp and unavoidable.
For a moment, June's control cracked.
Her voice trembled. Just slightly.
"I hate this," she admitted. "I hate feeling like I'm competing for something that should be simple."
XH's heart tightened. "June…"
She cut him off gently. "Don't."
She wiped at her eye quickly, as if angry at herself for letting emotion show.
Then she took a deep breath and regained her composure.
"I'm going to ask you one last thing," she said.
XH nodded slowly.
June's gaze locked onto his again.
"Do you want me to keep waiting?" she asked.
The question was almost identical to Kitty's.
But coming from June, it sounded different.
Kitty asked it like someone asking for truth.
June asked it like someone preparing to leave if the answer was no.
XH stood there, heart pounding so loudly he felt it in his ears.
He tried to speak.
Words rose, then collapsed.
June watched his struggle.
And slowly, her expression shifted.
Not into anger.
Into acceptance.
That was what frightened him the most.
"Okay," June said softly.
XH blinked. "Okay?"
June nodded. "I have my answer."
XH stepped forward urgently. "June, wait."
She raised her hand slightly, stopping him.
"I'm not saying I'm leaving," she said. "I'm saying I'm done pretending this doesn't matter."
She turned toward the rooftop door.
Then paused, looking back once.
"You think silence is kindness," she said. "But silence is a choice too."
Then she walked away.
XH stood alone in the wind, staring at the closed rooftop door after she left.
His phone buzzed.
A message from Kitty.
Kitty: are you okay?
He stared at it.
For the first time, the question did not feel gentle.
It felt like a mirror.
Because he was not okay.
And the truth was that every time he delayed, the space around him widened.
June was already walking away.
Kitty had already stepped back.
And he was standing in the middle of the rooftop, realizing too late that the middle was not safe.
It was empty.