They had grown up side by side — from muddy childhood adventures to late-night college calls, from scraped knees to silent comfort during heartbreaks. He was Elian Reyes, the golden boy with steady hands and a heart made for healing. Now, a renowned surgeon known for both his brilliance and his devastating looks — tall, fit, and with eyes that seemed to see more than just symptoms. And her? She was the spotlight — a rising model gracing magazine covers and fashion weeks, her beauty admired by many, but her heart kept quietly tethered to the familiar presence beside her. To the outside world, their bond looked romantic: the way they laughed together, the way he always opened the car door for her, how she leaned into his shoulder like home. "There’s no way they’re just friends," people would whisper. But to them, it was simple. They were family. No labels, no tension — just a pure kind of closeness that had weathered time. One quiet evening, they sat across from each other at a small, elegant restaurant. The clink of cutlery, soft jazz in the background, and the smell of roasted garlic filled the space between their casual chatter about their hectic lives. Then he looked up, his tone light but sincere. “Hey… I like someone now,” Elian said, smiling slightly. He turned his phone around to show her a photo — a girl with a bright smile, unfamiliar and new. She blinked. Then her eyes lit up, lips curving in a wide grin as she leaned in And just like always, they laughed, they talked, they listened — not as lovers, not as something about to change. But as two souls perfectly content in a kind of love that didn’t need romance to be real.