I was going steady.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrGkML64A3m
Nothing too grand, nothing too heavy.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzTjSxZZNzz
Just... life. With a little joy stitched into the seams.
Academics, Thub, labs, scattered exams —38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNRkUJrhA7M
it was all a beautiful mess.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmJpUjaNKBU
Filled with tension, doubts, and the classic "why should I care" moments.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWb00R9ufLE
A delicate dance between chaos and comfort.
And somewhere in between,38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ81fkAcCMYv
there was her.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVzFsVxk71Z
Forevermore.
There were small fights —38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfjQZRN71lN
misunderstandings, moments of silence that felt longer than they should.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEtvded0SjM
But I had my way of patching things up.
I would just go near her.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP96FSJMPjR
Stand beside her.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQSgH5XARIM
Not a single word. No explanations. No apologies.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmT0bhCaa4r
Just presence.
It was my little way of saying,38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXIs5sQbTdA
"I’m here. Still here. Through everything. Even if you forget, I won’t."
Maybe she never noticed it.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVyxTGcu251
Maybe she did.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCaUvdQdsnq
But I never waited to know.
I did things for her —38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAviljKbDbc
small, silly things that would go unnoticed.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP22XcvJYNt
Sometimes even the big things,38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡozLKUtFUhe
the kind that pull pieces out of your soul when no one’s watching.
And all the while, I wondered:38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡACBbxROMjG
What even is the line between selfishness and selflessness?
Isn’t wanting to be selfless...38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhYDAeVQur2
a kind of selfishness too?
Was I helping her because I cared?38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNLk8uL5TBS
Or because I wanted her to see that I cared?
Was I doing it all for her happiness?38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXWmHxiymS8
Or for that brief warmth I felt when she smiled because of me?
I guess I’ll never really know.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBa1By7n2Zj
Maybe the heart doesn’t divide its reasons.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPqShwQm90w
Maybe it just does what it does.
Meanwhile, preparations for Code Engine had begun.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2mG4MwH1KW
And to me, skipping academics was the biggest motivator of all.
Making stalls, designing banners, running around with duct tape and dreams —38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ8hYu4QEmH
it wasn’t my thing.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpikfJzfgNW
But it was fun.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTYjs1jelKO
Mostly because it pulled me away from the routine.
We went class to class,38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRvgHbAQw8E
all three campuses, handing out invitations like salesmen of curiosity.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqrzNVHLR2s
I stood awkwardly outside classrooms while seniors did the talking.
I didn’t mind.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlvrJGHWgbW
The wind was cooler outside.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdoIYeLq1B5
And I was invisible — the way I liked it.
But then... something changed.
People started recognizing me.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMUcFKOxMgh
They’d point, whisper, wave.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ69l9BcrbYp
"Hey, you're Nova, right?"
It was surreal.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMotTr1kZUB
But I didn’t let it get to my head.
Funny thing is, I only ever found out about most of it38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQERGbUZ4UK
from her.
From Forevermore.
Somehow, slowly,38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb8S3UnlnVf
Rudeus became someone.
Someone important.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡysq2R8QbLl
Someone known.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWkSdMYR89X
Someone respected in Thub for his coding skills, for his brain, for the myth others saw in him.
But not many knew about the boy behind Rudeus —38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJxLzng7SW0
the one who stood in silence beside the person he cherished,38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtOfHBEMzi9
because that was the only language he knew.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ49jyxuqOfA
The boy who questioned every emotion he ever felt.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlQkDSlB2a9
The boy who just wanted to be a friend who stays.
