The Revel Heart || Ni-ki

20

The student council meeting had gone on longer than usual. Ni-ki sat in the small, dimly lit room that had become his second home, surrounded by stacks of paperwork and lists of things that needed to be done. It was a mess, the chaos of a thousand things that had to be accomplished weighing heavily on him. He looked at the clock—almost ten at night. His head felt like it was going to explode from the pressure.

He was exhausted.

His phone sat on the table in front of him, untouched for the past few hours. He couldn’t even bring himself to check his messages. Not after what had happened between him and Celine. He still hadn’t heard from her since the event, and it gnawed at him, a constant, dull ache in his chest.

His parents' expectations loomed like an invisible weight on his shoulders. Every decision he made, every step he took, felt like he was walking on a tightrope one slip, and everything would come crashing down. "You have to be perfect" his father’s voice echoed in his head. "You can’t let them down, Ni-ki."

But perfection was slipping through his fingers like sand. The event had been a mess. Celine had stepped in when everything had fallen apart, but even that felt like a temporary solution. There was no fixing the damage. Not when he was still trying to hold everything together.

He sighed, rubbing his temples. His body ached, his head felt heavy, and all he wanted to do was escape.

But then there was her.

Celine.

The thought of her made his chest tighten with frustration and longing. He missed her more than he wanted to admit. But the truth was, he didn’t know how to fix what had broken between them. Every time he tried to reach out, it felt like she was slipping farther and farther away.

His phone buzzed on the table. He stared at it, half-hoping it was a message from her. But when he glanced down, it was only a reminder for another meeting. Another responsibility. Another thing on the never-ending list.

He pushed the phone away, standing up and pacing the room. The walls were closing in on him.

“Why can’t I just get it right?” he muttered under his breath, his voice trembling with frustration. He threw his hands up, slamming them against the table. The papers scattered everywhere.

It wasn’t supposed to be this hard. He wasn’t supposed to feel this overwhelmed.

---

Celine sat in her room, staring at her phone. She hadn’t expected to hear from Ni-ki after the way they’d left things at the fundraiser. Her heart ached with every minute that passed without a message from him. The silence was unbearable, yet she didn’t know what to say. What could she say?

Her mind raced, replaying the argument, the distance that had grown between them, and the tension that still clung to the air like a thick fog. Part of her wanted to reach out, to fix things, but the other part the part that had been hurt and scared held her back.

She felt trapped in a cycle of confusion, not knowing if she was strong enough to keep fighting for them. She felt like she was running in circles, trying to keep everything together, but the more she tried, the more things fell apart.

A knock on the door interrupted her thoughts. She glanced up, startled, and saw Hana standing in the doorway, her expression unreadable.