Bound by Fate [ DewNani ]

Fractured Trust

After that encounter, the dynamic between Dew and Nani became even tenser. Nani couldn’t shake the image of Dew and the woman in the photo, nor Dew's reaction when he’d brought her up. It gnawed at him, a mystery he found himself obsessively mulling over in the days that followed. Who was she? And why did Dew seem so wounded when she was mentioned?

One evening, while they were forced to sit through a family dinner together, Dew’s father casually brought up the woman in the photo, saying, "She was one of your closest friends, Dew. I was always sorry to see how things ended between you two."

Dew’s face went pale, his hand tightening around his fork. He said nothing, but Nani could feel the air grow thick with unresolved pain.

Later that night, unable to contain his curiosity, Nani brought it up in their empty kitchen. “You don’t have to tell me, but... who was she?”

Dew, who’d been rinsing his dishes, froze. He didn’t look at Nani as he answered, “She was my best friend. We grew up together. But she died a few years ago… in an accident.”

There was a pause, and Dew’s voice softened. “She… meant a lot to me.”

Nani was taken aback. The raw emotion in Dew's voice was unfamiliar, revealing a side of him he hadn’t seen before. Without thinking, Nani murmured, “I’m… sorry. I didn’t know.”

Dew nodded, finally looking up, his face a mask of restrained grief. “Of course, you didn’t.”

In that moment, the animosity between them felt oddly trivial. Nani sensed that he had glimpsed a hidden vulnerability within Dew, something deeply painful. It stirred something within him, a desire to understand Dew rather than simply dismiss him as a nuisance.

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