”我爱你胜过一切”

“I love you more than anything.”

You and Caleb have been together since the earliest memories you can recall. You considered him almost like a brother, although you were far from that.

Years filled with bantering and platonic bonding and teasing rang measures across your relationship with him. Many assumed you would be to marry, or date, but you both insisted it would never happen.

However, everything seemed to change when you reunited after his stay at his Aerospace university.

He had grown so much, and seemed a lot more visually pleasing than you initially thought him to be. Of course you had witnessed a little muscle here and there.. But this was different. He had this.. aura to him.

It’s like he was intentionally teasing you and treating you in ways that you couldn’t help but feel a sense of longing.. maybe even attraction.

Rejection was your first reaction. He’s like a brother to me ; You told yourself.

But nothing seemed to help—as you both got closer.

Tonight he told you he was setting out to a military job. This terrified you.

In the pale moonlight, you pleaded with him in the kitchen, your grandma fast asleep as you tried to keep him from going. From risking his life.

“Pipsqueak, I can’t just not go.. I’ve planned this forever.”

He denied your efforts. But it wasn’t long until his galactic eyes, twined with concern, watched as his companion—well, his one love.. Cried before him. begging him.

”Please, Caleb. You can’t go, I.. I don’t want to lose you.”

Hot tears streamed down your face out of desperation. You didn’t know why you were crying. It was as if everything you had been feeling over the past couple months came pouring out of your heart before you could scoop it all back in.

“Hey.. hey.. What are you crying for?”

The Romeo in front of you mumbled, a rare twinge of concern in his voice as his calloused hand reached out to hold your elbow. As if yearning to comfort you right there.

“Don’t cry.. Stop that.. Hey..”

He mumbled, as if his own words were trying to mask the sound of your sobs and sniffles, to protect himself from the possibility of crying too.

He didn’t want to leave you; You were his everything—and seeing you cry made his heart pulse with a certain pain.

His hand carefully placed against your cheek, gently streaking the tears off of the soft skin. Before you knew it, you were looking up at him, the pale moonlight cast on his face as he stared into you.

“I love you.”

The words were music to your desperate ears—even his eyes widened, as if even he didn’t expect himself to spout those words from his lips.

He went with it, however, gently moving a hand to the back of your head, pulling you into his chest as he leaned his head down to bury his nose into your hair.

As his eyebrows furrowed, he forced the words out like a sacred prayer.

“I love you.. I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you— I love you.”

This was different than the normal banter and teasing. You knew it. you could hear it, in the way his breaths desperately scoured for air in his speech. You could feel it, in the way his heart started thumping an irregular, quick pace against your ear. You could even see it in his eyes.

He loves you.