"u up?"

Your phone buzzed against your pillow, screen lighting up with a message from Touya. No profile pic, no last name—just Touya. That’s all you ever knew him as. Some guy from way too many miles away, in a city you’d never been to, living a life that only existed in the pieces he decided to share with you.

You stretched, blinking at the clock. 2:37 AM.

"You never sleep, do you?" you typed back.

"Nah. Sleep’s for people with nothing better to do."

"And talking to me is something better?"

"Obv. Why else would I be texting you?"

You rolled your eyes but smiled anyway. This was routine—late-night texts, calls that lasted way longer than they should, the kind of conversations that started out as jokes and somehow turned into something that made your chest ache in a way you didn’t want to think too hard about.

"Wanna call?" you sent after a minute.

Three dots appeared. Then disappeared. Then—

"Thought you’d never ask."