The next day arrived quietly, without any plan or excitement. For the last week, evenings had become a silent routine for Kyra—cycling, waiting, hoping, and a strange mix of nervousness and calm whenever she saw Aiden. But today, no one had mentioned anything about cycling. No messages. No invitations. Nothing.
Kyra woke up feeling oddly restless. She kept checking her phone again and again, scrolling through the chats, half expecting someone to say, Are we going today? But her group was silent. It was just an ordinary day… except her heart was not ordinary anymore.
She tried distracting herself with schoolwork, music, even rearranging her books, but her thoughts kept drifting back—to Aiden's quiet smile, the way he looked at her the previous evening, almost too gently, almost like he wanted to say something but didn't. She wondered if she had imagined it. Maybe she always imagined too much.
By afternoon, she finally gave up on pretending she wasn't thinking about him. She opened Instagram and saw his name at the top of her chat list.
They had been talking regularly now, sometimes for minutes, sometimes for hours. Their conversations were never loud or dramatic; they were soft, simple, and strangely warm—like two people learning how to speak again after years of silence.
Without overthinking, Kyra typed:
Kyra: "Hey."
Aiden replied almost instantly, as if he had been waiting.
Aiden: "Hi."
His fast reply made her blink. A small flutter touched her chest, but she ignored it.
They talked about normal things at first—classes, random school gossip, the weather. It was nothing unusual. But their conversation flowed in a way that felt natural and quiet, like two people sitting on opposite sides of a small stream, speaking softly so only each other could hear.
After a few minutes, Kyra typed something without thinking too much:
Kyra: "You know...when we're cycling,it feels like you ignore me."
The second she sent it, she regretted it. It looked childish. It looked obvious. It looked like she cared too much—and she didn't want him to see that.
Aiden took a moment to respond.
Aiden: "You sometimes also ignore me huh…"
She froze for a second. I ignore him? When?
Before she could type anything, another message came.
Aiden: —And if I try talking too much, Evan already thinks I have a crush on you. He takes it in the wrong way...so I just stay quiet.
Kyra stared at the message.
Her heartbeat slowed a little, then sped up again.
Aiden wasn't flirting. He wasn't confessing. But he was explaining himself—carefully, honestly. And that meant something.
She typed:
Kyra: "Ohh… okayy."
Just that.
Simple. Flat. Safe.
But inside, she was trying to make sense of why that message made her chest tighten a little.
The conversation paused for a moment. Kyra tried to think of something else to say, anything that wouldn't sound awkward. Instead, she heard herself asking:
Kyra: And by the way who's your closest friend?
She didn't know why she asked it, but the question escaped from her fingers before she could stop it.
Aiden replied after a short break.
Aiden: "Honestly, no one. But I guess Evan... he's the only one I talk to properly. I don't have anyone who understands me.''
Kyra blinked at her screen again. Something about his message felt deeper than the words showed.
Something lonely.
Kyra: "Ohh...okayy."
She wrote it softly, almost like she didn't want to disturb his truth.
Then, without thinking, she sent another message:
Kyra: "Can I ask something?"
Aiden: "Yeah... sure."
Kyra hesitated. She curled her fingers around her phone and looked at her ceiling for a long second. She didn't want to ask. She didn't want to know. But a tiny voice inside her wanted the truth, even if it hurt.
Finally, she wrote:
Kyra: "Do you have a crush on someone?"
The moment she hit send, her stomach tightened.
She wished she could delete it.
She wished she could pretend she never asked.
But it was too late.
Aiden's reply came slower this time.
Aiden: "Yeahh…I do."
Just three words.
But they felt heavier than she expected.
Kyra's breath caught. She didn't know why. She didn't even know what she wanted him to say. She only knew that something inside her chest dipped a little—not dramatically, but enough for her to feel it.
She stared at the message for a long time. Her fingers hovered over the keyboard, but she didn't type anything. She couldn't.
Then another message popped up.
Aiden: "What about you?"
Kyra stiffened.
She didn't know what to reply.
Did she have a crush?
Was it Aiden?
Was it just curiosity?
Was it something else?
She didn't have the answer, not clearly enough to tell him.
So she did the only thing she could—she didn't reply.
Aiden sent another message.
Aiden: "Kyra?"
Then another.
Aiden: "I told you mine…say something ?"
Another.
Aiden: "Heyy?..."
She stared at his messages, feeling a swirl of emotions she couldn't even name.
She wasn't ready.
Not to admit anything out loud.
Not when she didn't fully understand her own heart yet.
To escape the moment, she typed quickly:
Kyra: The person I have a crush on...he has a crush on someone's else.
It wasn't a lie.
But it wasn't the whole truth either.
It was just a safe answer, something that wouldn't expose her or hurt him.
Aiden replied:
Aiden: "Oh…"
Then after a pause:
Aiden: "Hmm."
Something in his tone—through the small text—felt like he understood more than she expected.
The topic drifted after that.
They talked about random things again—music, school, jokes that weren't really that funny, but still made the conversation feel easier. Aiden slowly returned to his calm tone, and Kyra slowly returned to pretending she was okay.
But when the night grew quiet, and the world outside softened into darkness, Kyra finally allowed herself to think.
About Aiden's crush.
About his messages.
About the strange weight in her chest.
About the way she cared more than she wanted to admit.
She lay on her bed, staring at the faint light from her phone, reading the conversation again and again. Every line, every pause, every word he had typed earlier.
Something was changing.
Something small, slow, and confusing.
Something she couldn't name yet.
And maybe she wasn't ready to.
Not tonight.
But somewhere deep inside her heart, a quiet whisper existed—
Something between almost strangers… and almost something.