You know that moment when the night’s too quiet…111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvMFAnQtgJj
and your phone screen glows a little brighter than usual?
That was me.
Lying on my bed, earphones in but no music playing,111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvqfwo4h6q8
just the hum of the fan — louder than usual tonight —111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCS8N8UnI3s
and her last message on the screen.
It wasn’t anything romantic.111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbcPhc7wKvR
Not a heart, not a wink, not even a punctuation mark that hinted at something.111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡETTISTD7If
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.111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUfxa01mVtU
Really talking.111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfPbOdItrFg
No layers, no sarcasm, no anime metaphors to hide behind…
But it felt real.111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGS4HGi5E0l
The kind of real that makes you nervous — not because something’s wrong,111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv1sGWwydm4
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,111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnPnVt0jwWd
a casual text becomes a late-night heart spill,111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhWQ3fjKNhi
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,111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcQWlwGuag1
"I’ve been trying to get your attention since that first day."111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXNchlgE4XC
Or111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDBVchwh6V1
"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:111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEQAp0Z8xvB
"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.111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvTbiGalIcX
Instead, I did what most cowards do when their heart starts to overthink:111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhrSBRj4wYw
I typed.111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡunCDUkYlxg
Deleted.111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRxtP2Uhwyk
Typed again.111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2yH3TXhput
Deleted.111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1YRoSn2K2a
Typed again.111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv5Tl2dwHPr
Deleted.111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOOS66wHiWm
Typed again.111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9aFqdAS2b1
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?111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb1lyTEzy0j
Does loving someone mean they owe me something?111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ18fZRWf2Jl
A reply? A smile? A place in their life?
No, right?
Because love… love’s not a job interview.111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVDPFshbh07
You don’t apply and wait for a callback.111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDIDYxAlSMU
There’s no resume, no credentials, no guaranteed outcome.
You just feel.111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr9zbPoKev7
And hope.
But here’s the brutal truth:111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIr9rPlhONk
Hope is not a strategy.
I began to spiral.111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMS1R0nHJel
Thinking about arranged marriages, random unions born out of astrology and surnames.111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3wM1SM0Il8
People saying "yes" to strangers in mandaps because their families believed it was enough.111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6I7ITxhZk7
And somehow, somehow, love blooms there too.
Is it just the absence of fear?111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTzXZ3lFHI4
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—111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGccR3ZKESP
“I love pizza.”111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLL9knwzRue
“I love that show.”111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyJMatM2yci
“I love her.”
when the night’s too quiet and your heart's louder than it should be,111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8X9CCRaS75
you start to ask…
What even is love?
Is it the late-night texts that make you smile like an idiot?111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡslkXqLIxA9
Or the effort to learn C just to help someone who might not even know your name?111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0oMAHw1Spv
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?111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrGOLlbdo5i
If love means hiding your feelings just to stay close... is that love?111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡby3be4TJef
If love never gets returned, was it ever real?
Or maybe love isn’t about return policies at all.111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNvV8kVhMkR
Maybe love is giving without expecting.111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRcpQkPeH9i
Hoping without demanding.111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgdCWloO196
Staying, even if the door never opens.
And if it’s the latter — if love is just dumb luck —111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkeriLD6UpT
then what does that make me?
A gambler?111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCS0YQN2j72
A poet with no ink?111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFLhi88KEFe
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.111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYNwq91opqM
It doesn’t ask for returns.111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHw9lBMjDyw
It just… is.
Like the moon.111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMWScKjAQEc
Distant. Cold sometimes.111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHw8ObssYW9
But still shining. Still pulling tides.
So I made a decision.
One I thought I’d regret.111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF8KMAqiW02
One that felt like surrender.111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9s3pxqESic
But maybe it was the only honest thing left.
I typed:111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkhBBumkYRS
"Let’s be friends."
And I meant it.111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEq427kYuKj
Not because I wanted to.111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡISBLGRmV2y
But because I had to.
Because I know — deep down — even if I poured out every syllable of my soul,111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh8x5X6Q5lb
let the poet in me die trying,111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMwfr9ghYV3
the answer would still be silence, or worse… pity.111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAxJbEgttpB
time won't change the answer,111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdUkJQ2FbQ3
in this moment or in the future.
And I don’t want pity.111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKBW3mr12oF
I want her to smile when she sees my name.111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3wDDqA1Kwo
Even if it’s only ever as a friend.
So yeah, laugh all you want.
But that was my truth:111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNC7CXhZvy4
Maybe I’ll never be someone important in her life.111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1NLmjQNbS6
But I can be someone good.111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBwxcLZ25M0
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:111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeBsHjwxgwG
"Sure, of course."111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyXZJC04cFj
I smiled.
Because that’s more than most people get.111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPwfPgXauok
And sometimes, friendship is the love story that doesn’t get written into poetry —111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcUUgFzldva
but it still matters.
The night grew older.111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmgP0rlyiJ7
The conversation faded into a simple:111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡszUCTk1wd0
“Goodnight.”
And I lay there.111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfE6FXV76kr
Phone resting like a heartbeat on my chest.111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNTlO2VzNbm
Ceiling fan humming.111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsGiHHtNBDd
Eyes open.111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1UaSgNrIf9
Thoughts louder than sleep.
But slowly, everything softened.
The fan blurred into background.111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFSwBODTHds
The silence turned into a lullaby.111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtaNFMn5f0O
And Nova... drifted.
Not into a dream of her,111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW62OfhpSfp
not even of love,111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiff7cW0Jtc
but something stranger.
He stood at the edge of a nameless rooftop, under a starless sky.111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ34jPMNRlIN
No moon. No wind.111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHDZWHn88da
Just an ocean of lights flickering below — like forgotten wishes.
A voice — his own, but older — whispered beside him:111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPbd9OHQJQD
“Do you think love makes you whole?111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUvsqnMvPke
Or does it just reveal the parts you’ve been missing?”
Nova didn’t answer.111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAhZek4dMyp
He couldn’t.
Because in that dream,111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgDnGZWthfg
he wasn’t searching for love anymore.
He was searching for something deeper.111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrVrXTn0Nk2
A reason.111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsIDO8JfD9z
A pause in the chaos that made it all make sense.
But life doesn’t hand you clarity like that.
Sometimes it just gives you111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9i2dHqhKiw
a feeling.111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0s56N6rllM
A choice.111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtPtL0KhTNR
And the hope that in some parallel version of now,111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3d3oFPInAq
you say the thing you never said —
and someone stays.
But in this world, in this moment?
Nova slept.
A little sad.111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfnHf7ct6gU
A little wiser.
And somewhere between the real and the not-quite-real,111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡURgTMGqNqq
he whispered one last thing to the darkness:
“If love is a question no one knows how to answer...111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPSo4ujMN9A
maybe I’ll spend my life learning how to ask it better.”
Then darkness.
And for once...111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZot8NEBZKQ
peace.
and then Add to home screen.