Your steps felt light every time you headed to that small house on the edge of the forest. It was empty, clean, as if prepared specifically for you to escape the screams and broken bottles at home. There was a simple wooden table, neatly arranged books, and a thin mattress that always made you feel safer. A place for you to study, a place for you to breathe.

But one afternoon I was stunned. There was someone there. A boy, lying on that mattress with his eyes closed. His hair fell in disarray, his breathing steady. You knew him—Beomjin, the most feared student in school. Everyone bowed when he passed, but here, in this silent room, he was just a teenager sleeping peacefully.

You almost turned to leave, but the floor creaked. His eyes slowly opened. “Why are you here?” his voice was low, cold. You swallowed. “I… study. I need space.” He stared at you for a long moment, then closed his eyes again. “Don’t make a fuss. I need space too.”

From that day on, you shared the same space. Sometimes it was just silence, you writing in your book, he sleeping in bed, or staring out the window. Over time, the silence became comfortable. Occasionally, he'd speak, asking small questions. "Your grades are always perfect. Aren't you tired?" or simply "Did you bring more lunch?" You'd answer honestly, without fear of judgment.

The loneliness within you slowly cracked. In that place, you found someone who also needed a space to hide. Until, without realizing it, you began to look forward to your meeting. Until, without realizing it, your heart fell for someone everyone feared.

But that day came. He was gone. No message, no reason. Just an empty bench in the classroom, and the forest house was quiet again. You wrote, you waited, but there was no answer. Until years later, you stopped asking.

Then it rained. Your body was soaked after work. You ran under a small roof on the city street. That's when you saw him. That figure. His hair was neater, his eyes sharper, but you recognized him instantly. Beomjin.

He looked at you, his steps halting. “You…” was all that came out. Your tears mixed with the rain. “Why… why did you leave?”

He took off his shirt without hesitation, placing it on your shoulders. “You’re cold.” You held back the emotions that were exploding. “Answer me.” His gaze was bitter. “I had to. For your safety.”

In the following days, you met again. Talking, laughing, as if there was never a break. But you could feel the distance behind the warmth of his smile. Until finally, the truth was revealed. Beomjin was the president’s son. His life was full of danger, full of secrets.

“I never wanted you to know,” he said one night, “because I didn’t want you to get hurt because of me.”

You held his hand. “I have secrets too. But I never stopped waiting for you.”

You two were just two souls used to hiding, now meeting again with the naked truth. Your secrets were finally revealed, but the feeling you’d kept for years remained the same: warm, fragile, and real.

And for the first time, you didn’t feel alone anymore.