Noelle sat at her usual spot in the school library, her textbooks open in front of her but she wasn't reading. Her mind was tangled with thoughts of Han, Jessica and the small, fleeting moments she had hoped to share with him. Each memory of his laughter, each glance she had tried to catch, now felt like echoes of a life that might never be hers.
Her best friend, Mei Ling, slid into the chair opposite her, placing a small packet of snacks on the table. "You've been staring at that book for ages," she said, arching an eyebrow. "Do you even know what page you're on?"
Noelle forced a small smile. "Yeah… something like that," she mumbled, her voice quiet.
Mei Ling tilted her head, studying her. "You're still thinking about Han, aren't you?"
Noelle hesitated, then sighed, letting the words escape. "I… I don't know what to do. Every time I see him, he's… he's laughing with Jessica, or Fiona and I feel invisible. I tried to stay near, I tried to be nice but it's like he doesn't even see me anymore."
Mei Ling's expression softened but there was a frankness in her eyes. "Noelle… you know I'm always on your side, right? But… maybe it's time to face reality. Han's smitten with Jessica. He's drawn to her and you can't compete with that. Not like this."
Noelle's stomach sank, and she hugged her arms around herself. "I know… I just… I hoped maybe—"
"Hope isn't enough," Mei Ling interrupted gently. "Sometimes people drift apart. It's not your fault, okay? You can't force someone to feel what you feel."
Noelle nodded, biting her lip, tears pricking at the corners of her eyes. She had always been the quiet one, careful, considerate, waiting for things to unfold naturally. But watching Han fall for someone else so easily, someone dazzling and confident like Jessica… it hurt more than she had imagined.
In the weeks that followed, Han prepared to leave for Perth. The day he left, Noelle didn't go to the airport. She couldn't bring herself to watch him board the plane, to see the excitement in his eyes for a new adventure while her own heart felt heavy and hollow.
Days turned into weeks, weeks into months. Noelle buried herself in schoolwork, friends and small hobbies to keep her mind busy but she couldn't shake the quiet ache in her chest. The warmth she had felt around Han had vanished completely, leaving only shadows and memories.
One afternoon, months later, Fiona leaned over during lunch and casually mentioned, "Oh, by the way, Han and Jessica are together now."
Noelle froze, her chopsticks hovering over her plate. "Together?" she echoed, her voice barely above a whisper.
Fiona nodded, cheerful and unbothered. "Yeah, they're trying the long-distance thing. Apparently, it's serious… she got him hooked fast. Guess he really likes a challenge."
Noelle felt a cold pang run through her chest. She wanted to be angry, to feel something sharp and strong but all she could manage was a hollow, quiet ache. Han had found someone new, someone dazzling and impossible to compete with and she had drifted completely out of his world without even realising it.
She leaned back in her chair, staring out the window at the courtyard, at the friends laughing and walking by. The world bustled on, full of light and laughter, while her heart carried its secret ache. The one she longed for had no idea and that unknowing was its own kind of loss. He would never know and perhaps that was the quietest kind of heartbreak of all.
Noelle closed her eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath. She didn't know what the future held, but she resolved softly, quietly that she would keep living, keep learning and maybe one day, someone would see her the way she had wanted Han to see her.
For now, though, she sat in silence, the hum of the school around her, feeling the bittersweet ache of a first love lost.
The few weeks after hearing about Han and Jessica were quiet and heavy for Noelle. She still felt the dull ache of disappointment but slowly, she began to notice things she had overlooked before. Small victories at school, finishing a tricky project, receiving praise from her teachers, laughing with Mei Ling had reminded her that her world didn't have to revolve around someone else.
Little by little, Noelle began to stitch herself back together. She joined the school's art club, spending long afternoons with brushes and colours, losing herself in the quiet rhythm of creating something that belonged entirely to her. With each stroke, she felt lighter, freer as though the canvas was carrying pieces of her heart she hadn't been able to put into words. Her laughter, once shy and tucked away behind polite smiles, started bubbling out more often, soft at first, then brighter, unguarded.
One afternoon, while she was carefully arranging her paintings for a school display, a shadow fell across her table. She looked up to see Ethan, a boy from her class.
Ethan was handsome, in Noelle's opinion, though not in the obvious way that turned heads the moment he entered a room. His appeal was quieter, the kind that revealed itself the longer you looked. He wore glasses that gave him a slightly bookish air, their frames softening his sharper features. Sometimes they slipped down his nose and he would push them back up with a distracted flick of his finger, a small gesture that somehow suited him.
His face carried a balance between gentleness and strength: high cheekbones that caught the light, a jawline softened by the way his smile tilted and eyes that seemed deeper than the lenses allowed. Now and then, when the sunlight struck just right, the clarity of his gaze slipped through the glass, steady and warm, like he saw more than he let on.
There was neatness about him, though never in a fussy way. His shirts were always tidy but his hair had a habit of falling into his eyes, as if it refused to be tamed. Instead of taking away from him, it made him all the more human, approachable in a way that drew people closer without them even realising why. He wasn't the loudest voice in the room but when he spoke, people listened.
Most of their classmates saw only the bespectacled boy with a quiet confidence but Noelle sometimes caught herself looking closer. She noticed the shape of his face beneath the glasses, the lines of his features, the glimpse of his eyes when he cleaned the lenses. And though she would never say it aloud, a thought often stirred at the back of her mind: behind those frames was someone far more striking than anyone realised.
"I like the way you blend your colours," he said, tilting his head as though trying to understand the strokes on her canvas. "It feels different. Like it's alive. I don't think I've seen anyone else paint like this before."
Noelle's cheeks warmed, a soft, cozy flutter spreading through her chest. She smiled as she explained her process and Ethan's quiet, attentive questions made her feel unexpectedly seen and appreciated.
Despite the pangs of jealousy, Noelle found herself learning something important: she didn't need anyone else's attention to feel worthy. She began to enjoy her own company, cultivating interests and friendships that were meaningful to her. Ethan's gentle curiosity and respect reminded her that there were people who could notice her for who she truly was.
A few times, she bumped into Fiona around school or in the neighbourhood. Each time, casual conversations would drift to Han and Jessica. Fiona would mention them lightly: Han and Jessica keeping busy, long-distance calls and messages that somehow always seemed cheerful. Despite herself, Noelle felt a twinge of longing, a pang of what might have been.
Still, the tension remained, quietly simmering. Han and Jessica's relationship was a constant, unspoken reminder of what Noelle had lost. She refused to stalk him on social media or listening to Fiona's updates but the ache resurfaced though it no longer consumed her entirely.
Instead, Noelle focused on growth. She found joy in painting, in sharing ideas with Ethan, in moments of laughter with Mei Ling. Yet, she couldn't ignore the lesson quietly etched into her heart from the constant comparisons and the stories Fiona shared about Han and Jessica. No matter how talented or kind she was, people were often drawn first to looks, to that effortless charm and striking presence.
It was a bitter truth, but one she accepted with quiet determination. She began to take care of herself in ways she had neglected before: exercising, paying attention to her diet and learning the subtle art of makeup. Not to compete with anyone but to feel confident in her own skin, to cultivate a version of herself that reflected the inner light she had been nurturing.
She realised that while Jessica had been a storm that swept through Han's world, she didn't need to compete with her. Noelle could carve out her own path, bright and steady, without relying on someone else's attention for validation. Her growth was hers alone, a small, deliberate rebellion against the idea that worth was measured by how much someone else noticed her.
And in the quiet moments, as she brushed colour across a canvas or shared a laugh with Ethan, she felt it: a soft, warm sense of satisfaction, fleeting but real, a reminder that she could be seen and valued on her own terms.
And yet, deep down, there remained a spark of hope. A quiet thought that maybe, someday, someone would notice her the way she noticed others. Not the dazzling, untouchable kind, but the kind who appreciated her quietly, completely, for exactly who she was.
The festival lights of the previous year faded in memory, replaced by the soft glow of the present: a world where Noelle could be herself, strong and unshaken, even if she still occasionally felt the shadow of heartbreak linger.
It wasn't the story she had hoped for with Han but it was her story now. And for the first time in a long while, she felt ready to step forward, to live, to laugh and to let the world notice her in its own time.