She texted Peter back quickly...before even getting ready for her architectural design jury. But almost immediately, his messages started flooding in.

Did you leave already?

Did you sleep well?

Can we meet later?

His words, were meant to sound caring...

Some might even find this sweet. Maybe even Aria once thought so. But it pressed against her like weight, like he couldn’t understand that she was busy, that she needed space... It wasn't even his first time experiencing her juries. Yet he talked.. as if her schedule, her responsibilities, her very state of mind weren’t taken into consideration at all. 

She grabbed her model and sketch roll, and left the house, double-checking over and over if she had everything she needed. Missing even a single sheet in architecture could mean disaster.

The campus was already buzzing with exhausted faces. Her classmates carried sheets, models, and cups of cold coffee, their eyes ringed with dark circles that only architecture students could truly understand. Five years of endless juries, sleepless nights, and endless “redo’s” had taught Aria one thing: architecture wasn’t just a degree, it was a battle of endurance.

Once, she had dreamed of this life with passion. Sketching until her fingers cramped. Staying up to polish tiny details in models. Pouring her soul into design. But now, the weight of expectations, deadlines, and her own slipping motivation often felt suffocating.

And still, she kept pushing.

Her phone buzzed again, this time from her bestie Victoria.

Go girl, slay hard. Show me your jury outfit later! 💕 

Short, sweet, no demands. It left her smiling without draining her.

That’s when it hit her. She wasn’t the same girl she had been when she first joined this degree. Back then, she was open, talkative, eager to make friends. Now, in her second-last year, she was quieter, lonelier, more guarded. The friendships she had once imagined never really formed ....Sara was the only one she could truly call a friend in her university. The rest were just faces she passed by between deadlines.

Somewhere along the way, between Peter’s storms and the exhausting rhythm of architecture school, she shrinked herself... She kind of lost herself...