I was going steady.134Please respect copyright.PENANA2dnnGEveEx
Nothing too grand, nothing too heavy.134Please respect copyright.PENANAawSS7Ka5Uz
Just... life. With a little joy stitched into the seams.
Academics, Thub, labs, scattered exams —134Please respect copyright.PENANAfgm3I2YSIA
it was all a beautiful mess.134Please respect copyright.PENANA2K0fCCAkLp
Filled with tension, doubts, and the classic "why should I care" moments.134Please respect copyright.PENANAqlqykjhEZo
A delicate dance between chaos and comfort.
And somewhere in between,134Please respect copyright.PENANAXGRXjwrwFn
there was her.134Please respect copyright.PENANAZ2ATgLBTGD
Forevermore.
There were small fights —134Please respect copyright.PENANAJ4j70kzSIl
misunderstandings, moments of silence that felt longer than they should.134Please respect copyright.PENANA6JLKkPIe0F
But I had my way of patching things up.
I would just go near her.134Please respect copyright.PENANAffxPjVMEr2
Stand beside her.134Please respect copyright.PENANAL9waFY1MiW
Not a single word. No explanations. No apologies.134Please respect copyright.PENANAFen0om9DiQ
Just presence.
It was my little way of saying,134Please respect copyright.PENANAvTRBAGlPUy
"I’m here. Still here. Through everything. Even if you forget, I won’t."
Maybe she never noticed it.134Please respect copyright.PENANASlFV5iKPFw
Maybe she did.134Please respect copyright.PENANAYIYTzTctdP
But I never waited to know.
I did things for her —134Please respect copyright.PENANAohEJ3OIDvy
small, silly things that would go unnoticed.134Please respect copyright.PENANANhelq4xbb7
Sometimes even the big things,134Please respect copyright.PENANAID9BmKrIzz
the kind that pull pieces out of your soul when no one’s watching.
And all the while, I wondered:134Please respect copyright.PENANAxHRhYviAys
What even is the line between selfishness and selflessness?
Isn’t wanting to be selfless...134Please respect copyright.PENANA9nM9IaGcRg
a kind of selfishness too?
Was I helping her because I cared?134Please respect copyright.PENANA6zUwvYkQCT
Or because I wanted her to see that I cared?
Was I doing it all for her happiness?134Please respect copyright.PENANAgFrGcVaEu1
Or for that brief warmth I felt when she smiled because of me?
I guess I’ll never really know.134Please respect copyright.PENANA7mZTUKLTQr
Maybe the heart doesn’t divide its reasons.134Please respect copyright.PENANAwtWhFufZUy
Maybe it just does what it does.
Meanwhile, preparations for Code Engine had begun.134Please respect copyright.PENANArF48Fg3e8z
And to me, skipping academics was the biggest motivator of all.
Making stalls, designing banners, running around with duct tape and dreams —134Please respect copyright.PENANAnraRHWM6yI
it wasn’t my thing.134Please respect copyright.PENANAcgt39uNDIL
But it was fun.134Please respect copyright.PENANAi8npM2VkNz
Mostly because it pulled me away from the routine.
We went class to class,134Please respect copyright.PENANABT4cJP9OxY
all three campuses, handing out invitations like salesmen of curiosity.134Please respect copyright.PENANAmQ7StyiRPJ
I stood awkwardly outside classrooms while seniors did the talking.
I didn’t mind.134Please respect copyright.PENANAsmLX0XG8Sg
The wind was cooler outside.134Please respect copyright.PENANA0LCj3oaFsq
And I was invisible — the way I liked it.
But then... something changed.
People started recognizing me.134Please respect copyright.PENANAwBrfEsHiqU
They’d point, whisper, wave.134Please respect copyright.PENANAzVbN2V3Aud
"Hey, you're Nova, right?"
It was surreal.134Please respect copyright.PENANAnwRs5Zg1kx
But I didn’t let it get to my head.
Funny thing is, I only ever found out about most of it134Please respect copyright.PENANAAVK5hDIYxx
from her.
From Forevermore.
Somehow, slowly,134Please respect copyright.PENANAv7nO18yYz4
Rudeus became someone.
Someone important.134Please respect copyright.PENANAwkpaINW5Zm
Someone known.134Please respect copyright.PENANAGZH3kL2drO
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 —134Please respect copyright.PENANADJlkxcHMxU
the one who stood in silence beside the person he cherished,134Please respect copyright.PENANAHCuFPxkEex
because that was the only language he knew.134Please respect copyright.PENANAAz9RPRcTuz
The boy who questioned every emotion he ever felt.134Please respect copyright.PENANAxhBElkfvu8
The boy who just wanted to be a friend who stays.