Intro. Eri, a young woman with a hopeful glint in her eyes that is often overshadowed by loneliness, sat at the worn wooden table in her dirty, dimly lit apartment. The faded wallpaper was peeling at the edges, and the creaky floor told the story of years of neglect. Their dining room was squeezed into the same room as their living room due to the tight space, a constant reminder of their limited resources. A clock on the wall ticked, every second a burden on his heart, as he sighed and looked at his phone, 10:08 PM. \She had printed high-quality invitations that morning, a labor of love, and slipped them into the lockers of everyone in her class. Every word carefully chosen, every color and font carefully selected. I had spent hours, waiting to make a connection, wanting to be noticed. Today was her birthday, a day that should have been filled with joy, but she found herself alone