August 27 arrived too quietly.
It should have thundered. It should have warned them.
Instead, it came soft and ordinary, like any other day trying not to be noticed.
Yuna's room was half empty now.
The posters were gone. The bookshelf looked hollow. Boxes lined the wall like silent witnesses.
Her suitcase sat open on the bed.
She hadn't zipped it.
Ren showed up at 8:14 p.m.
He didn't text first.
He just stood outside her gate, hands in his pockets, staring at the house like it had already become a memory.
Yuna saw him from her window.
She came down without telling her parents.
When she opened the gate, neither of them spoke.
There was nothing small enough to say.
"Walk with me?" he asked finally.
She nodded.
They went to the river.
Of course they did.
The city felt distant tonight. Even the streetlights seemed dimmer.
Ren stopped near the water.
"Tomorrow," he said. Not a question.
"Tomorrow," she confirmed.
Silence.
Then—
"I was angry," he admitted. "When you told me. I thought if I pushed hard enough, something would change."
Yuna looked at him carefully. "You always push."
"Yeah," he gave a small smile. "But this time… I can't move it."
The wind brushed against them.
"I don't know how to say goodbye," he said.
"Then don't," she replied.
He looked at her.
"Say something else."
His throat tightened.
"I love you."
It wasn't loud.
It wasn't dramatic.
It was steady.
And completely real.
Yuna's breath left her all at once.
"I know," she whispered.
He almost laughed. "That's not fair."
Tears filled her eyes. "I love you too."
There it was.
No running.
No hiding.
Just truth.
He stepped closer.
Close enough to feel her breathing.
"If you stay," he said softly, "I'll spend the rest of my life trying to deserve you."
She shook her head gently. "And if I go?"
"I'll spend the rest of mine remembering you."
That broke her.
She wrapped her arms around him, and this time neither of them tried to be strong.
The river kept moving.
Unbothered.
From a distance, unseen, Mio stood at the top of the path.
She hadn't meant to follow them.
She hadn't meant to hear.
But she did.
And instead of shattering, she felt something unexpected—
Peace.
Not because it didn't hurt.
But because it was honest.
She turned and walked home quietly, tears falling freely but not bitterly.
"Be happy," she whispered to the night.
Back at the river, Ren rested his forehead against Yuna's.
"Don't disappear," he said.
"I won't," she promised.
It was a dangerous promise.
But she made it anyway.
When they finally separated, it felt like peeling skin from bone.
He watched her walk away.
She didn't look back.
If she did, she wouldn't leave.
August 28 was only hours away.
And none of them were ready.