I was going steady.53Please respect copyright.PENANALNrbJTEh0P
Nothing too grand, nothing too heavy.53Please respect copyright.PENANAp1ai5X0mYu
Just... life. With a little joy stitched into the seams.
Academics, Thub, labs, scattered exams —53Please respect copyright.PENANAUaQkT8h4ng
it was all a beautiful mess.53Please respect copyright.PENANArjmCPDUjcJ
Filled with tension, doubts, and the classic "why should I care" moments.53Please respect copyright.PENANAOhhETyQn7F
A delicate dance between chaos and comfort.
And somewhere in between,53Please respect copyright.PENANAqduKVuO0M6
there was her.53Please respect copyright.PENANAeYrURdqeLm
Forevermore.
There were small fights —53Please respect copyright.PENANAkbvHgMXDpU
misunderstandings, moments of silence that felt longer than they should.53Please respect copyright.PENANA7rZaR7qYSv
But I had my way of patching things up.
I would just go near her.53Please respect copyright.PENANABbFYlsSPQF
Stand beside her.53Please respect copyright.PENANACWHAoWn5o8
Not a single word. No explanations. No apologies.53Please respect copyright.PENANAXh8vHHR90O
Just presence.
It was my little way of saying,53Please respect copyright.PENANA0o01Nnv1lR
"I’m here. Still here. Through everything. Even if you forget, I won’t."
Maybe she never noticed it.53Please respect copyright.PENANASVrXu1l0f3
Maybe she did.53Please respect copyright.PENANAMHleNKVvWD
But I never waited to know.
I did things for her —53Please respect copyright.PENANAp2QimQSRjW
small, silly things that would go unnoticed.53Please respect copyright.PENANASozoB89nKQ
Sometimes even the big things,53Please respect copyright.PENANA2mWGmZg7R9
the kind that pull pieces out of your soul when no one’s watching.
And all the while, I wondered:53Please respect copyright.PENANAxcidubekqr
What even is the line between selfishness and selflessness?
Isn’t wanting to be selfless...53Please respect copyright.PENANA0XQmziusBA
a kind of selfishness too?
Was I helping her because I cared?53Please respect copyright.PENANAthUT5MRE4d
Or because I wanted her to see that I cared?
Was I doing it all for her happiness?53Please respect copyright.PENANAfYaVAMtveV
Or for that brief warmth I felt when she smiled because of me?
I guess I’ll never really know.53Please respect copyright.PENANAZaSu11LRw2
Maybe the heart doesn’t divide its reasons.53Please respect copyright.PENANAWwstCDRgxx
Maybe it just does what it does.
Meanwhile, preparations for Code Engine had begun.53Please respect copyright.PENANA2wotcEKWZq
And to me, skipping academics was the biggest motivator of all.
Making stalls, designing banners, running around with duct tape and dreams —53Please respect copyright.PENANAvQWOMtV831
it wasn’t my thing.53Please respect copyright.PENANAPjwR62XZtm
But it was fun.53Please respect copyright.PENANA12ALdl3tih
Mostly because it pulled me away from the routine.
We went class to class,53Please respect copyright.PENANA3Ku3MQZuk2
all three campuses, handing out invitations like salesmen of curiosity.53Please respect copyright.PENANAn7pb6f2OjL
I stood awkwardly outside classrooms while seniors did the talking.
I didn’t mind.53Please respect copyright.PENANANAjT8IAktL
The wind was cooler outside.53Please respect copyright.PENANAckWchtJ80U
And I was invisible — the way I liked it.
But then... something changed.
People started recognizing me.53Please respect copyright.PENANAgEb18TLLyP
They’d point, whisper, wave.53Please respect copyright.PENANAEyEQFPf10v
"Hey, you're Nova, right?"
It was surreal.53Please respect copyright.PENANAKaVL3lSAd1
But I didn’t let it get to my head.
Funny thing is, I only ever found out about most of it53Please respect copyright.PENANAC27U3jy9YU
from her.
From Forevermore.
Somehow, slowly,53Please respect copyright.PENANAP4IDQciF9f
Rudeus became someone.
Someone important.53Please respect copyright.PENANAdZghIW8kFq
Someone known.53Please respect copyright.PENANAwYnnQ0KGxg
Someone respected in Thub for his coding skills, for his brain, for the myth others saw in him.
But not many knew about the boy behind Rudeus —53Please respect copyright.PENANAFWQxTWjbe8
the one who stood in silence beside the person he cherished,53Please respect copyright.PENANAK4boU87H0g
because that was the only language he knew.53Please respect copyright.PENANAhQNKUgrCAQ
The boy who questioned every emotion he ever felt.53Please respect copyright.PENANA538heN6aHy
The boy who just wanted to be a friend who stays.