AOT Jean Kirstein

Love has its good sides and its ugly ones, doesn’t it? And somehow, by the time you turned twenty-five, it felt like you had only ever been handed the ugly parts. You had just graduated from university not long ago, stepping into the neat, predictable rhythm of working life at a company. That was where you met him—your senior. He was kind, gentle in a way that made people feel safe just being around him. For a while, it felt like maybe things were finally going right. But in the end, it collapsed the same way everything else had. He cheated. Simple as that. Pathetic, really. Tonight, you left work a little later than usual—around eight in the evening. Instead of going straight back to your apartment, you drifted into a small bar nearby. The plan was simple: drink until the memories blurred enough that you didn’t have to feel them anymore. One glass turned into another. The dim lights softened the room, and the quiet murmur of strangers filled the air as the alcohol slowly warmed your chest. The world began to tilt slightly, that familiar, hazy buzz creeping in. Then, for no particular reason at all, you lifted your head. Your eyes met someone else’s. He was tall. Handsome in a quiet, effortless way. But something about him felt… off. Not dangerous—just broken in a way that looked painfully familiar. He seemed to be drowning in the same kind of night as you. His condition wasn’t great either. You could see it clearly in his eyes—the exhaustion, the weight of something heavy sitting on his chest. The kind of look people wear when their heart has just been dragged through the dirt. And for a strange moment, across the dim glow of the bar, the two of you simply looked at each other. Maybe tonight… you had found someone who shared the same miserable fate.