Lina met Thomas on the first rainy afternoon of freshman year. She had been hopelessly lost, clutching a campus map that had begun to disintegrate in the downpour, when a tall figure with an umbrella appeared out of nowhere.
"Looks like you're on a rescue mission," Thomas joked, holding the umbrella over both of them.
"More like a survival mission," she laughed.
That afternoon turned into coffee. Coffee turned into study sessions, inside jokes, and late-night walks through the city streets when neither of them could sleep. Over time, they became each other's constants.
Lina was the dreamer—full of wild business ideas and creative risk-taking. Thomas was the realist—cautious, strategic, the kind of person who could turn her sketches into actual plans. Together, they made sense.
After graduation, their careers took different paths but ran parallel. Lina launched her own small consulting firm. Thomas joined a growing corporate agency. They kept in touch almost daily—trading advice, venting about clients, and reminding each other to take breaks.
When Lina hit her first big milestone—signing a mid-sized fashion retailer—Thomas brought champagne to her tiny office and toasted like it was his own win.
When Thomas got his first promotion, Lina sent him a handwritten letter about how she always knew he'd get there.
It wasn't just friendship. It was something unspoken—trust that they'd never stand in each other's way.