The Line We Never Crossed
On the very first day of university, Nyo Htet already hated the crowd.
He was the type who preferred being alone, so the overwhelming sea of students on campus only made him feel exhausted.
The entire campus was loud and alive.
Like young people who had just tasted freedom for the first time, everyone was overflowing with laughter, selfies, and excitement.
Meanwhile, Nyo Htet stood beneath a tree in front of the registration building with one side of his headphones on.
A drizzly morning.
A rain playlist was playing on his phone screen, and his face clearly said he had no interest in getting close to anyone.
“Excuse me… do you have a pen?”
A voice made him look up.
Standing there was a boy in a black hoodie.
His damp hair fell over his eyes, and he was still slightly out of breath.
He looked like he had just run through the rain.
“I forgot to bring a pen for the registration form.”
Without saying a word, Nyo Htet handed him one.
“Thanks, bro.”
At that moment, he had no idea that he would later come to hate the word bro so much.
———
“I’m Thet Paing.”
While waiting in the registration queue, the boy stepped beside him.
“Nyo Htet.”
“What’s your major?”
“English.”
“No way, same.”
Thet Paing laughed.
And somehow, that laughter felt strangely warm in the middle of a rainy morning.
⸻
At the beginning of the semester, they still weren’t that close.
But somehow…
They always ended up sitting near each other in class.
They kept running into each other at the canteen.
And they always chose nearby spots in the library.
Then one day—
“You’re always alone, huh?”
Thet Paing said while sitting across from him in the canteen.
Without looking up, Nyo Htet kept stirring his iced coffee.
“I like being alone.”
“People like that get lonely easily.”
Nyo Htet laughed softly.
“What are you, a psychologist?”
“No… but I can recognize the faces of people who are lonely.”
For a brief second, Nyo Htet’s hand stopped moving.
Because no one had ever looked at him like that before.
⸻
Nyo Htet wasn’t interested in girls.
When his friends shared photos of girl groups, he never reacted.
Crush culture, dating, relationship statuses…
All of it felt like a world far away from him.
“Are you gay?”
Sometimes people jokingly asked him that.
And Nyo Htet would simply reply—
“I don’t know.”
Because he truly didn’t know.
He had never loved anyone before.
⸻
One night before midterms, the library closed around 8 PM.
When they stepped outside, it was pouring rain.
“Damn… I didn’t bring an umbrella.”
Thet Paing scratched his head awkwardly.
Nyo Htet quietly lifted his black umbrella.
“Want to walk back together?”
That night was the first time they were quietly close to each other.
Amid the sound of rain,
Thet Paing talked about Spotify playlists,
his favorite movies,
and stories from his childhood.
Nyo Htet simply listened in silence.
And then, suddenly—
“I feel comfortable around you.”
Thet Paing said.
Nyo Htet’s heart skipped a beat.
“Why?”
“I don’t know… you’re not noisy.”
That single sentence stayed in Nyo Htet’s mind the entire night.
⸻
When he got back to the dorm,
he forgot to even take off his hoodie.
The faint scent of rain,
a sad song playing through his earphones,
and a notification on his phone screen that read “Thet Paing”…
That night,
for the very first time,
Nyo Htet fell asleep while thinking about someone.
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