Part 1The Gift That Was Passed On

"I sent a huge box of gifts to my crush.

The next day, I saw his unboxing video. It had ten thousand likes.

My heart swelled with anticipation.

But then I realized… he was opening a gift from the freshman girl he was mentoring.

My smile froze.

The message I was about to send—“Just sent a little something your way, the main event is coming later!”—was still sitting in my drafts.

Just then, my crush’s roommate sent me a private message.

“Hey, Mike gave me the jacket you sent him. Are you sure it’s okay for me to keep it?”

* * *

Tears welled in my eyes, but I still clung to a sliver of hope.

“Did he hate it that much?”

A bitter laugh escaped my lips. God, I sounded pathetic.

He was Mike’s roommate; he had no obligation to spare my feelings.

But to my surprise, this guy, who was usually so quiet, sent me a file.

“I recorded this for him.”

So, there was an unboxing video for my gifts after all.

Holding onto that last shred of fantasy, I opened the video.

And then, I fell into a long, heavy silence.