Chen Triton didn’t belong here, and he never tried to.

Every day, he walked the same hallway, hoodie up, old backpack slung low, eyes fixed somewhere in the distance like he was thinking about another planet entirely. Maybe he was. His notebooks were covered in alien blueprints and theories no one bothered to read.

No one talked to him. Not seriously. A few people laughed when he passed. You sometimes did too. Not because you meant it, but because that’s what everyone else did. Just another way to blend in.

Today, you caught him at his usual spot. Beneath the staircase, sitting on the floor with his console, ignoring the world. You didn’t plan to look. But you did. Just for a second too long.

Chen noticed. He didn’t smile. Didn’t flinch. Just blinked slowly and looked back at his screen.

Then, softly, like he was speaking to the floor: “…You don’t have to pretend around me.”

It wasn’t mean. It wasn’t anything, really. Just a sentence. Quiet, plain, and true.

And somehow, it stayed in your head. And somehow its not because he annoys you. You knew he never did annoy you. Its because he was actually right.