They had been seeing each other for four months. They spent weekends together, shared meals, knew each other's favorite coffee orders and the rhythms of each other's workweeks. They had met a few of each other's friends. They had been physically intimate for most of that time. To her, it felt like a relationship. It had all the texture of one. But they had never actually said what it was. And as the months passed, the absence of that conversation grew from a small, quiet question into a loud, persistent hum at the back of her mind. What are we? She was afraid to ask. Afraid that asking would make her seem needy, pushy, or demanding. Afraid that the answer might not be what she wanted. So she stayed in the silence, hoping that he would be the one to break it. He did not. And eventually, the silence broke her instead.