As the cold breeze roamed through the atmosphere and brushed against my face, I looked up to observe the sky. My eyes caught sight of the constellations—silent companions that held many fond memories for me.

Highland is one of the most prestigious universities in our country. I was fortunate to be accepted, even though I had completely wrecked my interview.

On the first day, as I entered the university gate, a girl approached me and said,

"Hi, are you a new student? My name is Miku, and I’m in the management faculty."

"Hello, I’m Daisy. I think we’re in the same faculty," I replied.

Since she had arrived a few hours earlier, she kindly offered to show me around. Later, we discovered we had been assigned to the same hostel—and not only that, we were roommates too. To sum it up, she became my first friend at Highland. That day helped us settle into our new environment with a bit more ease.

The next morning, the sound of an alarm clock jolted me awake. It was 5 a.m. I got out of bed, freshened up, and got dressed. We had breakfast around 6:30 a.m., and after returning to the hostel, Miku and I prepared for our first classes. From that day on, this routine continued for about three months.

As the third month neared its end, rumours began to circulate about a merger between our university and a newly established one. Unaware of what was coming, I found myself feeling oddly excited.

Finally, the day arrived. The two universities officially merged, and the new name became New Highland. As a result, many new students joined our faculty. In our class alone, twenty new faces appeared. On the first day after the merger, I heard a girl shout across the hallway,

“Does anyone know which class Eric got accepted into?”

Like a moth drawn to light, I found myself strangely captivated by that name.

It took about a week for everyone to settle in. After that, only three months remained until the end of our first semester, and naturally, everyone began focusing on their studies. We had countless papers to write and presentations to prepare. The workload was intense—so many assignments that we barely had time for ourselves. Time flew by, and before we knew it, exam week had arrived. After completing our exams, we were promoted to the next semester.

A new semester meant a fresh start. Classrooms were reassigned, and students were shuffled. Miku and I ended up in different classes.

One day in late winter, as I was leaving my classroom, I heard someone call out,

“Eric, wait a minute! I’m coming with you!”

As I stepped into the corridor, I spotted a boy standing ahead. He had a light brown complexion, curly black hair, and wore glasses. At first glance, he looked like a typical nerd—but his confident posture and stylish outfit suggested otherwise. The book in his hand, the slight smile on his face, and the breeze tousling his hair made him look effortlessly attractive.

I was so captivated by him that I didn’t even notice my friend calling me to move away from the door.

Even though I only saw him for a few seconds, something inside me whispered with certainty:

He was the one…

The new day was a new beginning, but it felt like my time was stuck in that one moment. I acted as if it didn't matter, but deep down, I was dying to find out more about him. I started searching for him in the crowd. Whenever there were programs in the hall, my eye would always scan for him. Each time, I was hoping my hope flowed like a river, endless and eager. I couldn't even capture a glimpse.

It would have been easier to find him if I'd asked my close friends to help, but as an introverted girl, my friend circle wasn't that big. I only had a few friends with whom I spoke regularly. At the same time, I wasn't ready to talk about him with them. I had started to doubt my own instincts, those hopeful feelings I had about him. Weeks had flown by like a bullet train since I last saw him, and my friends and I were buried in the usual activities like reading, researching, and working on assignments.

So we decided to play basketball to escape the monotony of our boring schedules. The funniest part? None of us actually knew how to play properly.

One fine winter afternoon, after class, we headed to the basketball court. We warmed up by tossing the ball into the air and trying to catch it like a game of catch and throw. It was a well-known fact that boys would love to play sports during their free time. Although we were just there for fun, my heart was secretly hoping to spot him. The entire time we were playing, not a single second passed without me scanning the area and searching for him. In the end, it was me and my heart left with the foolishness of hoping.

Another normal day.

As usual, I was walking through the corridor when I heard a voice, "Daisy! Wait a minute; I have something to tell you. "

I turned around and saw Lucy, one of my closest friends. She ran up to me and said, "Thank God I found you. If you are free, can you help me move some instruments to the music room?"

I agreed, since it had been a while since I visited the music hall. Back in high school, I used to play the reed organ. I had actually met Lucy in that music hall while touring the university for the first time.

As we stepped inside, the first thing I saw was a boy standing on the stage with a bass guitar in his hand. At that moment, I realized why I hadn't seen him in the field.

We placed the instruments in their places and decided to grab coffee, as it had been a while since Lucy and I caught up.

Just as I was about to step out from the hall, I heard a voice that said,

"Daisy, I have something to tell you..."

There are millions of stars in the sky, but the one that catches people's eyes is always the brightest one. As I heard the voice call out to me, I suddenly felt nervous. My nervousness came from the fact that the only person I knew in the hall was Lucy. At that time, I thought I'm not a star, not even the brightest one. So, who is this person who knows me?

Moreover, I wasn't familiar with the voice. I turned around to see an unfamiliar figure.

The first question that came to my mind slipped out, "Do you know me?"

He replied, "Not yet, but I will soon."

Again, I asked, "How do you know my name?"

He replied, "What? Eric told me."

The moment I heard the name Eric, it felt like I was standing at the top of Mt. Everest. But I knew I couldn't let it show. After all, we hadn't even met face-to-face or spoken a word to each other. I only knew his name because I heard his friend call him. So I decided to play cool, like a girl completely unaware of who he was.

I asked him, "Who are you? And who is Eric?"

He replied, "I'm James."

Before he could say more, Lucy came looking for me. The moment Lucy saw the boy, she lit up. "What's up, James?" she said causally.

I turned to her and asked, "You know him?"

She leaned in and whispered, "he is the guy I told you I was interested in."

I was shocked and honestly a bit amazed at how easily she could start a conversation with someone she was interested in. Then she invited him to join us for coffee as we were planning to catch up anyway.

James responded, "Can you wait a minute?" I will call Eric as well as he is almost done with his stuff."

What in the world is happening today? Is it destiny or just a bundle of coincidence? Everything was happening so fast that I didn't even have time to figure out whether I liked him... or something more.

Back in school, I used to love reading quotes, and one of them changed how I looked at things, especially flowers. It read, "If you like a flower, you pluck it up, but if you love a flower, you care for it." Since the day I read that, I stopped picking the flowers just because they were beautiful.

Now, I found myself caught in a dilemma. Should I go to the café with them? If I did, I might get to know more about him. If I didn't... who knows when I would get such a chance again. But deep down, I didn't want to move forward before figuring out whether I liked him or loved him.

Apparently, my face betrayed my thoughts because Lucy looked at me and said, "Is something bothering

you, Daisy?"

Before I could answer or even get closer to my thoughts, Eric and James appeared beside us, and just like that, we were heading towards the café.