You know that moment when the night’s too quiet…104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMvcGN6kvhW
and your phone screen glows a little brighter than usual?
That was me.
Lying on my bed, earphones in but no music playing,104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD1h6qJ2Xqh
just the hum of the fan — louder than usual tonight —104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxnytv4xUVU
and her last message on the screen.
It wasn’t anything romantic.104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvMlhYnpKMJ
Not a heart, not a wink, not even a punctuation mark that hinted at something.104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUTIBVG5fyU
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.104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGyqwvFdFi3
Really talking.104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnUakwnhPs5
No layers, no sarcasm, no anime metaphors to hide behind…
But it felt real.104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4gfnqZ2lU2
The kind of real that makes you nervous — not because something’s wrong,104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeFIB69aZuS
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,104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnX7eYyEhgu
a casual text becomes a late-night heart spill,104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgEUuYWsh9P
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,104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXgQ5aCCfRM
"I’ve been trying to get your attention since that first day."104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaGDO3yz5GA
Or104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsZ033nuVco
"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:104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuYdTzulFAn
"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.104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTroYFwwAB7
Instead, I did what most cowards do when their heart starts to overthink:104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsIhjpTk1sq
I typed.104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN6mMklKWZ2
Deleted.104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFCS2QtYfzg
Typed again.104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFkDUUFQX9B
Deleted.104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ39GEVr02DL
Typed again.104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7UUO7lL3qM
Deleted.104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8brz6E4Htz
Typed again.104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGUkeGskEwp
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?104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0RkO1r7540
Does loving someone mean they owe me something?104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0VVHYvRBBo
A reply? A smile? A place in their life?
No, right?
Because love… love’s not a job interview.104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlRZpjI38O8
You don’t apply and wait for a callback.104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgYHhF46vL9
There’s no resume, no credentials, no guaranteed outcome.
You just feel.104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv3iSctqivt
And hope.
But here’s the brutal truth:104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRbDiPPqSNc
Hope is not a strategy.
I began to spiral.104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3JUuqQv419
Thinking about arranged marriages, random unions born out of astrology and surnames.104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgHEsY5CTHO
People saying "yes" to strangers in mandaps because their families believed it was enough.104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCWK7mXSBbz
And somehow, somehow, love blooms there too.
Is it just the absence of fear?104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8yUqzcESxm
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—104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz12sIvxeUt
“I love pizza.”104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtWngV8os6p
“I love that show.”104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdiuVWSxqO0
“I love her.”
when the night’s too quiet and your heart's louder than it should be,104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ54ScD759ao
you start to ask…
What even is love?
Is it the late-night texts that make you smile like an idiot?104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwUUUDDAXTf
Or the effort to learn C just to help someone who might not even know your name?104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGtxPLIthX4
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?104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ37FTHlAjpz
If love means hiding your feelings just to stay close... is that love?104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdrAo4oik7o
If love never gets returned, was it ever real?
Or maybe love isn’t about return policies at all.104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYHTxLXbn4W
Maybe love is giving without expecting.104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpES89fxl56
Hoping without demanding.104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPuuw5wGoMc
Staying, even if the door never opens.
And if it’s the latter — if love is just dumb luck —104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMXZIeu6TzY
then what does that make me?
A gambler?104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2cjZqMNI1c
A poet with no ink?104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKavY8nrQ7u
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.104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWWZWAmxgQo
It doesn’t ask for returns.104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiUfLgn9IcM
It just… is.
Like the moon.104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡutPtlLml34
Distant. Cold sometimes.104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrlMHcQJcUg
But still shining. Still pulling tides.
So I made a decision.
One I thought I’d regret.104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE0XU0942Wv
One that felt like surrender.104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9CkyrFR3sn
But maybe it was the only honest thing left.
I typed:104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYesz2VUhFY
"Let’s be friends."
And I meant it.104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlQAziM4568
Not because I wanted to.104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8RUdePK7HU
But because I had to.
Because I know — deep down — even if I poured out every syllable of my soul,104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN376MLr8Gz
let the poet in me die trying,104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC4u2oLtakQ
the answer would still be silence, or worse… pity.104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7v1Ah5Y1AM
time won't change the answer,104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJf0ySXDaOH
in this moment or in the future.
And I don’t want pity.104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5ItfvBHMZ2
I want her to smile when she sees my name.104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhYsBZDTee7
Even if it’s only ever as a friend.
So yeah, laugh all you want.
But that was my truth:104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXXYrB2sKp8
Maybe I’ll never be someone important in her life.104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlBIbaxdoe1
But I can be someone good.104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA4j4sJqGPs
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:104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGLvxIZxzmT
"Sure, of course."104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡup96HigE8C
I smiled.
Because that’s more than most people get.104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3L0ROZ46qM
And sometimes, friendship is the love story that doesn’t get written into poetry —104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4h5XV1Gdp4
but it still matters.
The night grew older.104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWrwOFc2uA9
The conversation faded into a simple:104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIbsGlsfQ0g
“Goodnight.”
And I lay there.104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjUdzfYTMt5
Phone resting like a heartbeat on my chest.104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN0AetiGit0
Ceiling fan humming.104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHcJ6pOaHa3
Eyes open.104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3OOviZWLGg
Thoughts louder than sleep.
But slowly, everything softened.
The fan blurred into background.104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCqR5nIWYrg
The silence turned into a lullaby.104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwKVvHogHvj
And Nova... drifted.
Not into a dream of her,104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaUy7JX0wOu
not even of love,104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkYoiQv8TDJ
but something stranger.
He stood at the edge of a nameless rooftop, under a starless sky.104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD06H0eRa77
No moon. No wind.104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwsFaIlGug8
Just an ocean of lights flickering below — like forgotten wishes.
A voice — his own, but older — whispered beside him:104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB3PpYNgClt
“Do you think love makes you whole?104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpBtqxo9mEj
Or does it just reveal the parts you’ve been missing?”
Nova didn’t answer.104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu0gtsf4JeN
He couldn’t.
Because in that dream,104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuePykeHe1Z
he wasn’t searching for love anymore.
He was searching for something deeper.104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCDo0jCvEQY
A reason.104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLjQmpRvU92
A pause in the chaos that made it all make sense.
But life doesn’t hand you clarity like that.
Sometimes it just gives you104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFmCxI0XGqV
a feeling.104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtnVIu5PetP
A choice.104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnmgNkFi13U
And the hope that in some parallel version of now,104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1cWAfCXO7u
you say the thing you never said —
and someone stays.
But in this world, in this moment?
Nova slept.
A little sad.104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmUJQpqBZmf
A little wiser.
And somewhere between the real and the not-quite-real,104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkCJjF9K6Ih
he whispered one last thing to the darkness:
“If love is a question no one knows how to answer...104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtdAsuI1WIB
maybe I’ll spend my life learning how to ask it better.”
Then darkness.
And for once...104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNjRoRoviqL
peace.
and then Add to home screen.