She had long loved her older brother’s friend, Theodore — playful, confident, and the type who always brushed off her confessions with a teasing smirk.

She never gave up, always messaging him, calling him crushiecakes, and filling his inbox with bursts of affection that made him sigh. Yet everything stopped the day she read his message:

“I’m already courting your sister.”

From then on, silence took over the once lively chat — no cheerful greetings, no persistence, no crushiecakes. Three months later, her phone lit up again with his name.

“Hey, it’s been three months. No chats, no persistence? Are you okay?” he typed.

She replied politely,

“Yes po, I’m okay naman, sorry Kuya Theo, just busy po with school.”

After a pause, another message appeared. “Kuya Theodore? Not crushiecakes anymore?”