Those sacred drops of rain weren't just water.
They were heaven's tears, mourning a love too pure for this noisy, flesh-hungry generation. A love built in silence. Born from pixels. Raised in late-night laughter and unsent voice notes. The gods of love paused, stunned.
In a time of red flags and lust disguised as passion — this was real. This was still. This was sacred.
She hung up hours ago.
No goodbye.
No answer.
Just a silence.
And Ren… he was left staring at the screen of his phone like it held the final page of his story.
"Was it awkward?"
"Did I scare her?"
"Did I push too hard…?"
Downstairs, the world was asleep.
The city muted itself under the hush of rain.
Even his house, always filled with the occasional creak or distant hum, was dead silent.
Only the sky spoke—softly, gently—through the rhythm of raindrops tapping against his window.
He walked out to the balcony.
His favorite spot, after his universe—his room.
The cold air met his skin like an old friend.
The wind tousled his hair. And there he sat, legs hanging over the edge of the railing, swaying slightly to the rhythm of the breeze.
His phone stayed in his palm.
Still unlocked.
Still aching for her reply.
"That silence…"
"Her breath, right after I asked."
"It's still echoing inside me."
He looked up.
The moon peeked behind drifting clouds, half-shy.
Even the stars seemed quieter tonight—as if the entire universe was holding its breath, waiting for her answer too.
The night… had no colors.
No pink hues.
No violet clouds.
Just silence.
No music.
No comfort.
Only the whisper of a boy in love… and a sky trying its best to comfort him.
"Did I hurt her?"
"I don't even know anymore…"
He got up.
The balcony floor was wet with the mist of the rain.
He walked back into his room—his sanctuary. But tonight, it didn't feel sacred.
It felt… empty.
Like her absence had hollowed it out.
He dropped onto his bed. Pulled the blanket over him. Clutched his pillow like it could hear him cry without sound.
The shadows in his room stretched longer than usual, and the dim light from the window painted soft silver streaks across the wall.
Outside, the rain began to fade into a soft drizzle, like the universe was falling asleep too.
But Ren didn't sleep.
Not at first.
He stared at the ceiling.
Blank.
Emotionless.
But inside?
A quiet storm raged.
His heartbeat… slowed. The tension in his chest loosened. And eventually—without even knowing it—he slipped into the soft arms of sleep.
No dreams.
No colors.
Just the weight of the question left hanging in the air…
"Will you marry me?"
And her silence.
Time didn't move. It hovered. Like a still frame in an old film reel.
And then… morning arrived.
Not loudly.
No birds.
No alarms.
Just light — bleeding slowly into his room like watercolor on paper. A pale, greyish gold. The kind of morning where the world forgets to be bright.
Ren wasn't awake. But he wasn't asleep either.
He just… was.
Eyes open.
Heart half-shut.
Skin cold, even under the covers.
The kind of morning that feels like a sigh.
9:00 AM.
His room was wrapped in cold silence.
He was still under the blanket. Face buried into the pillow, half-dreaming, half-remembering.
Alone at home.
His mom had left early, probably figuring he needed rest after weeks of studying.
She didn't know his real ache had nothing to do with exams.
He pulled his phone to his chest.
Opened Instagram.
"She's still not online."
Even the ding of the notification felt… empty.
His room smelled like wet air and yesterday's heartache. Even the air felt tired.
His favorite playlist played softly on loop—songs he once loved now felt like strangers humming in the dark.
He dragged himself to the kitchen.
The meatballs were there, neatly packed in silver foil. His mom's sacred recipe.
But not even that tasted right today.
The first bite turned to ash in his mouth.
He stared into the mirror above the sink.
The boy staring back looked… blurry.
Eyes red.
Hair messy.
Like he wasn't sure if this was morning or midnight.
"What have I done?"
"Did I make her feel trapped?"
He opened Instagram again.
Thumbs trembling.
Typed:
"Dudeeeeeee"
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to rush you."
"I'll wait...minutes, hours, years. Just please don't go silent."
"Please... I love you."
He stared at it.
The message blurred through tears.
Then... he deleted it.
He tossed his phone aside, grabbed his airpods, and curled back into bed.
Let music hold him when words couldn't.
Outside, the sky painted no stories—just gray.
Inside his room, everything was still.
No sound, no breeze. Just... heaviness.
But inside his heart?
Something stirred.
He wasn't sleeping.
Not really.
He was falling.
Not into dreams—But into the past.
The world around him dimmed. Colors drained like ink into water.
And then—
Light.
A faint memory lit up like a dusty old projector reel.
He stood in the middle of afield of stars.
Not the sky, but ground—beneath his feet.A dreamscape stitched together by long-forgotten feelings.
Each star pulsed with a moment—A memory, a laugh, a heartbreak.
He walked through them barefoot, slow.
And then—
A sound.
Laughter.
Childhood Ren—seven years old—ran past him, chasing a paper airplane through a classroom.
A flash.
Ten-year-old Ren—crying into his knees after failing another test, while his sister won her 5th medal of the year.
A flash.
Thirteen-year-old Ren, standing alone at his school festival while everyone else posed with their friends.
A flash.
Seventeen-year-old Ren, sitting beside his mom in the kitchen.
"Mom… would you support me if I married someone I really love?"
She had smiled, soft.
"As long as she's kind. And loves you right. And brings peace to your life—I'll support anything."
He had smiled back that day.
And in that memory...He was thinking of Serin.
Even before the proposal. Even before anything. He was already dreaming of her forever.
The void flickered again.
Now he was older—present-day Ren—standing in a field of cherry blossoms that bent to the side with each breath of the wind.
In front of him was Serin.
Wearing his hoodie. Barefoot. Glowing.
She was smiling.
He reached out to touch her—
But she vanished.
Blown away like petals.
Gone.
He clenched his fists.
Looked up.
The void above him shattered like glass.
And he heard—
"Love isn't begged. It arrives while you're still learning how to love yourself."
His mother's voice. Floating down like a lullaby.
He fell to his knees in that sacred field of starlight and cherry blossoms.
And for a moment…He just let himself cry.
Not loudly.
Not brokenly.
Just quiet, sacred tears.
The kind that carried whole galaxies of pain.
"Will she say yes?"
"Will they accept her?"
"Will she even stay?"
And somewhere in that storm of thoughts… he drifted again.
Meanwhile, at School…
Serin was physically present.
But her soul? It was elsewhere.
Class continued like a train she missed. Her body sat still, but her mind spiraled — down, down into that dark, infinite void.
The same void Ren once pulled her from.
Now it returned.
And it swallowed her whole.
The world around her blurred. The teacher's voice faded into a hum.
The chairs, the windows, even Airi's voice—muted like a distant radio.
And then it happened.
The air shattered like glass around her.
She was no longer in class.
She was falling—through nothing.
A weightless spiral into a void without color, without floor, without time.
Darkness swallowed her whole. But not the comforting kind.
This was the dark that whispers your worst fears back to you.
Her feet landed, softly—but what she stood on wasn't ground.
It was memories. Cold. Sharp. Wounded.
She looked around.
It was her room—but from the past.
The walls were pale. The lights flickered.
And there, in the corner, she saw her younger self.
Knees to chest.
Shaking.
Crying.
Clutching a phone.
The same look of being small and blamed.
A knock.
Then another. Then a bang.
"SERIN! OPEN THIS GODDAMN DOOR!" It was Ashin's voice—booming like thunder across the void.
Her younger self whimpered, hugging herself tighter.
"YOU THINK THIS IS A JOKE? TEXTING BOYS??"
A memory from years ago. A time when she laughed at a joke a boy sent her.
Nothing romantic. Just teenage fun.
But it didn't matter.
The door kept shaking.
Voices screamed. Accusations flew like knives.
Her mother's cries. Her father's silence. Her brother's anger.
Every sound echoed across the void.
She turned and saw the other side of the door.
Her brother pacing. Her mother weeping. Her father with that same heavy disappointment on his face.
This was what love brought her before.
Not warmth.
Chaos.
And in the middle of this all, Serin stood—frozen between her past and her present.
Tears welled up.
"I love him," she whispered. "I love Ren so much it terrifies me…"
Her voice cracked.
"Then why… why does it feel like I have to betray my family to be happy?"
The void pulsed. The room dimmed.
And then… something changed.
A gentle breeze passed.
A ripple in the dark.
From behind her—
Airi.
Airi's voice shattered the void.
Serin blinked.
Reality snapped back.
But she didn't smile.
She only trembled.
And Airi saw it.
Saw through her fake smirk.
"Hey—hey, no. Don't you dare. What is that face?"Airi's voice cracked. "Are you… dead inside?! Did you guys break up?!"
Silence.
Tears formed behind Serin's eyes.
Airi's filled too.
"Don't hold back. Not today. Please. Just let it out. If you're hurting — cry. Scream. Whatever it takes. Just don't lock yourself up. Not from me."
Serin fell into her arms. Like a child falling into home.
"I love him so much it terrifies me…"
"What if Ashin finds out?"
"What if I ruin his life?"
"What if I become the storm he never deserved?"
Her voice was soft. Crushed velvet.
Airi held her tighter.
And whispered:
" You're not a burden, Serin. You're his light. You're his reason to breathe on days like this.
If love scares you — it's because it's real.
Don't let your past write the future you deserve.
Ren's love didn't knock — it waited.
And it'll wait again.
You're not alone in this. Not anymore.
So cry. Fall. Be scared.
But don't you dare run from something that sacred."
Serin closed her eyes.
And the void cracked.
"This pain doesn't make you weak, Serin. It makes you real. And you don't have to carry it alone. Not anymore."
"Let it out. Let it pour. I'm right here. And so is he."
As tears fell into the dark floor below, Serin looked up at the stars peeking through the cracks in the void ceiling.
Stars that looked like Ren's eyes when he smiled.
She whispered:
"I don't carry Ren in my hands. I carry him in the cracks of my fears. In the moments I want to run away—but don't. In the love that I can't fully show yet… but is already stitched into every part of me."
Later…
Ren stirred awake. Had he slept all day?
Or had time simply stopped?
His body was here.
But his soul?
Floating in a place where cherry blossoms fell like snow.
Where he and Serin lay on soft grass — hands touching, eyes locked.
Even the universe around them paused.
The galaxies smiled.
A text lit his phone.
"Wanna call?"
She texted him 30 minutes ago.
He pressed the button.
Ringing.
Once…
Twice…
She picked up.
Silence.
Rain outside.
Not loud. Not soft. Just… meaningful.
Their breath was the only sound.
He didn't speak.
She didn't either.
Not at first.
Then—
"I didn't mean to ignore you," she whispered. " I just… didn't know how to answer."
Ren didn't move.
"When you asked me… I wanted to scream YES.But that YES isn't mine right now.
It belongs to my fear. To my family. To a version of me that still flinches at doors."
He stayed still.
Pain in his throat. His eyes. His fists.
But then he whispered—
"I didn't ask for a YES today.I just needed to know…if it still lives somewhere inside you."
She broke.
Tears slid silently.
Then—
"Even if I can't say it now…
I carry it like a secret prayer.
I press it to my heart like a vow I made in another lifetime."
The world froze.
The rain paused mid-air.
Even time listened.
He exhaled.
Closed his eyes.
"That's enough for me."
And the call… melted into a silence filled with stars.
The rain resumed.
But now…
It was no longer crying.
It was cleansing.
Ren stared at the ceiling,
"Even if this world keeps us apart… my love for you lives in every sunrise I see without you… and every sunset I wish you were beside me. I don't carry you in my arms, Serin… I carry you in my soul."