ry0zei
Princess Lim Reyes has always been the kind of person people notice first, laugh with easily, and forget just as fast. She's the "fun one," the loud one, the one who makes everything lighter even when she's slowly getting tired of always being the version of herself people expect. Because somewhere along the way, she learned that being funny is easier than being real, and being needed only when convenient hurts less than being left when you're not.
Miguel Villanueva is the opposite. Disciplined, precise, always put-together, always reliable. The kind of person everyone trusts without thinking twice. Student council president, dean's lister, the standard people quietly measure themselves against. But behind the structure and control is someone who has spent so long being dependable that no one ever thinks to ask if he's okay when he stops being that.
They were never supposed to clash, especially not over a university project that forces their organizations to work together. Miguel sees inefficiency. Princess sees control. She talks too much, he says too little. She breaks structure, he rebuilds it. They don't understand each other-and they don't try to at first.
But somewhere between arguments, deadlines, late meetings, and silence that starts feeling heavier than words, they begin to notice things they shouldn't. The pauses in between Miguel's certainty. The way Princess laughs a little less when no one is watching. The way both of them are performing versions of themselves just to survive being seen.
And slowly, what started as irritation turns into something far more dangerous.
Understanding.
Because the real problem isn't that they are too different.
It's that they are both tired of being loved only when they are easy to handle.
And neither of them knows what happens when someone finally sees the parts they've been trying to hide.