THEO'S POV:
It was past midnight, and the entire house had fallen into that eerie kind of silence that only came when the world was asleep.
The only sound in my room was the faint scratching of my pen against paper and the soft ticking of the clock on the wall.
I sat at my desk, hunched over, trying to finish both my math assignment and Kayla's. The lamp on the corner of the table cast a dull golden glow over the mess of notebooks, loose papers, and half-finished calculations scattered in front of me.
But no matter how hard I tried to focus on the equations, my mind kept drifting.
Back to her.
Back to what she said.
Still… he should confess.
My pen froze mid-solution.
I stared blankly at the notebook, the numbers blurring before my eyes.
Maybe… she was right.
Maybe a confession was never too late.
My chest tightened at the thought.
Should I do it too?
The question alone made my pulse race.
I leaned back in my chair and dragged a shaky hand through my hair, exhaling slowly as if that would somehow calm the storm raging inside me.
What if she rejected me?
What if everything between us shattered after that?
What if I ruined the friendship we had built… the small, precious bond I had spent so long protecting?
My throat went dry.
The fear was almost paralyzing.
I glanced at the clock.
12:45 a.m.
Still awake.
Still overthinking.
Still torturing myself with every possible outcome.
Maybe I should just do it.
Maybe… maybe I was only scaring myself for no reason.
What if she accepted?
The thought was dangerous.
Too dangerous.
For one reckless second, I let myself imagine it, her looking at me with surprise, then softness… maybe even happiness. Maybe she'd smile. Maybe she'd say yes. Maybe all this time, I had been too blind to see what was right in front of me.
But then reality came crashing down like cold water.
No.
Don't be stupid, Theo.
She loves someone else.
She always has.
Why would she ever choose you?
I clenched my jaw and looked back down at the assignment, but the numbers meant nothing now.
I couldn't solve a single problem when my heart was busy fighting a war against my brain.
Still…
Even if she rejected me…
Even if I embarrassed myself…
Even if it hurt more than I could imagine…
I should at least confess.
Because if I didn't, I'd regret it forever.
I'd hate myself for staying silent.
I'd keep wondering what if for the rest of my life.
And that was worse.
So much worse.