The next message came two days later. Juni was ready this time.
His phone buzzed during lunch. He didn't flinch. He glanced at the screen, read the name, then locked the phone and slid it back into his pocket.
Elian noticed. "…You okay?" he asked softly.
Juni nodded. "Yeah," he said. "I knew it would happen."
That was the difference.
They sat at their usual table, half-hidden by the column. The cafeteria noise washed around them.
"…He wants to know where I am," Juni said quietly. "And why I didn't reply last time."
Elian waited.
"I'm not answering," Juni continued. "Not today. Maybe not ever." The words trembled slightly—but they didn't break.
Elian smiled, small and proud. "That's your call."
Juni exhaled, shoulders loosening.
That afternoon, Juni's uncle called.
Once. Twice.
Juni let it ring out both times. His chest tightened anyway—old reflexes flaring.
Evelyn noticed the shift without being told. "You can put the phone here if you want," she said, holding out a drawer in the side table. "Just for the evening."
Juni hesitated—then handed it over. "…Thank you."
"No rush to decide anything," Evelyn said. "We'll take it hour by hour."
Later, as Elian walked Juni home, the streetlights flickered on one by one. "…I keep waiting to feel brave," Juni admitted. "But mostly I just feel tired."
Elian nodded. "I think that still counts."
Juni laughed quietly. "…If it does, then maybe I'm doing okay."
"You are," Elian said.
That night, Juni sat on his bed, staring at the ceiling. The silence felt unfamiliar. But it wasn't empty. He reached for his sketchbook and drew a single line across the page.
Not straight. Not perfect. But unbroken.
He wrote beneath it:
This is mine.
At the bus stop the next morning, Juni arrived early. He sat beside Elian, bumped his shoulder lightly. "…I didn't give in," he said.
Elian smiled. "You held the line."
Juni nodded, eyes bright. "…I think it held me too."
The bus arrived. Life continued. The past hadn't disappeared. But it had lost something important.
Its certainty.
And Juni—quiet, careful Juni—was still standing.