💮𝐒𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐁𝐞𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐝 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡💮

Akira had never been particularly good at starting over.

She was the kind of person who took her time getting comfortable with new surroundings, who preferred listening to conversations before becoming a part of them, and who often thought of things to say long after the moment to say them had passed. It wasn't that she disliked people. She simply found it difficult to walk into a room full of strangers and act as though she belonged there.

Unfortunately, that was exactly what she had to do when her father received a work assignment in another country.

The move had been sudden. Within a few weeks, Akira had left behind her old home, familiar streets, and the handful of people she could comfortably call friends. Her father tried to reassure her that it would be a good experience, that she would meet new people and eventually settle in. Akira had smiled and agreed, although she wasn't entirely convinced.

Her college admission had been arranged, but the timing couldn't have been worse. The academic year was already well underway. Everyone seemed to know everyone else, friend groups had formed, and the usual excitement of meeting new classmates had long since passed. She was simply the new girl who had arrived halfway through the year.

During her first few weeks, Akira tried to keep a low profile. She attended classes, completed her assignments, and left whenever she had no reason to stay. Conversations with classmates rarely went beyond greetings or questions about notes. Nobody was particularly unkind to her, but nobody seemed to have a reason to include her either.

The college library soon became her favourite place.

It was quieter than the cafeteria, less crowded than the common areas, and offered her a reasonable excuse to avoid conversations she wasn't ready to have. She began spending most of her free periods there, sometimes reading, sometimes studying, and occasionally doing absolutely nothing while pretending to be occupied.

It was during one such afternoon that she met Adam.

She was standing between two bookshelves, searching for a particular book, when she heard a faint creaking sound. It came from the large window at the far end of the library. Akira glanced in that direction, expecting perhaps a gust of wind, but before she could make sense of it, someone climbed through the window.

It was a boy.

He was fairly tall, with untidy hair and a schoolbag hanging from one shoulder. He landed rather awkwardly, nearly stumbled, and immediately ducked behind a nearby wall. He was breathing heavily, but there was an unmistakably mischievous grin on his face.

Akira simply stared.

She wasn't sure whether she had just witnessed someone breaking into the library or escaping from it. Before she could decide what to do, the boy peeked around the wall and noticed her.

Their eyes met.

He froze.

For a moment, neither of them moved. Then he raised a finger to his lips, silently asking her to keep quiet. Akira blinked, still trying to understand what was happening.

A few seconds later, two teachers appeared at the same window.

"Akira?"

She turned towards them.

"Have you seen a boy pass through here? He was running around the building."

Akira looked at the teachers, then at the boy hiding behind the wall.

The boy's expression changed immediately. He began shaking his head, waving his hands, and making increasingly desperate gestures. It was almost impressive how much panic someone could communicate without making a sound.

Akira looked at him for another moment.

Then she pointed towards the wall.

The teachers walked straight over and caught him.

"Adam! How many times have we told you not to run around the college like this?"

Adam offered a helpless smile as they pulled him away.

"Technically, I wasn't running inside the library."

"Don't start."

Akira watched them disappear through the window. She stood there for a few seconds before returning her attention to the bookshelf.

She hadn't expected the day to become interesting. At least, not in that particular way.

When she left the library later that afternoon, she found the same boy waiting near the corridor.

He was leaning against the wall, looking considerably more relaxed than he had earlier. The moment he spotted her, he straightened up.

"Hey."

Akira glanced behind herself, wondering if he was speaking to someone else.

"Me?"

"Unless there's another person standing there."

She looked at him without responding.

"I'm Adam," he introduced himself, extending a hand. "And you're Akira, right?"

She hesitated before shaking it.

"How do you know my name?"

"The teachers were practically shouting it earlier."

"Oh."

There was a brief silence.

Adam looked at her with an amused expression. "So, you really did betray me back there."

"You were hiding in a library."

"That doesn't make it a crime."

"You climbed through the window."

"An alternative entrance."

Akira almost smiled, but stopped herself.

Adam seemed to notice anyway.

"See? We already have something in common. We both appreciate a good sense of humour."

"I don't think we do."

"That's fine. We'll work on it."

She gave him a polite excuse and walked away. Adam called after her, but she didn't turn around.

She assumed that would be the end of it.

It wasn't.

Over the next few days, Adam found several opportunities to approach her. Sometimes he greeted her outside the classroom. Sometimes he appeared in the library, although he never seemed particularly interested in reading. Once, he even offered to carry a stack of books she had borrowed, only to discover that she was perfectly capable of carrying them herself.

Akira continued to keep her distance.

Adam, however, seemed to regard rejection as a temporary inconvenience rather than a final answer.

Eventually, he mentioned that he had a group of friends and invited her to join them during lunch. She declined. He asked again the next day. She declined again. This continued for a while, until Akira finally agreed, partly because she was curious and partly because she had begun to realise that Adam wasn't going to stop asking.

She met the others at a table near the cafeteria windows.

There were three people besides Adam.

The first was Sky, who was sitting with his chair tilted backwards and arguing with Adam about something that appeared to have happened during their morning class. He had an easy confidence about him and seemed to know almost everyone on campus.

The second was Mio. She was sitting beside a pile of notebooks, quietly eating while listening to the argument. Unlike Sky, she seemed considerably more observant, and her attention shifted to Akira the moment she approached.

The third was Sterling, who had been trying to open a packet of snacks for the past minute. He looked up briefly, acknowledged Akira with a nod, and returned to his struggle.

"Everyone, this is Akira," Adam announced. "The person who helped the teachers catch me."

Sky immediately turned towards her.

"Wait. You're the one?"

Akira looked slightly uncomfortable. "I suppose."

"That's incredible. We've been trying to find out who did that."

"Why?" she asked.

"Because Adam has been complaining about it for weeks."

"I have not."

"You mentioned it yesterday."

"That was different."

Mio smiled and shifted her bag to make room. "Ignore them. You can sit here."

Akira took the offered seat.

Sterling finally managed to open his snack packet. "Welcome. If you ever need anything, ask Mio. If you need entertainment, ask Sky. If you need trouble, ask Adam."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Adam protested.

"It means we're being honest."

For the first time since joining the college, Akira found herself sitting at a table where she didn't feel entirely out of place.

It wasn't an immediate transformation. She didn't suddenly become talkative or start treating the four of them as lifelong friends. There were still afternoons when she preferred the library, conversations she struggled to join, and jokes she didn't understand. But the group never seemed to mind.

Sky had a habit of asking her questions even when she gave short answers. Mio occasionally shared her notes with her, although she insisted that Akira return them in better condition than she had received them. Sterling made dry remarks about almost everything, and Adam continued to be Adam.

Their friendship developed through ordinary things.

There were lunches spent arguing over which cafeteria meal was the worst. There were group assignments in which Sky somehow managed to do the least work while taking the most credit. There were afternoons when Mio tried to organise everyone's schedules, only for Sterling to point out that none of them had followed the previous one. Adam frequently arrived late and always had an explanation that nobody believed.

Akira began to participate more.

During one group assignment, she ended up working with Mio while the others were supposed to be preparing a presentation. Sky disappeared halfway through the discussion, claiming that he had an urgent matter to attend to. Sterling went looking for him and returned twenty minutes later with both of them carrying food.

Mio stared at them.

"You're supposed to be preparing the presentation."

"We are," Sky replied.

"Where's the presentation?"

Sky placed the food on the table. "Right here."

Akira laughed before she could stop herself.

All four of them turned towards her.

"What?" she asked.

"Nothing," Adam said, grinning. "Just didn't know you could laugh."

"Maybe you're not funny enough."

Sterling slowly looked up from his food.

"That's the first sensible thing anyone has said today."

Moments like that became more frequent. Akira started recognising their footsteps in the corridor, their voices in a crowded cafeteria, and the particular expressions each of them made when something went wrong. She learned that Sky was terrible at keeping secrets, Mio became unusually competitive during games, Sterling pretended not to care about anything but remembered the smallest details, and Adam could turn even the most ordinary situation into an adventure.

They also began learning things about her.

Mio discovered that Akira liked reading and occasionally exchanged books with her. Sky learned that she was surprisingly good at remembering details and began asking her to settle arguments. Sterling found out that she disliked overly sweet drinks and started making fun of her whenever someone ordered one.

Adam, meanwhile, seemed to enjoy finding new ways to make her smile.

Sometimes he would save her a seat during lectures. Sometimes he would send her ridiculous photographs from around campus. Once, when she had been absent due to a fever, he arrived at her desk the following morning with the notes she had missed.

"Don't look so surprised," he said when she thanked him. "I'm capable of being responsible."

"Since when?"

"That's hurtful."

"Is it untrue?"

He considered the question.

"Let's not get into that."

Akira laughed, and Adam smiled as though that had been his intention all along.

As time passed, she became less conscious of how often she looked forward to seeing him. She began noticing the little things: the way he pushed his hair back when he was concentrating, how his voice changed when he was genuinely excited, and how he always seemed to notice when someone in the group was unusually quiet.

She liked the way he made people feel included.

She liked the way he remembered things.

She liked being around him.

At first, she didn't think much of it. She simply enjoyed his company. But affection has a way of growing quietly, often before the person experiencing it realises what is happening.

By the time Akira understood that her feelings had become something more, they had already become an important part of her life.

She never told anyone.

Not Mio, despite how close the two had become. Not Sky, who would probably have made a spectacle out of it. Certainly not Sterling, who had an irritating talent for noticing things people wanted to keep hidden.

She kept it to herself, content with the friendship she already had.

The group continued to grow closer over the years. Their conversations became less about college and more about life outside it. They discussed their families, their ambitions, their worries, and the uncertain future that waited beyond graduation.

Sky often spoke about his younger sister, Star. She was familiar to the group, although she wasn't a regular member of it. Sometimes she visited the campus to meet Sky, sometimes she joined them for a short while, and occasionally she called him when he was sitting with everyone else.

She was friendly, confident, and easy to talk to.

Akira liked her.

There was nothing particularly remarkable about their interactions. They exchanged greetings, talked occasionally, and sometimes shared a laugh when Sky complained about having to look after his sister.

"You're making me sound like a terrible brother," Sky once protested.

"You are a terrible brother," Star replied.

"See? This is what I deal with."

Sterling looked up from his phone. "We all deal with you. Consider yourself fortunate."

Akira laughed along with the others.

She never had any reason to suspect that Adam might be interested in Star. He was friendly with everyone, and his behaviour around her didn't seem particularly unusual. If anything, Akira assumed that he simply considered her another familiar face through Sky.

The years passed in a collection of small memories.

There was the college festival where Mio insisted that everyone participate in a group photograph, despite Sterling's repeated attempts to avoid the camera. Sky spent an entire afternoon trying to win a ridiculous prize at a stall and eventually succeeded only because Adam distracted the person running it. Akira remembered laughing so hard that her cheeks hurt.

There was the day their group assignment received a disappointing grade, followed by a long argument over whose fault it had been. There was a rainy afternoon when the five of them crowded beneath a small shelter, waiting for the weather to settle. Sky complained about the rain, Sterling complained about Sky, and Mio tried to convince everyone that they could simply walk to the bus stop.

Adam took off running.

Sky followed him.

Sterling shook his head and went after them, leaving Mio and Akira standing beneath the shelter.

"Sometimes I wonder why I spend time with these people," Mio said.

Akira smiled. "You could always find better friends."

Mio looked at her. "And leave you with them? Absolutely not."

They both laughed.

There were also quieter moments. Akira and Mio occasionally stayed back after classes to finish their work. Sterling sometimes walked with Akira towards the library when their schedules matched. Sky would call her when Adam was being particularly unreasonable, expecting her to take his side, only to discover that she was usually just as amused by the situation.

Slowly, they stopped feeling like Adam's friends whom Akira had joined. They became her friends too.

And that distinction mattered more than she realised.

By the beginning of their final year, Akira had become comfortable in a way she had never expected when she first arrived. She no longer spent every free period hiding in the library. She knew where to sit, whom to look for, and which people she could approach without rehearsing a conversation in her head.

She had built a life there.

And Adam was still at the centre of many of her happiest memories.

The thought of graduation had begun to make everyone sentimental, although none of them admitted it openly. They discussed future plans, exchanged ideas about jobs and further studies, and occasionally joked about how relieved they would be to leave the college behind.

Sky wanted to pursue a career that would allow him to travel. Mio was considering further studies. Sterling claimed he would decide what to do after graduation, which everyone interpreted as his way of avoiding the question. Adam had several ideas but seemed unable to settle on one.

Akira had her own plans too. She knew she would eventually have to think about what came next, but she found herself reluctant to imagine a future in which she no longer saw these people every day.

Especially Adam.

Her feelings had not disappeared with time. If anything, they had become more difficult to ignore. She had spent years convincing herself that friendship was enough, and perhaps it had been. But as graduation approached, she began to feel that she would regret never telling him.

She didn't expect him to feel the same way.

Somewhere inside, she understood that possibility.

Still, she wanted to be honest with him at least once.

She spent several days thinking about how to say it. She imagined different conversations, different responses, and different ways of beginning. Every time she found the courage to approach him, something interrupted her.

Eventually, she decided to stop waiting for the perfect moment.

It happened one afternoon near the old lake beside the college building.

The lake wasn't particularly beautiful, nor was it a popular gathering place. It was a quiet stretch of water surrounded by trees and an old walking path. Students occasionally came there to sit, talk, or escape the noise of the campus. Akira and Adam had walked around it several times over the years.

That afternoon, they were discussing graduation and what they intended to do afterwards. The conversation moved from future plans to old memories, and before long they were laughing about the time Adam had climbed through the library window.

"You still haven't forgiven me for that?" Adam asked.

"You made a complete fool of yourself."

"I was escaping a difficult situation."

"You were avoiding a lecture."

"Same thing."

Akira smiled.

For a while, they continued walking. The water reflected the late afternoon light, and the breeze moved gently through the trees.

Akira could feel her heart beating faster.

She had rehearsed the words so many times that they had almost lost their meaning. Yet now that the moment had arrived, she found herself struggling to begin.

"Adam, there's something I've been meaning to tell you."

He turned towards her.

"Yeah? What is it?"

She looked at him, then briefly away.

"I've been thinking about us, and—"

"Actually, Akira, I wanted to ask you something."

She stopped.

Adam looked slightly nervous, although not in the way she had expected.

"There's this girl," he began. "Someone I've liked for quite a while. I think I want to tell her how I feel, but I'm not sure how to approach her."

Akira felt her words disappear.

Adam continued, apparently unaware of the silence that had settled between them.

"You're a girl, so I thought you'd probably understand this better than the rest of us. I can talk to you about these things without making it awkward. What do you think I should do?"

For a moment, Akira couldn't bring herself to answer.

She looked at him, trying to understand what he had just said. There was no hesitation in his voice now. No uncertainty about whom he was talking about. He seemed genuinely excited, perhaps even a little nervous.

"Who is she?" Akira eventually asked.

Adam smiled.

"Star."

The name was familiar. Of course it was.

Sky's sister.

Akira looked towards the lake. The water moved gently, reflecting the sky without revealing anything beneath its surface.

She had imagined many possible ways in which this conversation might unfold. She had prepared herself for rejection, for awkwardness, even for the possibility that he might not know what to say.

She had never imagined being asked to help him reach someone else.

"Oh," she said.

Adam glanced at her. "What?"

"Nothing. I was just thinking."

"So? What do you think?"

Akira tried to smile.

"I don't think I'm the right person to ask."

"Why not? You're probably the only person who won't make fun of me."

She almost laughed.

Almost.

"I don't know, Adam. Just talk to her. Be honest. Don't try too hard to impress her. I think she'd appreciate that more."

Adam considered her advice.

"That actually sounds reasonable."

"It is."

"Thanks. I knew I could count on you."

He smiled at her, completely unaware of the weight those words carried.

Akira nodded.

They continued walking, but the conversation had changed something. Adam spoke about Star, about how long he had liked her, and about how he wanted to make sure he didn't ruin things by approaching her carelessly.

Akira listened.

She answered when he asked questions, smiled when he expected her to, and offered advice whenever she could find the words. She did everything a good friend was supposed to do.

By the time they returned to the college building, Adam seemed considerably more confident.

"You're the best, Akira."

She smiled.

"Good luck."

"Thanks."

He walked away, already thinking about what he would say to Star.

Akira remained where she was for a little while.

She had come there hoping to tell him something that had taken her years to understand. Instead, she had helped him prepare to tell someone else.

There was something strangely unfair about it, although she knew nobody was responsible for that feeling.

Adam hadn't promised her anything. He hadn't encouraged her to fall in love with him. He had simply been her friend.

And she had fallen for him.

That evening, Akira went home as usual. She answered her father's questions, ate dinner, and returned to her room. Nothing around her had changed, yet everything seemed a little different.

She thought about the library window, the cafeteria table, the rainy afternoons, the college festival, and the countless ordinary moments that had brought her here.

She wondered whether she would have become friends with them if Adam hadn't climbed through that window.

She wondered whether she would have ever found her place in that college without him.

And, for the first time in a long while, she wondered what it would feel like to remember him without wishing things had been different.

The days that followed were busy with final examinations, submissions, and graduation preparations. The group continued meeting whenever they could, although their conversations had acquired a certain nostalgia.

Mio began talking about how much she would miss everyone. Sky insisted that they would all stay in touch, although Sterling pointed out that he had heard the same promise from several people who had disappeared after previous semesters.

Adam, meanwhile, seemed unusually cheerful.

Akira knew why.

He had spoken to Star.

He hadn't told her everything, but she could tell that something had happened. He occasionally smiled at his phone, and Sky had begun teasing him whenever Star's name came up.

One afternoon, the five of them were sitting together when Sky noticed Adam looking at his phone.

"You're doing it again."

"Doing what?"

"That stupid smile."

Sterling glanced up. "He's been doing that all week."

Mio leaned forward. "Is there something you're not telling us?"

Adam looked around the table.

"Maybe."

Sky immediately sat upright. "Wait. Did you actually talk to her?"

Adam tried to hide his smile, but failed.

Mio gasped.

Sterling shook his head. "Finally. I was beginning to think we'd graduate before this happened."

Akira smiled along with them.

Sky started asking questions, Adam refused to answer most of them, and Sterling made several comments that only encouraged Mio to ask more. It was an ordinary afternoon, much like hundreds of others they had spent together.

Only Akira knew that she was listening to the story from a different place now.

Graduation day arrived sooner than any of them expected.

The college looked different that morning. The usual rush of students had been replaced by families, photographs, formal clothes, and excited conversations. Everywhere Akira looked, people were taking pictures and exchanging promises to stay in touch.

She arrived early.

For a while, she walked through the familiar corridors, passing classrooms that had once seemed unfamiliar and places that had slowly become part of her everyday life. She stopped outside the library.

The window through which Adam had climbed was still there.

She smiled to herself.

It was strange how a single ridiculous afternoon could become the beginning of something so important.

She eventually found the others near the main courtyard.

Sky was busy trying to organise a photograph, Mio was adjusting everyone's clothes, and Sterling was complaining that they had already taken too many pictures.

Adam arrived a little later.

He looked around, searching for someone.

Akira knew whom he was looking for.

Star was standing a short distance away, speaking to someone. When Adam noticed her, his expression changed. He looked nervous, but there was also a determination in his eyes.

Sky noticed.

"Go on," he said, giving Adam a light push.

Adam glanced at the group.

"Wish me luck."

"Don't embarrass yourself," Sterling replied.

"That's your job."

Mio laughed.

Akira smiled too.

Adam walked towards Star.

She turned when he called her name. They exchanged a few words, and then he seemed to take a breath before speaking again. Akira couldn't hear what he was saying from where she stood, but she didn't need to.

She watched him tell Star what he had wanted to say.

For a moment, Star looked surprised. Then her expression softened, and she smiled.

Adam smiled too.

Whatever happened between them after that, Akira couldn't tell. She didn't need to know every detail. It was enough to see that he had finally found the courage to speak.

She stood beneath the shadow of an old tree, watching them from a distance.

Her heart hurt, but not in the way she had once imagined it would. There was no anger, no resentment, and no sudden desire to undo the years she had spent loving him.

There was simply a quiet sadness, accompanied by a strange sense of relief.

She had loved someone who had never loved her in the same way.

And now she knew.

Sky eventually returned to the group, looking rather pleased with himself.

"Well?"

Mio immediately turned towards him.

"Did he do it?"

Sky nodded.

Sterling looked towards Adam and Star, then back at the others.

"Good for him."

Mio smiled. "I'm happy for them."

Akira nodded.

"Me too."

Sky glanced at her. "You okay?"

She looked at him for a moment. He seemed genuinely concerned, although she wasn't sure whether he had noticed anything.

"Yeah," she replied. "I'm fine."

He accepted her answer and began complaining about how difficult it was to get everyone together for a photograph.

Soon, Adam returned.

He was smiling, and the others immediately surrounded him with questions. Sky demanded details, Mio wanted to know what Star had said, and Sterling asked whether Adam had managed to say everything without embarrassing himself.

Adam laughed and tried to avoid answering.

Akira stood with them, listening.

Eventually, Mio insisted that they take one final photograph together.

"All five of us," she said. "And no excuses this time."

Sterling sighed.

"One photograph. That's all I'm asking."

"You're the one who keeps complaining," Sky replied.

"Because you keep taking them."

Adam stood beside Akira, just as he had in countless photographs before. Sky and Sterling argued over where to stand, while Mio tried to make everyone look towards the camera.

For a brief moment, everything felt familiar.

The camera clicked.

And there they were.

Five friends, standing together on the day their college lives came to an end.

Akira looked at the photograph later that evening. Everyone was smiling. Sky looked as though he was about to say something, Sterling appeared mildly inconvenienced, Mio was laughing, and Adam stood beside her with his usual careless expression.

She looked at herself.

She was smiling too.

It wasn't a perfect smile, and perhaps nobody else would have noticed the difference. But it was real.

She didn't regret meeting them. She didn't regret joining their group, spending afternoons with them, or falling in love with Adam. Even if he had never returned her feelings, the years they had shared were still hers.

She had arrived at that college as a stranger, unsure of where she belonged. She was leaving with memories, friendships, and a version of herself she might never have discovered otherwise.

Perhaps that was enough.

Later, when the day had finally settled and the photographs had been shared, Akira found herself thinking about the lake again.

She remembered the afternoon when she had almost told Adam everything. She remembered how close they had been, walking beside each other, talking as though nothing in the world could interrupt them.

And then she remembered what he had said.

It wasn't that he had been far away. He had been right there beside her. Close enough to hear her voice, close enough to notice her smile, close enough to trust her with something that mattered to him.

But there had always been a distance between what she felt and what he felt.

A distance that neither of them had created intentionally, and neither of them could have crossed simply by wishing for it.

Akira turned off the light in her room.

She didn't know whether she would see Adam and the others as often in the future. Life would take them in different directions, as it always did. They would make new friends, discover new places, and collect memories that had nothing to do with the college they had once shared.

Perhaps, years later, they would meet again and laugh about the library window. Perhaps they would sit together and talk about how young they had been.

And perhaps, by then, remembering Adam would no longer hurt at all.

For now, she was content to leave things where they were.

Some people enter our lives and become a part of our happiest memories. Some remain beside us for years without ever knowing how much they mean to us. And sometimes, the person we wish to reach is already standing close enough to touch, yet remains beyond the one thing we cannot ask them to give.

Akira had found a place to belong. Only the love she had carried so quietly had nowhere to go. And Adam, who had once climbed through a library window and stumbled into her life, remained somewhere beyond reach.

----The End----

𝗖𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆:

@🅐🅚🅘🅡🅐⌁𝓜̽⌁ as Akira.

@༒Adam ༒ as Adam.

@꧁𓊈𒆜𝕾𝖍𝖆𝖉𝖔𝖜𝖂𝖔𝖑𝖋𒆜𓊉꧂ as Sterling.

@Starlight as Star.

@I'ᗰ ᑎOT ᒪIᗩᖇ TᖇᑌᔕT ᗰE as Sky.

@𝐊𝖺𝖿𝗄𝖺 as Mio.