A quiet Tribute

The clock struck 1:07am. June, a third year law student lay on her bed. Staring at the fan on the ceiling. Sleep wouldn't come, no matter what she did.

Her phone laid next to her with the unsent message: you probably don't care now, but I still like you.

She tossed and turned, sighing heavily. Eventually, she sat up, picked up her phone with trembling hands, and glared at the message. After a long pause, she deleted it.

It had been a year since they met. A year since she let some one into her heart only to be crushed completely.

They were no longer even, just-friends, they never got proper goodbye.

A year had gone by, but the past Haunted her like a recurring nightmare that never seemed to end.

Before all of this, June had been a second-year law student, driven by a dream to become a lawyer. She kept her circle small, not due to lack of confidence, but because she feared the cost of losing people. Her long blue braids were a crown she wore with quiet pride. Law demanded everything from her, but she'd learned early to balance pressure with silence, to survive without losing herself.

But now, that dream was on pause. She'd run away to hide from feelings she never got to process... feelings for someone who had broken her so badly the pieces were scattered far, and she couldn't find some of them.

The day they first met was an ordinary summer weekday, hot and bright. June was already seated in the lecture hall, notebooks open, waiting for the lecturer to arrive.

Then he came in late. Tall, emerald eyes, silky layered brown hair. He was simply dressed, neat without trying too hard. What caught her attention wasn’t his clothes, but the ease with which he moved, as if, the world belonged to him.

He smiled, a wide, careless kind of smile and looked around like someone who knew he was lost and didn’t mind it. He didn’t ask for directions. Instead, he dropped into the seat directly in front of her, no hesitation at all.

June quietly observed him as he pulled out his phone and started watching videos with volume low, posture completely relaxed, completely uninterested in the fact that class was about to start.

When the lecturer finally began, he glanced around the room in mild confusion. Then he turned, leaning back just enough to face her, and whispered.

"Hey, I think I have the wrong place. I was supposed to be at orientation."

June blinked, caught off guard for half a second. Then she shifted her notebook onto her lap and leaned forward just enough to hear him.

“Orientation’s in the main hall,” she whispered back. “This is ADR lecture."

His smile lingered, amused, curious.

“Thanks.”

She didn’t respond. She only looked away, though she could still feel his eyes on her.

Then he whispered again.

“Do you know someone called Dexter?”

June shook her head. “No.”

He nodded. “Okay.”

That should have been the end of it. But he didn’t leave. He stayed through the entire class, taking no notes, drifting in and out of focus, stealing glances at her when he thought she wouldn’t notice.

When the lecture finally ended, he turned to her again.

“I didn’t really want to go to orientation,” he said, a sheepish grin tugging at his mouth. “But if this is what studying law feels like…” He exhaled softly. “I’m scared.”

She gave a faint smile, unsure how to respond.

“Anyway,” he added, already standing, “see you around, Blue.”

And just like that, he was gone.

Even now, a year later, she remembered that moment. His bright, easy smile, his low, steady voice. He had seemed like the kind of person who would crash into someone’s life without warning and leave messy footprints everywhere.

And he did.

Dear diary,

It's 1:07 and I can't sleep.

I can't forget him,

My mind is like a broken record player stuck in a loop,

I don't know what to do,

Who to tell,

And how to stop myself.

~ June