You know that moment when the night’s too quiet…67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBZlTfMT7rY
and your phone screen glows a little brighter than usual?
That was me.
Lying on my bed, earphones in but no music playing,67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIb3nOP2a7N
just the hum of the fan — louder than usual tonight —67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQlPt1yfexV
and her last message on the screen.
It wasn’t anything romantic.67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPGNFfj2jMC
Not a heart, not a wink, not even a punctuation mark that hinted at something.67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrE1yOjxEM6
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.67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6GeSGgOzN9
Really talking.67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq7YoN6VOrR
No layers, no sarcasm, no anime metaphors to hide behind…
But it felt real.67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQubYUn9lyL
The kind of real that makes you nervous — not because something’s wrong,67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWhl8H4gT52
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,67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlDrHRTfGaw
a casual text becomes a late-night heart spill,67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa7mwSKdAx9
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,67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd2M6G0lTW4
"I’ve been trying to get your attention since that first day."67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2z0crKTl5T
Or67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUYSXY09DdL
"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:67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡumdCjyS5nV
"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.67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbq5lb7ogMP
Instead, I did what most cowards do when their heart starts to overthink:67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡscPE8NczDW
I typed.67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ64Gt6TG2q6
Deleted.67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUGckvSDiDw
Typed again.67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1bLgnkUiwk
Deleted.67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ54TuBDuI9i
Typed again.67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLOZWMhwB6a
Deleted.67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ6J2PtZW3Q
Typed again.67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVnWvOxFL5v
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?67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3cEWySl9QM
Does loving someone mean they owe me something?67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnIla63e3P5
A reply? A smile? A place in their life?
No, right?
Because love… love’s not a job interview.67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbk7Q3S9IiD
You don’t apply and wait for a callback.67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL0jdItBYZ9
There’s no resume, no credentials, no guaranteed outcome.
You just feel.67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡivGAxiCSiD
And hope.
But here’s the brutal truth:67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAqGvLhtwVa
Hope is not a strategy.
I began to spiral.67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQwjC81kWG3
Thinking about arranged marriages, random unions born out of astrology and surnames.67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjI5hqTQdwy
People saying "yes" to strangers in mandaps because their families believed it was enough.67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrQWDdgbP2J
And somehow, somehow, love blooms there too.
Is it just the absence of fear?67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiRtENoWWUJ
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—67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡusGzwjC4zz
“I love pizza.”67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXoAmwrQvg7
“I love that show.”67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkbfyDP2sPU
“I love her.”
when the night’s too quiet and your heart's louder than it should be,67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2fLYAFUYn5
you start to ask…
What even is love?
Is it the late-night texts that make you smile like an idiot?67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo7ReW2wKk1
Or the effort to learn C just to help someone who might not even know your name?67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYw06ipZTfF
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?67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOR77Xs2imi
If love means hiding your feelings just to stay close... is that love?67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzrdafkgyqZ
If love never gets returned, was it ever real?
Or maybe love isn’t about return policies at all.67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2CV50L5Y1V
Maybe love is giving without expecting.67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAkJf7MBaiU
Hoping without demanding.67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTxgGGYMZCq
Staying, even if the door never opens.
And if it’s the latter — if love is just dumb luck —67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbeOS2NBP8q
then what does that make me?
A gambler?67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQAJq4JpIqM
A poet with no ink?67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4iOmLodjkH
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.67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUKSCOfllln
It doesn’t ask for returns.67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzQ8gd8lgn1
It just… is.
Like the moon.67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ20mh5RBczP
Distant. Cold sometimes.67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzNZdd86n2q
But still shining. Still pulling tides.
So I made a decision.
One I thought I’d regret.67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8SMhUFXVrq
One that felt like surrender.67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡroFJBIkQDz
But maybe it was the only honest thing left.
I typed:67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhtyH6L8PuM
"Let’s be friends."
And I meant it.67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdpMdXujqqZ
Not because I wanted to.67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTXPj7qdEa4
But because I had to.
Because I know — deep down — even if I poured out every syllable of my soul,67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu34EUisgt6
let the poet in me die trying,67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI3c4KxPZAl
the answer would still be silence, or worse… pity.67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXFEVcyzB1Z
time won't change the answer,67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡndivtjWeyh
in this moment or in the future.
And I don’t want pity.67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe4nv8QFYOf
I want her to smile when she sees my name.67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0nGLgwLed5
Even if it’s only ever as a friend.
So yeah, laugh all you want.
But that was my truth:67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJa5M4gUr3u
Maybe I’ll never be someone important in her life.67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡku9VbULlxe
But I can be someone good.67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjyEqmweLMc
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:67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3CM9I5K5Jx
"Sure, of course."67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnY5XDqBHui
I smiled.
Because that’s more than most people get.67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhoNFFKzoh0
And sometimes, friendship is the love story that doesn’t get written into poetry —67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJdWvvRHzGG
but it still matters.
The night grew older.67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsbUHgeAJ6M
The conversation faded into a simple:67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYvTUjaihPd
“Goodnight.”
And I lay there.67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0gHHvn4v9G
Phone resting like a heartbeat on my chest.67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYik1mERkCU
Ceiling fan humming.67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl3TDbnO7Fn
Eyes open.67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2po1DXOOsz
Thoughts louder than sleep.
But slowly, everything softened.
The fan blurred into background.67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIHIIwnNUDa
The silence turned into a lullaby.67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsNnJEalGZP
And Nova... drifted.
Not into a dream of her,67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS3UdcsbLxO
not even of love,67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKD8tlCuVFo
but something stranger.
He stood at the edge of a nameless rooftop, under a starless sky.67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6zPvjn8kr5
No moon. No wind.67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2EWIENbW2c
Just an ocean of lights flickering below — like forgotten wishes.
A voice — his own, but older — whispered beside him:67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo9UHJ4xNWn
“Do you think love makes you whole?67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwIxxQVQ0Kr
Or does it just reveal the parts you’ve been missing?”
Nova didn’t answer.67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2zPrHWjrmr
He couldn’t.
Because in that dream,67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8PzMY9ZFqZ
he wasn’t searching for love anymore.
He was searching for something deeper.67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHprWWI9KNd
A reason.67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL9JP7IwS9y
A pause in the chaos that made it all make sense.
But life doesn’t hand you clarity like that.
Sometimes it just gives you67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzVKXUeOe7F
a feeling.67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwnDMIo3AaO
A choice.67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrbDOAFAD0R
And the hope that in some parallel version of now,67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMjBQvfy48V
you say the thing you never said —
and someone stays.
But in this world, in this moment?
Nova slept.
A little sad.67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEHhYYTWOpb
A little wiser.
And somewhere between the real and the not-quite-real,67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9e9OpP9Du4
he whispered one last thing to the darkness:
“If love is a question no one knows how to answer...67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMFRAljRq5f
maybe I’ll spend my life learning how to ask it better.”
Then darkness.
And for once...67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQuHhoOjGke
peace.
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