The first box made everything worse.
Until then, leaving had still felt abstract.
A date on a calendar.A future version of reality.
But the moment Kai folded the first shirt and placed it inside cardboard—
It became real.
His room looked the same.
But not for long.
Books stacked in piles.
Drawers left open.
Half-filled bags on the floor.
The quiet disorder of someone preparing to go.
Velithra sat cross-legged near the bed, watching him sort through things.
"You're doing that wrong," she said.
Kai looked over.
"It's a shirt."
"You folded it like you were angry at it."
He let out a short laugh.
"I might be."
She reached for it.
"Give me that."
Kai handed it over.
Velithra refolded it properly and placed it in the box.
"There," she said. "Now it looks less tragic."
He smiled, but it faded quickly.
Because even with jokes—
The room still looked like goodbye.
Velithra noticed the shift in his expression.
"You okay?"
Kai stared at the open suitcase for a moment.
"No," he said honestly.
Then after a second—
"But I will be."
She appreciated that answer more than a fake one.
He sat down beside her on the floor.
For a while, neither of them touched the boxes.
"I hate this part," Kai admitted.
"The packing?"
"No. What it means."
Velithra looked around the room.
At the things that made it his.
The shelves.
The desk.
The chair by the window.
Soon, all of it would feel different.
"Yeah," she said quietly.
"I hate it too."
Kai leaned back against the bed frame.
"I thought I'd be more excited."
"You are excited."
He glanced at her.
She continued.
"You're just sad too."
That landed somewhere deep.
Because it was true.
Both things could exist at once.
Kai looked at the nearest box.
Half full.
Like a life paused mid-sentence.
"I didn't know you could feel opposite things this strongly at the same time," he said.
Velithra smiled faintly.
"You can."
He looked at her.
"You always sound like you already know everything."
"I don't," she said. "I just know this feeling."
He understood what she meant.
Change.
Loss.
Wanting something good while mourning what it costs.
After a while, Velithra nudged the next pile of clothes toward him.
"Come on."
Kai sighed dramatically.
"Heartbreak and chores in one afternoon."
"You'll survive."
They kept packing.
Slowly.
Talking in between.
Stopping more than necessary.
Not because they were lazy—
But because every finished box felt like time moving forward.
As the sun began to lower outside the window, the room looked different.
Cleaner.
Emptier.
Closer to departure.
Kai stood in the center of it and exhaled.
"I hate how fast this happened."
Velithra stood beside him.
"It didn't happen fast."
He frowned slightly.
"It feels like it did."
She reached for his hand.
"That's because it mattered."
He looked at her.
Then at the room.
Then back again.
"Stay a little longer?" he asked.
Velithra squeezed his fingers.
"I was planning to."
So they didn't touch another box that evening.
They just sat together in the middle of everything that was changing—
Holding onto what hadn't yet.