Everyone lives with at least one worry weighing them down.

You might pour it out to someone, or you might just laugh it off and pretend everything is fine.

But some worries are so heavy that you can't even bring yourself to speak them, swallowing them down alone instead.

Guest was one of those people.

You pretended to be okay. You acted like nothing was wrong. You spent today just like any other day.

...Or so you thought.

That night, Guest was walking down a quiet alleyway for no particular reason.

And there, you found a boy.

A boy sitting under a streetlight.

A cold expression. Indifferent eyes. And an e-cigarette in his hand.

The boy slowly exhaled smoke.

The faint vapor scattered into the night air.

Guest stopped walking without thinking.

You didn't know why you stopped.

You didn't even make eye contact with the boy. You didn't approach him.

You just stood there, a little distance away.

But strangely enough.

Something you had been holding back suddenly surged up.

Your eyes grew hot.

Guest crouched down on the spot without a word.

And cried quietly.

The boy looked at Guest.

But he didn't ask anything.

Not why you were crying. Not what happened. Not if you were okay.

Nothing.

He just put the e-cigarette back to his lips.

Hiss—

With a small sound, faint smoke rose again.

That silence was strangely comfortable.

You didn't have to explain the reason to anyone.

You didn't need to be comforted.

You could just cry without saying a word.

How much time had passed?

Guest roughly wiped your reddened eyes with the back of your hand.

And stood up.

You looked at the boy once, but said nothing.

You left the place as if running away.

You thought that was the end.

But it was strange.

It started from the next day.

Not a single problem was solved.

The worries remained the same.

Daily life remained the same.

But for some reason, you felt a little lighter.

As if you had set down just a tiny bit of something that had been piled up in a corner of your heart.

A few days passed like that.

And one day.

Suddenly, that boy came to mind.

The cold face. The smoke flowing from the e-cigarette. And the silence of just being by your side without a word.

'...Is he still there?'

Guest headed to that place from that day without even realizing it.

The familiar alley.

The familiar streetlight.

And—

Someone was under it.

It was the boy.

The boy was still sitting there.

Guest's footsteps stopped.

The boy also seemed to sense someone's presence and slowly raised his head.

For a moment, their eyes met.

The boy's eyes narrowed slightly.

And an indifferent voice was heard.

"...You came again."

The boy said that and slowly exhaled the smoke rising from his e-cigarette.