10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAhbES1P4Cs
The stars overhead blinked gently as Ric walked away, slow and quiet, his bag slung over one shoulder and a paper bag of cookies swinging in the other.
Ren stood there on the corner where the road split — one leading home, the other leading to everything he wasn’t brave enough to say.
Ric hadn’t asked for anything.
Not really.
But Ren had heard it anyway.
> “Keep smiling like that… and I won’t be able to stay just your friend for much longer.”
He could’ve let him go.
He should’ve let him go.
But his legs moved before his fear did.
“Ric—!”
Ric froze mid-step. Slowly turned.
Ren was still there, under the warm yellow glow of the streetlamp, eyes wide and voice shaky.
“…Why did you stay?” Ren asked, breathless, the question tumbling out without polish.
Ric tilted his head. “What do you mean?”
“You could’ve given up on me weeks ago. You could’ve stopped… noticing. Stopped showing up. I didn’t make it easy for you.”
Ric stepped back into the light, back into Ren’s space — gentle, deliberate.
“Because,” he said, “you never once told me to leave.”
Ren opened his mouth, then closed it.
“I know you push people away,” Ric continued, voice low and steady, “but you never pushed me too hard. You flinched, but you stayed. You got quiet, but you never shut me out. And that’s enough.”
Ren looked at him, eyes glassy. “But I don’t know what I’m doing.”
“You don’t have to,” Ric said. “Just don’t disappear.”
---
🌙 The Next Morning
Ren stared at his reflection in the mirror as Ploy braids her doll’s hair beside him.
“You look weird,” she said bluntly.
“I always look like this.”
“No, today you look… nervous.”
“I’m not.”
“You’re wearing cologne.”
Ren paused. “No I’m not.”
“You are. It smells like grown-up kisses.”
Ren turned red instantly. “WHAT—”
“Mom told me.”
“Oh my god.”
---
At the university, Ric was halfway through editing clips in the film lab when his phone buzzed. He didn’t even check it right away… until he glanced down and saw the name.
Ren 💬
> “Do you wanna have lunch with me? Just us.”
Ric blinked.
And then smiled.
The kind of smile that made Kao yell from across the lab:
“OKAY WHO’S TEXTING YOU AND WHY DO YOU LOOK LIKE YOU JUST WON A LOTTERY OF CUTE.”
Ric grinned. “Shut up.”
---
🌿 Later — The Hidden Spot Behind the Theater Building
It was quiet here. A stone bench tucked behind vines and an old staircase. No students. Just wind and birds.
Ren sat cross-legged on the bench, a small packed lunch from his mom beside him.
Ric showed up five minutes late, slightly out of breath. “Sorry—Tae made me rewatch his psych presentation.”
Ren handed him a juice box. “Compensation for your suffering.”
Ric raised a brow. “You packed me a lunch?”
“Mom did. She said, and I quote, ‘Don’t keep that boy waiting empty-handed.’”
Ric chuckled softly. “I like her.”
“I know.”
They ate in silence for a bit. Then Ren spoke, quiet but steady.
“I think about you when you’re not around.”
Ric looked up.
Ren didn’t stop.
“I try not to. But then I’ll hear something funny and think about telling you. Or I’ll see something beautiful and want to send it to you. Or someone says something and I hear your voice in my head instead.”
He finally looked up.
Ric’s eyes were wide — caught off guard for the first time.
“I don’t know how to say it the right way yet,” Ren said. “But I think… I don’t want to keep pretending this is just something casual.”
Ric didn’t say anything.
He leaned forward.
Reached across the small distance between them.
And placed his hand, open-palmed, over Ren’s.
Not holding. Just touching.
And then whispered, “Thank you for staying.”
---
That Night – In the Group Chat
📱Kao:
SO DID YOU OR DID YOU NOT HOLD HANDS
📱Ric:
Yes.
📱Film:
OH MY GODDDDDDDDDDDDDDD
📱Mint:
I KNEW IT. I TOLD YOU. I TOLD YOU ALL.
📱Tae:
Is this… progress?
📱Ric:
It’s everything.
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