You know that moment when the night’s too quiet…97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWGHZlGpwfI
and your phone screen glows a little brighter than usual?
That was me.
Lying on my bed, earphones in but no music playing,97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCdw5mi05sM
just the hum of the fan — louder than usual tonight —97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZOwvpOibvi
and her last message on the screen.
It wasn’t anything romantic.97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL0yS7go2ix
Not a heart, not a wink, not even a punctuation mark that hinted at something.97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXLFcvS485i
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.97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlwBf589ysr
Really talking.97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfVE7hTMbaI
No layers, no sarcasm, no anime metaphors to hide behind…
But it felt real.97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA3jP54oXYM
The kind of real that makes you nervous — not because something’s wrong,97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBlEa5SJrQq
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,97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9jUpz71nkS
a casual text becomes a late-night heart spill,97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtVr6QRgyvF
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,97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdsI9SuuHzH
"I’ve been trying to get your attention since that first day."97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjFtVOiz7S5
Or97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzkkXQzKtd8
"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:97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFmcWtS6HsG
"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.97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBCu1BGHH7R
Instead, I did what most cowards do when their heart starts to overthink:97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1VgXZBe2TF
I typed.97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqqOyivsGIS
Deleted.97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUxLOQ4yehQ
Typed again.97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqdcldAkXH7
Deleted.97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeinVO8UnVB
Typed again.97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7m6Oo4IlDV
Deleted.97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGGbkosyopV
Typed again.97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡakw6pgDrt3
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?97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAFvejxvfCz
Does loving someone mean they owe me something?97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5MW3LwwsOB
A reply? A smile? A place in their life?
No, right?
Because love… love’s not a job interview.97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnSt9E81DWi
You don’t apply and wait for a callback.97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWtmdFOzc7q
There’s no resume, no credentials, no guaranteed outcome.
You just feel.97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmVqfOxCG4d
And hope.
But here’s the brutal truth:97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbBA2l8fEMT
Hope is not a strategy.
I began to spiral.97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3u6mPzQS82
Thinking about arranged marriages, random unions born out of astrology and surnames.97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKOpz72jWHU
People saying "yes" to strangers in mandaps because their families believed it was enough.97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG2VEQIDJ3c
And somehow, somehow, love blooms there too.
Is it just the absence of fear?97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQD5hX9CJQQ
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—97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSjI5iyGOc3
“I love pizza.”97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6Q4YiSYhBQ
“I love that show.”97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgfup48ts1Y
“I love her.”
when the night’s too quiet and your heart's louder than it should be,97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡht71ubmLFK
you start to ask…
What even is love?
Is it the late-night texts that make you smile like an idiot?97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrpzU9sTEKl
Or the effort to learn C just to help someone who might not even know your name?97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1PjooeYtGN
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?97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7qMytwHeEW
If love means hiding your feelings just to stay close... is that love?97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYU2yAESMwe
If love never gets returned, was it ever real?
Or maybe love isn’t about return policies at all.97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjR8E6nSYOo
Maybe love is giving without expecting.97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9BOazqXfYz
Hoping without demanding.97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY0o0J9ZJ9N
Staying, even if the door never opens.
And if it’s the latter — if love is just dumb luck —97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIBdamCyiBj
then what does that make me?
A gambler?97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyeAljWtUc9
A poet with no ink?97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpCy9lDwrOK
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.97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUF0OAzUJFE
It doesn’t ask for returns.97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyZ3H3zvsaZ
It just… is.
Like the moon.97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaOiU16OR59
Distant. Cold sometimes.97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX2A0gK9eTE
But still shining. Still pulling tides.
So I made a decision.
One I thought I’d regret.97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJmOKkwU7V7
One that felt like surrender.97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlasFpmS3Yp
But maybe it was the only honest thing left.
I typed:97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgTah4bAXyX
"Let’s be friends."
And I meant it.97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ20YQ4bmBTC
Not because I wanted to.97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOqBFJa1zk8
But because I had to.
Because I know — deep down — even if I poured out every syllable of my soul,97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3bi9JRWCWU
let the poet in me die trying,97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3XznBxsXZB
the answer would still be silence, or worse… pity.97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7FqeFAQOq3
time won't change the answer,97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNabeORfChP
in this moment or in the future.
And I don’t want pity.97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYz02ppHdF6
I want her to smile when she sees my name.97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOTeMOE9hYy
Even if it’s only ever as a friend.
So yeah, laugh all you want.
But that was my truth:97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjzEoUW7Gwf
Maybe I’ll never be someone important in her life.97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkLkD6XEgTV
But I can be someone good.97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhIswsjY7Eh
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:97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF43V4ltRgY
"Sure, of course."97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhAySohj87W
I smiled.
Because that’s more than most people get.97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz9VevggumZ
And sometimes, friendship is the love story that doesn’t get written into poetry —97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVdpjj060Q7
but it still matters.
The night grew older.97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL4q0rcTwcP
The conversation faded into a simple:97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSr2j3NLkzv
“Goodnight.”
And I lay there.97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY5x3jaPs8b
Phone resting like a heartbeat on my chest.97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIxkvj46vZI
Ceiling fan humming.97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDuxZ8Cbcb3
Eyes open.97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ56OHFcMcXZ
Thoughts louder than sleep.
But slowly, everything softened.
The fan blurred into background.97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTLYWE8QLEg
The silence turned into a lullaby.97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWpwCe5WVwW
And Nova... drifted.
Not into a dream of her,97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAjTseiEwgK
not even of love,97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ2IMBtrkVQ
but something stranger.
He stood at the edge of a nameless rooftop, under a starless sky.97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1Sk1O3R9X3
No moon. No wind.97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAnvzyXY2eM
Just an ocean of lights flickering below — like forgotten wishes.
A voice — his own, but older — whispered beside him:97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKaSnzPgDqR
“Do you think love makes you whole?97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt5O5a5XqZH
Or does it just reveal the parts you’ve been missing?”
Nova didn’t answer.97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhghQcvAjjN
He couldn’t.
Because in that dream,97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ0ljjkM1h9
he wasn’t searching for love anymore.
He was searching for something deeper.97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQAd2q6sSkM
A reason.97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQuZgPexsER
A pause in the chaos that made it all make sense.
But life doesn’t hand you clarity like that.
Sometimes it just gives you97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFOHWkj9FHS
a feeling.97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO2kDOmgpdF
A choice.97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP0N2Ym9W6K
And the hope that in some parallel version of now,97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtBUYAXO8Py
you say the thing you never said —
and someone stays.
But in this world, in this moment?
Nova slept.
A little sad.97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqGkdGzExPp
A little wiser.
And somewhere between the real and the not-quite-real,97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp9LKflpLbC
he whispered one last thing to the darkness:
“If love is a question no one knows how to answer...97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4aGJOdro19
maybe I’ll spend my life learning how to ask it better.”
Then darkness.
And for once...97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjLhKsGoTyj
peace.
and then Add to home screen.