You know that moment when the night’s too quiet…210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKP8s6EIsHY
and your phone screen glows a little brighter than usual?
That was me.
Lying on my bed, earphones in but no music playing,210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU4w401uzqv
just the hum of the fan — louder than usual tonight —210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqNhZPzk0Lh
and her last message on the screen.
It wasn’t anything romantic.210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJPu4vqDSzV
Not a heart, not a wink, not even a punctuation mark that hinted at something.210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxFAn8Qib0d
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.210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJGIafyNJr6
Really talking.210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNsnu9htO67
No layers, no sarcasm, no anime metaphors to hide behind…
But it felt real.210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtZaS5p7bfp
The kind of real that makes you nervous — not because something’s wrong,210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMJoawA8J5Y
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,210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPh2oVQbivG
a casual text becomes a late-night heart spill,210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3Ijn5HFymH
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,210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYB1vdClxMo
"I’ve been trying to get your attention since that first day."210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡer4CoWFelJ
Or210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoJys0f2NQK
"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:210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo61Po0vR7B
"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.210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMW5KLUarFy
Instead, I did what most cowards do when their heart starts to overthink:210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHWZ9Rbznbs
I typed.210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9dtgNmLxdZ
Deleted.210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA0N2aMmyrH
Typed again.210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd2NSHOKjII
Deleted.210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf1sdCQ6Zt4
Typed again.210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHImdwlqspQ
Deleted.210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY8Do7CDKcI
Typed again.210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLjawCsUr5s
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?210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXu9PR17ikV
Does loving someone mean they owe me something?210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLpCJyKKy20
A reply? A smile? A place in their life?
No, right?
Because love… love’s not a job interview.210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvPW9cdKdwv
You don’t apply and wait for a callback.210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHvVqQquON2
There’s no resume, no credentials, no guaranteed outcome.
You just feel.210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkh3AICwZ9n
And hope.
But here’s the brutal truth:210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8hm5CqcuYS
Hope is not a strategy.
I began to spiral.210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIUeoKwH7Jm
Thinking about arranged marriages, random unions born out of astrology and surnames.210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXMW3NoKBNS
People saying "yes" to strangers in mandaps because their families believed it was enough.210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdcmwNcWeHq
And somehow, somehow, love blooms there too.
Is it just the absence of fear?210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO2WCJ4SCbw
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—210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiXzbWzB7CE
“I love pizza.”210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8VQ16clbmV
“I love that show.”210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV7jrdOfOSX
“I love her.”
when the night’s too quiet and your heart's louder than it should be,210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsMgB8S65td
you start to ask…
What even is love?
Is it the late-night texts that make you smile like an idiot?210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9xQAN3Auyc
Or the effort to learn C just to help someone who might not even know your name?210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZUK7vkK2Ac
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?210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtYoG0gYMIk
If love means hiding your feelings just to stay close... is that love?210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEc2W17SvIc
If love never gets returned, was it ever real?
Or maybe love isn’t about return policies at all.210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJAooleYJO8
Maybe love is giving without expecting.210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSQjUpGVkMO
Hoping without demanding.210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiOcRMYHXzv
Staying, even if the door never opens.
And if it’s the latter — if love is just dumb luck —210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVzPCgcfg8U
then what does that make me?
A gambler?210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡibWsXru2LO
A poet with no ink?210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrBTn4gaFNv
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.210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaIkpIzvYbe
It doesn’t ask for returns.210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM22DKg2bNw
It just… is.
Like the moon.210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkTW4pkptkO
Distant. Cold sometimes.210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE3e99qi90i
But still shining. Still pulling tides.
So I made a decision.
One I thought I’d regret.210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQvX2Vjim0O
One that felt like surrender.210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAyj2d2efOV
But maybe it was the only honest thing left.
I typed:210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHx8njgME1L
"Let’s be friends."
And I meant it.210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPLeNUNBWe2
Not because I wanted to.210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXS6LCF5npM
But because I had to.
Because I know — deep down — even if I poured out every syllable of my soul,210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqDiZnehm8O
let the poet in me die trying,210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeoXgDSThQg
the answer would still be silence, or worse… pity.210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxHqgenqUV2
time won't change the answer,210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkFCOZUVouy
in this moment or in the future.
And I don’t want pity.210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtoa14PVxdW
I want her to smile when she sees my name.210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcJ2HFOLbAv
Even if it’s only ever as a friend.
So yeah, laugh all you want.
But that was my truth:210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAqFmW0uDvY
Maybe I’ll never be someone important in her life.210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLNfmwLsaTq
But I can be someone good.210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJqxLM8r7IM
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:210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmUOmrXJQev
"Sure, of course."210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAQTTwk4e3g
I smiled.
Because that’s more than most people get.210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD7S3aqLrYq
And sometimes, friendship is the love story that doesn’t get written into poetry —210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWikQTFiUN8
but it still matters.
The night grew older.210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ36zrtbZHqV
The conversation faded into a simple:210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkXoB762MsE
“Goodnight.”
And I lay there.210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHsSqmHw0bK
Phone resting like a heartbeat on my chest.210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpx2vd0U0v4
Ceiling fan humming.210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxCWK6sXkD9
Eyes open.210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpgPliaHavr
Thoughts louder than sleep.
But slowly, everything softened.
The fan blurred into background.210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuYMw3uZKU3
The silence turned into a lullaby.210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSWcNAQELkx
And Nova... drifted.
Not into a dream of her,210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCFNrtNUkUp
not even of love,210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUFF1zT0Kb6
but something stranger.
He stood at the edge of a nameless rooftop, under a starless sky.210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE8xPF2YzOR
No moon. No wind.210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUcpit2xyic
Just an ocean of lights flickering below — like forgotten wishes.
A voice — his own, but older — whispered beside him:210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFOAqeSwq6D
“Do you think love makes you whole?210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn2ieb2U720
Or does it just reveal the parts you’ve been missing?”
Nova didn’t answer.210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡap0Deg1sX8
He couldn’t.
Because in that dream,210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs9JKkafs7c
he wasn’t searching for love anymore.
He was searching for something deeper.210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpTAv488DOE
A reason.210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo31gioUDWN
A pause in the chaos that made it all make sense.
But life doesn’t hand you clarity like that.
Sometimes it just gives you210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi4UtNjws4g
a feeling.210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXRKWxs420E
A choice.210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGzUspmjdyB
And the hope that in some parallel version of now,210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡswsk3ofTPg
you say the thing you never said —
and someone stays.
But in this world, in this moment?
Nova slept.
A little sad.210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5QcSG538PV
A little wiser.
And somewhere between the real and the not-quite-real,210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhGlSWf1Sh8
he whispered one last thing to the darkness:
“If love is a question no one knows how to answer...210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfhkj1rt6vQ
maybe I’ll spend my life learning how to ask it better.”
Then darkness.
And for once...210Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkm2jZ2ZtR0
peace.
and then Add to home screen.