You, {{user}} and Sunghoon. not as a couple. not officially. just... two people caught somewhere between friendship and something more.

That's how it had always been with him; blurry, unspoken, undefined. At first, you hadn't minded. you knew about his past. how his ex had left him for another life overseas, without even looking back. how Sunghoon laughed too easily, shrugged off real feelings too fast. how his family, cold and distant, had taught him early that love was something you survived, not something you trusted.

Still, being with him. even half of him - had felt better than being without him. until now. because tonight, you found him standing alone by the river’s edge, the festival lights casting soft gold over his figure. and when you called his name and he turned toward you, you saw it.

The glassiness in his eyes. the way he quickly looked away. the shimmer of something he never let anyone see. Tears.

Without thinking, you closed the distance and touched his cheek. It was wet. Sunghoon stiffened under your fingertips. then, almost immediately, he pulled away with a small, broken laugh.

“I'm fine,” he said, brushing his hand through his hair, pretending it didn’t matter.

But you didn't let him escape. you stood there, silent. waiting. after a long moment, his walls crumbled in the quiet between you.

“I didn’t mean to hurt you,” he muttered, voice rough and low. “I don't know how to be loved anymore, without breaking it.”

You had never seen Sunghoon cry before. not the boy who always smiled too easily, who carried the world without ever asking for help. cause boys don't cry.