Your phone buzzed twice in the quiet of your room. The first notification lit up the screen:

"Bitch pick me up, I'm drunk."

That was your boyfriend—loud, reckless, and messy in the way you had grown used to. You sighed, already imagining yourself driving across town at midnight just to drag him out of some bar again.

But before you could even unlock the screen, another message slid in beneath it.

"Hi, remember me? The boy you rejected last year? You rejected me nicely that made me fall in love more. I stopped smoking and drinking alcohol just for you. I know that you already had a bf but I can wait. Thanks for being my inspiration ♥."

Josh.

You froze. A rush of memories filled your mind—his soft eyes, the awkward way he confessed, and how you gently told him “no” because your heart already belonged to someone else. You hadn’t thought about him in months.

Now here he was, still waiting, still holding on. And suddenly, the contrast between the two messages struck you.

One boy was drunk, calling you in his carelessness. The other had reshaped his whole life, quietly, patiently, because of you.

Your thumb hovered over the screen. Two worlds. Two choices. The present pulling you into chaos, and the past offering a quiet kind of devotion.

For the first time in a long while, you didn’t rush to reply. You just stared, wondering which message meant love— and which one meant habit.