Sams POV
Sitting vigil by Brandon's hospital bedside, a wave of helplessness washed over me. I watched, overwhelmed, yet powerless to act – his faintness, I knew, had roots far deeper than anything I could cause.
Just massage your feet, Brandon, and you'll be fine soon," the doctor advised, his voice calm against the sterile hum of the hospital.
Brandon's gaze shifted to me, sudden joy flooding his tired features .
Brandon, can I just vent for a moment?, My voice was tight, fraying at the edges.
He nodded, a silent anchor in the sterile room.
It's Jay, I breathed out, the words sharp. Im missed his call . Im know how he is – he wouldn't call unless it was something important.My hand twisted the starched sheet.
I was about to answer Jay's call when I spotted him in the hallway with Aryang. Aryang looked distraught, clearly worried about his brother being rushed to the emergency room. Instinctively, I silenced my phone. Nearby, a nurse gossiped in hushed tones, suggesting the boy had been bullied at school.
I spotted Aryang pacing restlessly near the emergency room doors. An urge to approach her tugged at me, but I held back, wary that Brandon might see. Instead, I caught the eye of a passing nurse. "His brother?" I asked, voice low. She offered a reassuring nod. "Stable now, thank goodness." Relief eased the tension in my shoulders as I turned, just in time to see Brandon emerging from the clinic doors.
Sam, can you go to the school where we provide scholars to the students? Mom texted me that she wants to eat outside. I already answered yes to Mom, but I forgot that the meeting for the students' needs is now. That's your project, right? They'll be happy if you go," Brandon said.
I gave Brandon a silent nod. He drove us to the school where Aryang's brother attended—the very place I'd quietly established the scholarship program. My true purpose? To ensure Aryang could stand on his own, financially free from his brother's burden.
As Brandon's car disappeared down the street, a sharp wave of anger washed over me—anger over what had happened to Aryang's brother. Without hesitation, I strode straight to the principal's office.
Inside, I found the very students who'd tormented Bun. The principal paled when he saw me, already rising to announce the boy's expulsion. "Stop," I said, my voice cutting through the tension before he could utter the word.
The bullies' smirks lingered—still laughing at what they'd done to Bun. Rage tightened my chest. My gaze fell to the disciplinary folders scattered across the principal's desk. With cold precision, I kicked them one by one across the floor until I faced Edjay.I saw on Edjay's face that there was a cat scratch.
"Happy now?" My voice was ice. "That stunt nearly killed him. Should I revoke your scholarship and watch you drown?"
Edjay collapsed to his knees, his plea catching in his throat. "Please—don't take the scholarship!"
I looked down at him, the boy whose mother had fed me soup and tucked me in when I was a feverish child. The memory of her kindness softened nothing—but it stayed my hand.
"I will choose you, Edjay," I said, knuckles still white. "The scholarship stands. But I will tell your mother everything. She deserves to know the son she raised."
I whirled on Edjay's companion—the other boy trembling against the wall. Blind fury took hold. I snatched folders from the desk and hurled them at him, paper exploding like shrapnel. One cracked against the wall beside his head. Another grazed his shoulder. I drew back for a third—When hands clamped down on my wrists, stopping me mid-swing.
'Enough, Sam!'One more incident—one more bruise on that boy—and I guarantee every one of you will be seeking new employment by sundown.
Ray addressed the principal, but my focus burned with annoyance at him—he'd stopped me. Bullying was the one thing I could never tolerate.
Then my gaze snagged on a movement behind Ray. I turned fully—and froze. Aryang stood there.
The blood drained from my face.
Ray spun instantly, following my stricken stare.
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Aryang's POV
A profound, bone-deep weariness clung to me, heavy as wet wool, though I'd done nothing to earn it. My limbs felt hollow, my thoughts adrift in a fog.
Only one thing anchored me, one fierce, unwavering light in the greying world: my Brother. The sheer, shattering heartbreak of it all stole my breath—this had happened to him.
The cruelest twist wasn't just the unseen torment he endured, but the silence she kept. He hadn't whispered a word of the shadows circling him, hadn't let me share the burden. That silence, perhaps, cut the deepest wound of all.
Suddenly, a hot sting pricked my eyes, and tears traced paths down my cheeks before I even knew they'd formed. I swiped at them fiercely, knuckles scraping skin, desperate to erase the weakness.
Then my gaze found him—my brother, propped against the pillows, the stark white bandage wrapped around his head like a brutal crown. The sight struck like a physical blow. Something deep within my chest splintered, sharp and cold, stealing the breath from my lungs.
I'd thought such cruelty lived only in the garish glow of telenovelas—yet here it festers, sharp and real, in the quiet of my own days.
Hello, ma'am," the nurse said, turning to find the brother unexpectedly behind him. "We'll need to take your brother for his CT scan now. I hadn't realized he was right there.
A nod to the nurse was all I managed before my cellphone's shrill ring shattered the moment. The screen flashed Principal's Office. Heart lurching, I thumbed a hurried message: Heading there now
I stepped from the taxi, a sudden coil of nerves tightening in my stomach. Hurrying towards the principal's office, I heard raised voices—a commotion spilling into the hallway. One voice cut through the rest, chillingly familiar.
If I wasn't mistaken...
My hand trembled as I slowly pushed open the heavy door.
1,2,3 minutes
Sam and I stood locked in a gaze that stretched, timeless and heavy, for what felt like three full minutes. The world beyond us – the chatter of students, the hum of fluorescent lights – had dissolved into a muffled silence. It was only the sharp interruption of Jay's voice, slicing through the stillness, that jolted me back.
"You two," he said, his tone practical yet firm, "talk. Figure it out. I'll handle the principal and the students."
Words failed me. Pure, dizzying happiness flooded through me at the sight of Sam. And now – her hand was holding mine, warm and sure. We slipped into an empty classroom, the silence profound. The other students had long since vanished, headed home into the deepening dusk.
Tears blurred my vision, yet through the shimmering haze, Sam emerged—changed. Gone was the studied flamboyance; now she stood wrapped in quiet simplicity, shoulders curved like a question mark. Before a word could escape her lips, I pulled her into me, my arms locking around her thin frame.
The scent of rain and old paper clung to her sweater. "I missed you," I choked into her hair, voice frayed. "Every night, your ghost slips into my sheets. Where did you vanish? Why? This guilt... it gnaws at me."
Sam stiffened, then pulled away like my touch burned her. When she lifted her head, raw sorrow carved lines across her face—a stark contrast to the memory of her quiet beauty moments before.
Her voice fractured on the words: "I'm sorry. I was... a coward. I should've told you how I felt back then. Instead—" She swallowed hard, knuckles whitening where she gripped her own arms. "Instead I vanished. Left you stranded. And now... I'm getting married."
Tears burned down my cheeks like acid. I fixed him with a stare that could shatter glass, my voice trembling with the weight of a thousand shattered promises.
So this is how you discard me?. The words tore from my throat, ragged and raw. After owning every piece of me?. A bitter laugh escaped me. I wish you'd never kindled that hope in your eyes. Wish you'd let me drown in grief when my father' coffin closed.
Wish you'd let the streets swallow me whole— My knuckles whitened against my thighs. —instead of playing savior with your sacrifices. That scholarship?" I spat the word. Every textbook smelled of your pity. You should've let me rot in the dark rather than feed me sunlight just to vanish with the dawn.
Losing you isn't an option, Sam.The words tore through me, ragged and desperate. I'd rather die than carry this agony for a lifetime.Darkness tunneled my vision—not the gentle dusk outside, but a suffocating void swallowing the room.
The pain in my chest sharpened into a blade. Before thought could catch up, my body recoiled. Chairs screeched as I stumbled backward, then spun and ran. My knees buckled in the hallway, palms slamming cold tile as the world blurred into streaks of fluorescent light and shame.
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Sams POV
"I'd rather die than carry this agony for a lifetime."Aryang Said
Aryang's words turned my blood to frost. I stood paralyzed as she fled—a whirlwind of heartbreak tearing through the classroom door. A stone settled in my chest, crushing the air from my lungs. Go after her. The thought ignited me. I stumbled into the moonlit hallway just as her shadow dissolved around the corner.
Outside, the night breathed silver. Aryang raced across the courtyard like quicksilver, swallowed by pools of shadow between the amber streetlights. I gave chase, but my heels betrayed me, skittering on the flagstones. With a choked cry, I tore them off.
Cool pavement bit into my bare soles as I ran, the wind singing through the magnolia trees. Each ragged gasp tasted of jasmine and desperation. She was a flicker at the edge of the lamplight, always slipping farther into the velvet dark—a ghost I couldn't catch.
I chased her breathlessly, my lungs burning, my legs aching—until, mercifully, she stopped. Only then did I realize where we were: the playground, surrounded by laughing children under a too-bright sky. When she turned to face me, her eyes gleamed with mischief, as if she had known all along that I would follow. A bitter laugh escaped me. How foolish I had been to worry about her.
Then she approached me, that infuriating smile playing on her lips. "I thought you didn't love me," she said, voice light but edged with something sharper. "Why chase me if you don't care?"
She echoed her, her gaze unreadable. "Why chase her if you don't love her?"
The words hung between us, heavy with all the things I hadn't admitted—not to them, and barely to myself.
Not like that. The thought clawed at me—Aryang's smile, her teasing words, the way she cut me off before I could even speak. It hurt. And then, before I could protest, she just... pulled me into a hug.
I stiffened at first, resentment simmering under my skin. But as her arms tightened, something in me cracked. God, I wanted this too. Not just her careless affection, not just the way she could dismiss and embrace me in the same breath—but the warmth, the safety of being held.
My fingers clutched at her sleeves. Pathetic, part of me whispered. But another part, raw and aching, didn't care.
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Aryang POV
I hugged Sam tight—maybe too tight—until a sudden twist in my stomach made me freeze. A gurgle, loud and unmistakable, erupted between us.
Oh no.
Sam pulled back, eyebrows raised, then burst out laughing. "Damn, was I that bad of a hug?"
Heat flooded my cheeks. "Shut up," I muttered, pressing a hand to my traitorous stomach.
But Sam just grinned, slinging an arm around my shoulders. "C'mon. I know a place nearby." She leaned in, stage-whispering, "And I promise the food's better than my hugs."
Sam steered us toward our old high school diner, a place thick with the ghosts of shared fries and teenage laughter. Auntie Pasel was refilling saltshakers when she looked up. Recognition dawned slowly, then flooded her features, transforming her weary expression into a smile that held every shared memory we'd left behind.
Auntie Pasel's voice cut through the clatter of dishes as she wiped her hands on her apron. "Hey, Sam! Always here eating, huh? Good thing you brought your girlfriend this time—finally someone to share your appetite with!"
Sam choked on his bite, coughing dramatically while I froze, my chopsticks hovering mid-air.
The chopsticks clattered against my bowl as I glared at Sam across the table. "So you always eat here," I said, my voice tight, "but you couldn't show up for two whole years?" The words tasted bitter, like the tea that had gone cold between us.
Sam's jaw tensed, but she kept chewing, her eyes fixed on her noodles. A long sigh escaped her as she finally put down her chopsticks. The steam from her bowl curled between us like all the unspoken words.
The auntie behind the counter paused her wiping, her watchful eyes darting between us. Even the usual clatter of the kitchen seemed to hush.
We left the diner's warmth for the cooling street, walking a slow, shared rhythm. My hand in her felt like both a comfort and a confession. At the parting place, panic fluttered in my ribs. Preempting her words, I gasped, fingers digging into the fabric over my chest. Sam's step faltered, her eyes wide with instant fear.
"What is it?" She breathed. "I'm going home," I said, turning away before she could see the truth behind the pain. The distance between us yawned wide as I walked towards a solitude I'd chosen.
-A written by: TeaKuer