𝑩𝒂𝒃𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆, 𝑰'𝒍𝒍 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒍𝒆𝒕 𝒊𝒕 𝒅𝒊𝒆

[24]

Sooheon shifted his position slightly, his gaze still on the playground but his words focused on Namra. He wasn’t sure what had happened in the last few days, but something was definitely different. She seemed quieter, more distant, and it wasn’t the Namra he’d come to know over the past months.

“Life’s strange, right?” he said, breaking the silence. He didn’t want to push her or make it obvious he was concerned about the shift he’d noticed in her, but he couldn’t help himself. “Things don’t always go the way you expect, but that doesn’t mean it’s the end of the road.”

He turned his head toward her, catching her eye for a brief moment. “Sometimes we get stuck in a place, feeling like we can’t move forward or like things won’t get better, but trust me, they always do. Even if it doesn’t feel like it right now, things change. You just have to give yourself the chance to see it.”

Namra didn’t respond immediately, but she kept her gaze on him. He could tell she was listening, even if she wasn’t quite ready to speak herself.

“You’ve always been someone who’s carried a lot on your own. You don’t need to,” Sooheon continued, his voice gentle but firm. “There are people who want to help, who want to be there. You don’t have to keep everything to yourself. It’s okay to take a step back, to breathe. You don’t have to carry the weight of everything on your own.”

He paused, letting the words sink in before offering a small, reassuring smile. “Whatever you need, whenever you need it, I’ve got your back. Don’t forget that.”

Namra didn’t say anything at first, but for the first time in a while, her shoulders seemed to relax just a little. She didn’t respond with words, but the way she sat a little straighter, the faint shift in her expression, made Sooheon feel like maybe, just maybe, she was starting to hear him.

Sooheon blinked, taken aback by her words. He had expected her to remain quiet, maybe give a small nod or a sigh, but her statement caught him off guard. His eyes shifted slightly as he turned his head to face her, wondering if he had misread the situation all along.

"Why would you?" Namra's voice, though calm, held an edge of something he couldn’t quite pinpoint.

His mouth opened, then closed again, unsure of how to respond. He shifted slightly, his hands stuffed deep into his pockets as he stood next to her. It wasn’t awkward exactly, but there was a shift in the air, something unspoken hanging between them.

"Because, we're friends?" Sooheon said, hesitating. It was the only word that made sense to him at that moment, but as soon as he said it, he immediately felt the weight of her gaze on him. Her eyes didn’t seem to soften in the way they usually did, not even a little.

Her expression remained unreadable, her lips pressing together for a brief second before she spoke again. "We're not friends, Sooheon."

The words hit him harder than he expected. It wasn’t that they weren’t close—he felt like they were, even if it was in a quiet, unspoken way. But hearing her say it like that… it stung more than he realized.

He stood there, trying to collect his thoughts, his gaze dropping to the ground. What were they then? He had never really thought about it, never had to put a label on whatever it was they had. But now, with Namra’s words hanging in the air, it felt like a wall had been erected between them, even if it wasn’t something she meant to do.

"I don’t…" He trailed off, unsure how to finish the sentence. "I don’t know what we are, then." His voice was quiet, almost to himself. His gaze flickered back to her, meeting her eyes, though he still couldn’t quite read them.

There was a brief pause before she responded, her voice soft but firm. "Neither do I."

The words lingered in the space between them. Namra didn’t say it harshly—there was no bitterness in her tone. But Sooheon couldn’t help but feel like something important was left unsaid. Something that both of them were too afraid to name.