In the days that followed, the university filled with paper hearts, ribbons, and pink banners.
Valentine's Day was coming.
She was leaning against the wall with a cup of tea, her friends sitting on the windowsill.
"In like three days it's Valentine's Day."
"Anxiety."
"Tragedy."
"I don't exist."
They laughed.
"No but like, not for boyfriends. Just between us. Homemade chocolates. Cute."
"Yeah, for friends too."
"Should we make them together?"
"Yeah, let's."
Pause.
"My place is impossible. My mom takes over everything."
"I've got my grandparents."
"I've got the dog that eats everything."
Brief silence. The eyes turned toward her.
She understood right away. "...no."
She said it automatically, almost before they'd even spoken.
"Come oooon."
"Why not?"
"Your place is perfect."
She lowered her gaze into the cup. Two seconds.
"...fine."
"YES."
"But only in the afternoon. Not evening."
"That works perfectly."
"Day after tomorrow?"
"Okay, day after tomorrow."
It was already decided. She nodded.
But in her head: *They'll come to my place. They'll see I live with him.*
She made an almost invisible grimace.
*It's not that I care, okay. It's just that they don't know. That's all.*
"What's up with you?" one of them asked.
"Nothing."
She drank the now-cold tea.
---
Leaving university, the afternoon air had a light warmth that already smelled like the end of winter.
The streets were busier than usual. Decorated windows, red ribbons, hearts hanging by nearly invisible strings.
She walked with her backpack on one shoulder, unhurried.
Valentine's Day had always been one of those somewhat manufactured occasions, louder than heartfelt.
In middle school it meant anonymous notes.
In high school, embarrassing roses handed out in class.
At university, crowded dinners and stories on social media.
Nothing that had ever really concerned her.
Yet that year was different because of one tiny, unavoidable detail.
She lived with him.
The thought arrived without warning, sharp.
She stopped for a second at a crosswalk.
She lived with him. And Valentine's Day was coming.
It wasn't a romantic thing. She didn't think that, not even for a second.
It was just social logic. Cohabitation. Manners.
*If you make chocolates for everyone... and he lives with you... wouldn't not giving him any be strange?*
The light turned green. She crossed.
*But giving them to him would be even stranger.*
She pictured it for a second: her handing him a little box.
*"For Valentine's Day."*
No. Absolutely not.
Just the image alone made an embarrassed heat rise behind her ears.
They weren't friends. They weren't anything. They just shared a space and parallel silences.
*That time he came into my room for the exam connection*, it occurred to her. She pushed it away right away. It didn't count. It was logical, he'd said. Just logical.
And yet...
*If he saw her giving them to her friends? And nothing for him? Rude?*
She frowned slightly as she walked.
*But if you give them to him... it looks like you want...*
No.
She scoffed quietly to herself. It was ridiculous. It was just a stupid holiday.
Yet the thought came back again, stubborn.
*Maybe something neutral. Not "for Valentine's Day." Just... chocolates. Generic. Like something you leave on the kitchen table.*
Yeah, but that was strange too.
She never left him anything. They never left each other anything. Anything would be a change. And with him, every change felt amplified.
She breathed in slowly.
Maybe the simplest solution was to do nothing. Exactly as always. No exceptions. No gesture. No possible interpretation.
Yes. Better that way.
By the time she got home she'd already decided she wouldn't do anything different from usual.
Yet, as she put the key in the lock, the thought crossed her mind once more, quick and silent:
*If I gave them to him... what would he say?*
She shook her head slightly and went in.
---
That evening she stopped in front of his door with her hand raised halfway.
She hesitated a second. Then knocked.
"Um... Saturday..."
Silence.
"My friends are coming over."
"Okay."
Pause.
"So..."
"I won't be here."
"Ah."
She blinked. "Okay."
She closed the door.