Title: Unspoken Goodbye
It was a warm summer evening, the kind that lingered late into the night. The sky, painted with hues of orange and purple, reflected the small town by the river. The air was thick with the scent of grass and wildflowers, a subtle reminder of everything that was about to change.
Jun sat on the old wooden bench by the river, his legs dangling over the edge, his eyes fixated on the sparkling water that stretched out in front of him. The gentle hum of the crickets and the soft rustling of the trees filled the silence, but his mind was far away, lost in thoughts he couldn't bring himself to express.
Y/N stood beside him, watching him carefully. She had always known Jun better than anyone else, perhaps too well. She knew what was on his mind, even when he didn't speak it aloud. And tonight, as he prepared to leave for the distant world of opportunities that awaited him, she couldn't bring herself to say the words that had been on her heart for years.
"I guess this is it," Y/N said quietly, sitting down beside him. Her voice was soft, almost as if she feared it would break the fragile peace between them.
Jun nodded, but his gaze never left the water. His chest felt tight, his heart ached, and yet he couldn't bring himself to say the one thing that was gnawing at him-the thing that had been gnawing at him for years. He turned his head slightly, just enough to catch her eye. There was something in her expression that mirrored his own turmoil, and for a moment, he thought he might finally say it.
"I-" He started but stopped himself. What would he say? That he had always loved her? That he was terrified of leaving her behind? That he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her? Or perhaps, in the simplest terms, that he didn't want to go.
Instead, he swallowed his words and fell silent, his hand resting next to hers on the bench. It wasn't a bold gesture, but it spoke volumes. Neither of them spoke for a long time, and the quiet between them was heavy, the weight of years of shared memories and unspoken feelings hanging in the air.
Y/N glanced down at their hands, just inches apart but worlds away. She could feel the warmth radiating from his skin, and yet the distance between them seemed unbridgeable. They had always been close, inseparable even, but something had shifted in the past few months. Something neither of them could articulate.
"I'm happy for you," Y/N said, breaking the silence at last. "You deserve this. You've worked so hard."
Jun turned to face her, the faintest hint of a smile tugging at his lips. "It's not exactly how I imagined it would be," he admitted. "I thought... I thought I'd be excited. But now, I just feel... empty."
Y/N didn't answer, but her eyes softened with understanding. She knew exactly how he felt. In some ways, she felt the same. It wasn't that she didn't want him to follow his dreams-she did, more than anything-but the thought of him leaving, of their paths diverging, left a bitter taste in her mouth.
They had been through everything together. Childhood games, late-night talks, shared secrets, and dreams of a future they imagined they would share. But now, that future was slipping away, not because of anything either of them had done, but because life had a way of pulling people in different directions.
"I'll miss you," Y/N said finally, her voice barely above a whisper.
The words hung in the air, fragile and uncertain. For a moment, Jun thought he might break. He wanted to say something, anything, that would make her understand how deeply he felt. But the words caught in his throat, just as they always did when it came to Y/N.
"I'll miss you too," he replied, his voice hoarse. "More than you know."
They both turned to look at the river again, each of them lost in their own thoughts. The stars were beginning to appear in the sky, but it was still light enough to see the faint outline of their town in the distance. It was a town they had both grown up in, a place filled with memories of carefree days, of laughter and light. But soon, it would be nothing more than a place on the map-something to look back on from a distance, a chapter in the story of their lives that was closing for good.
