You know that moment when the night’s too quiet…134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5FoqBWSOCH
and your phone screen glows a little brighter than usual?
That was me.
Lying on my bed, earphones in but no music playing,134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1x2UUWU5wF
just the hum of the fan — louder than usual tonight —134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNCtUTcT310
and her last message on the screen.
It wasn’t anything romantic.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKAeJMgzlGh
Not a heart, not a wink, not even a punctuation mark that hinted at something.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO3LfSbMn8R
Just words. Casual, comfortable. But from her.
And I just stared at them, like they were the final piece of a puzzle I wasn’t supposed to complete.
We were talking.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPCuygk6vgc
Really talking.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYuB6qqd4B9
No layers, no sarcasm, no anime metaphors to hide behind…
But it felt real.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUEaq7GANww
The kind of real that makes you nervous — not because something’s wrong,134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEw32EFHHtg
but because it’s too good. Too close.
And I began to wonder:
How much can you talk to someone before you say something you shouldn’t?
Before a joke turns into a confession,134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrMc4SXl9EH
a casual text becomes a late-night heart spill,134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGPGyFrFLkN
and silence feels heavier than words?
How much longer can we keep it buried?
I could feel it bubbling up.
The things I wasn’t supposed to say.
Like,134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB47fYy3pZy
"I’ve been trying to get your attention since that first day."134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKSyWYQo2Pi
Or134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡynkSZX05U4
"When you walk into a room, I pretend I didn’t see you first, but I always do."
Or the most dangerous of them all:134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAA1F8rNMRX
"You called me 'bro' earlier... did you mean that like 'brother,' or more like... awkward placeholder for someone you don’t know how to place yet?"
But I didn’t send any of that.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt8sZMEIfhC
Instead, I did what most cowards do when their heart starts to overthink:134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfwADBxBWa3
I typed.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡulyuyJBGi6
Deleted.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEvCaNpWn1Z
Typed again.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrg08mMxkp7
Deleted.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR36XIw6PBm
Typed again.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMxyRRuImvu
Deleted.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMT8TDNffTo
Typed again.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFCpw3OgWcJ
Paused.
And somewhere between all that hesitation, I asked myself something even worse:
If I truly like someone… can I ask them to like me back?
And isn't that just the most foolish question in the world?
What gives me the right to expect love just because I give it?134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡePVWagE1rG
Does loving someone mean they owe me something?134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSAGvKFPp7P
A reply? A smile? A place in their life?
No, right?
Because love… love’s not a job interview.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtiZceBZUyd
You don’t apply and wait for a callback.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡckzCZFP1AC
There’s no resume, no credentials, no guaranteed outcome.
You just feel.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt892TiLzOk
And hope.
But here’s the brutal truth:134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkpO2sLskqV
Hope is not a strategy.
I began to spiral.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpmNhrxPZKm
Thinking about arranged marriages, random unions born out of astrology and surnames.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLSpm6fJjBc
People saying "yes" to strangers in mandaps because their families believed it was enough.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMrDgPChLKT
And somehow, somehow, love blooms there too.
Is it just the absence of fear?134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbx5gCeBATN
Is it a choice? A decision made over and over again, like brushing your teeth or choosing peace over pride?
Or is it just a lucky accident?
So then what is love?
Love.
Four letters. Infinite confusion.
We throw it around so casually—134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1fUywXL1FD
“I love pizza.”134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ06duEjRzzA
“I love that show.”134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUxXwOWI5Uo
“I love her.”
when the night’s too quiet and your heart's louder than it should be,134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX5TdoKEaQJ
you start to ask…
What even is love?
Is it the late-night texts that make you smile like an idiot?134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdAuHBkU53V
Or the effort to learn C just to help someone who might not even know your name?134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoHm0iPQVm0
Is it being seen, truly seen—not for how smart or funny or helpful you are—but for just being you?
Because I wasn’t sure anymore.
If love means trying to be enough for someone... is that love?134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYJSwPsi5wo
If love means hiding your feelings just to stay close... is that love?134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3S7FiCiuUU
If love never gets returned, was it ever real?
Or maybe love isn’t about return policies at all.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ21uwVyaxpU
Maybe love is giving without expecting.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmYWnIGbiPG
Hoping without demanding.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB4JcWJ8TwV
Staying, even if the door never opens.
And if it’s the latter — if love is just dumb luck —134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ828PdPWYD5
then what does that make me?
A gambler?134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ82cUczGAQu
A poet with no ink?134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjfivCz6jFM
A fool tossing feelings into a wishing well that’s been dry for years?
All I know is this:
Love, the real kind, the scary kind — it doesn’t demand.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnS3YxWxVj4
It doesn’t ask for returns.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgAVzdo5BA4
It just… is.
Like the moon.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2XHYSItFyz
Distant. Cold sometimes.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSIP4fCJHnl
But still shining. Still pulling tides.
So I made a decision.
One I thought I’d regret.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvLV1XEcMjE
One that felt like surrender.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTzF34XZc8s
But maybe it was the only honest thing left.
I typed:134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf9RpvV0NWY
"Let’s be friends."
And I meant it.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjW85pVoDfp
Not because I wanted to.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBAyFdtBhva
But because I had to.
Because I know — deep down — even if I poured out every syllable of my soul,134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRN905EMO9k
let the poet in me die trying,134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡta2nnDy2ol
the answer would still be silence, or worse… pity.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1qB3bLpo2s
time won't change the answer,134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLj6SgYWQ1R
in this moment or in the future.
And I don’t want pity.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHLOGHuii5e
I want her to smile when she sees my name.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcpGmglIXE4
Even if it’s only ever as a friend.
So yeah, laugh all you want.
But that was my truth:134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0A0H3OsUuR
Maybe I’ll never be someone important in her life.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5hQOJwTadT
But I can be someone good.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0vdjV1VCM6
Steady. Loyal. Low-maintenance. Someone she doesn’t have to second guess.
Hopeless romantic?
Guilty.
But hopeless doesn’t mean worthless.
So when she replied:134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwP7po4f8Io
"Sure, of course."134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxaNOLBEQML
I smiled.
Because that’s more than most people get.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbIvQqtRTFM
And sometimes, friendship is the love story that doesn’t get written into poetry —134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl3qAD9RVJ5
but it still matters.
The night grew older.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyLOduSFd0x
The conversation faded into a simple:134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk4Fv1cLdaa
“Goodnight.”
And I lay there.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjjrRzsGxXz
Phone resting like a heartbeat on my chest.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa7xnsOo7AI
Ceiling fan humming.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡryQurDVx99
Eyes open.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvTH8OZDNXf
Thoughts louder than sleep.
But slowly, everything softened.
The fan blurred into background.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTA84OhC3gP
The silence turned into a lullaby.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6FGX0M61AZ
And Nova... drifted.
Not into a dream of her,134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtvHTATYesx
not even of love,134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPwzs6emneM
but something stranger.
He stood at the edge of a nameless rooftop, under a starless sky.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgbF11AKZxy
No moon. No wind.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuU83IsqjWq
Just an ocean of lights flickering below — like forgotten wishes.
A voice — his own, but older — whispered beside him:134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6ou3MAGiZ5
“Do you think love makes you whole?134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGgxbDO3mRN
Or does it just reveal the parts you’ve been missing?”
Nova didn’t answer.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnCDUdq3lun
He couldn’t.
Because in that dream,134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6tAh5ldjoT
he wasn’t searching for love anymore.
He was searching for something deeper.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgVyBczPgrA
A reason.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf6rpeGkD4c
A pause in the chaos that made it all make sense.
But life doesn’t hand you clarity like that.
Sometimes it just gives you134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh6u1YsY6RL
a feeling.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn9a1BZkVX9
A choice.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdYm0tGCOb0
And the hope that in some parallel version of now,134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrMcv3kjVDC
you say the thing you never said —
and someone stays.
But in this world, in this moment?
Nova slept.
A little sad.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEeXcp2dYWL
A little wiser.
And somewhere between the real and the not-quite-real,134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnybcrOZCUF
he whispered one last thing to the darkness:
“If love is a question no one knows how to answer...134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9MPiCl5F4U
maybe I’ll spend my life learning how to ask it better.”
Then darkness.
And for once...134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmBzk0cS8mC
peace.
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