By the time he got home, the ache hadn't faded. He picked up his phone, fingers hovering over the screen, unsure. For once, the usual confidence, the teasing bravado, the easy charm: none of it seemed to fit. He typed, erased, retyped. Finally, he sent something simple, neutral, almost normal:
Hey… did you have fun today? I was swamped and didn't get a chance to check in with you.
He stared at the screen after sending it, heart in his throat. Would she reply? Or would the silence confirm his worst fears?
Across town, Noelle sat on her bed, phone in hand. The buzz made her heart skip a beat. She looked at Ren's message and felt a twinge of guilt. She'd been trying to act normal, pretending nothing had happened at the café, but it had been impossible. Her thoughts had been a tangled mess of nostalgia, confusion, and a small, guilty thrill from Han's attention.
She typed back slowly, carefully.
Yeah… I had a nice time. Sorry, didn't mean to leave you out of it.
Her thumb hovered before hitting send. She added another line, almost as an afterthought:
How was your day?
The message sent a small pang through her chest. The casual words carried more weight than either of them realised.
Back on his side, Ren read her reply. The simple, careful phrasing struck him differently. She sounded polite, distant even, but he could feel the pull behind it. The tiny thread of her trying to connect, even if she wasn't fully aware. For the first time in a long while, Ren felt something he wasn't used to: uncertainty.
He wanted to reassure her, to wrap her in a grin, a tease, and make everything feel light. But he couldn't. All he could do was type back, letting the words balance on that thin line between casual and careful:
Glad to hear it. My day was… busy… but better now that I'm talking to you.
He pressed send, fingers lingering on the phone, heart tight, a quiet hope buzzing underneath everything.
The evening settled softly over the city, the sky bruised with shades of purple and gold. Noelle sat cross-legged on her bed, phone balanced on her knees, staring at the chat with Ren. She could feel the quiet hum of her own heart, each pulse a reminder of how complicated things had become.
Ren's messages were light, almost casual, but there was an undertone she couldn't miss. A sense of concern wrapped in humour, a thread of possessiveness just shy of being overt.
I see you have been busy meeting friends. Is he someone I should be concerned with?
Noelle laughed softly, fingers curling around the phone. Concern with? Just… meeting an old friend who is in town.
Ren replied almost immediately, Conversation, huh? I hope he at least knows you're mine.
A blush crept across her cheeks. She typed back slowly, careful: It's just coffee. Nothing else.
Just coffee, she says… Ren noticed that she didn't answer or confirmed his suspicion that she has or has not mentioned anything about him. But he doesn't want to let on how insecure he's feeling. His words appeared with a teasing smirk she could almost hear. I'll take your word for it… but you know me, I like to be sure.
Noelle exhaled, feeling the tension twist tighter in her chest. She wanted to reassure him, to tell him it was meaningless but a small, stubborn part of her hesitated. The nostalgia with Han, the familiarity, the fluttering rush of her heart were still there, like an echo. Yet she felt the pull of Ren's presence even through text, the warmth in his words, the way he never let go, even from a distance.
You worry too much, she finally typed.
There was a pause that felt longer than it should have. When Ren's reply came, it was softer, a little vulnerable, stripped of his usual teasing: I know… but it doesn't stop me from wanting to see you. Right now, I'd rather be there with you than anywhere else.
Noelle's fingers stilled on the keyboard. His words carried weight, the subtle ache of longing, the quiet assertion that he was already invested, already waiting. It made her chest tighten, her thoughts spinning between guilt and desire, between the past she still remembered and the present she wanted to hold onto. At the same time, she wasn't sure if she's ready to face him in person just yet.
It's late. I wish you were here too, she typed, finally giving in to the pull.
Counting minutes until I am, he replied almost immediately, a hint of a smile in his words, though she could sense the underlying worry. Ren trying to hold his ground, trying not to overstep, trying not to scare her but wanting desperately to close the distance.
The conversation drifted into the night. They talked about small things, trivial and mundane, about homework, the week ahead, what they'd eat for dinner but beneath the surface ran a current of intimacy, a soft, simmering thread that tied them closer with every message. Neither mentioned Han again but the tension lingered, unspoken, like a shadow at the edge of the room.
Noelle felt it and it made her pulse quicken. Ren felt it, and it made him restless. Both knew that the simplicity of their text conversation was deceptive. It masked the storm of emotions they were quietly navigating.
As Noelle calmed down, she realised that she hasn't questioned why Ren was there in the first place. He wasn't there for a drink.. he looked like he was working…
She had so many questions of her own.
Han's POV
Han leaned back, the ceramic spoon slipping between his fingers as he stirred his drink out of habit more than thought. The café's warmth pressed around him with muffled laughter, the hiss of steamed milk, the faint scent of roasted beans and yet, all of it blurred into background noise the moment his gaze found her.
Noelle.
It had been months, maybe longer, yet seeing her now felt like running into a memory that had quietly grown up in his absence.
She was different. Not unrecognisably so. Her face still held that softness he remembered, the light curves of her high cheekbones, the subtle spark that used to ignite when she talked about something she loved. But the rest of her… she had changed.
She'd grown her hair long, silky and dark, falling over her shoulders in quiet waves that caught the café light every time she moved. Where she once had a lively, almost shy charm, there was now something more composed. Like a calm grace that seemed to come from knowing herself better. The playful girl he remembered had become a woman who carried herself with quiet assurance.
She had filled out too, in ways that drew his attention before he could stop it. Gentle, graceful curves that only added to the air of poise she now wore so effortlessly. Yet what truly caught him was not her appearance, but the warmth she carried now. Feels like something gentle and grounded, as if she had learned to stand comfortably in her own skin.
She wasn't the kind of conventional pretty that turned heads on the street. Noelle's beauty lingered instead like an understated, elegant scent, the sort that made you look twice because you wanted to understand what it was about her that felt so… captivating.