Night settled slowly over the house.
The garden outside had faded into a soft silhouette, its details swallowed by the dark. Inside, only a single lamp remained on, casting a warm, low glow that stretched across the room and softened the edges of everything it touched.
Aum lay on the bed, one arm resting over his chest, eyes open.
The day had been long.
Not in distance or effort—but in the way it lingered afterward.
The market.The food.The conversations that weren't really conversations, yet somehow stayed.
And something else.
Something quieter.
He shifted slightly, turning his head toward the ceiling.
He wasn't thinking about one thing.
It was… everything at once.
The sound of water running somewhere in the house faded.
Footsteps followed.
Measured. Familiar.
Xu Chen entered the room a moment later, drying his hands with a towel before tossing it casually over a chair. He didn't switch on the main light—just glanced once toward Aum and then moved to Couch.
"You're awake," he said.
Aum turned his head slightly.
"Yeah."
The answer came easily.
No structure. No pause to calculate.
Just… natural.
Xu Chen noticed.
He didn't react outwardly.
But something in his expression softened again.
He sat down on the edge of the couch, stretching his shoulders once before leaning back. The cushions shifted slightly under his weight.
For a few seconds, neither of them spoke.
The silence wasn't uncomfortable.
It just… existed.
"Busy day?" Xu Chen asked after a while, his voice quiet enough not to disturb the stillness.
Aum let out a small breath through his nose, staring at the ceiling.
"Yeah… kind of."
He paused.
Then added, "I thought it would be simple."
Xu Chen turned his head slightly toward him.
"Simple?"
"I started looking into… how things work here. Like… career paths. Degrees. Entry requirements."
His words were slower than usual—not because he didn't understand them, but because he was choosing them more carefully.
"Thought I could just… figure it out."
Xu Chen stayed silent.
Listening.
Aum let out another breath, quieter this time.
"But it doesn't really work like that."
He shifted slightly, turning onto his side now, facing the faint light instead of the ceiling.
"There's… a whole system."
A faint, almost amused huff escaped him.
"And I don't fit into any part of it."
Xu Chen didn't interrupt.
"I checked universities," Aum continued. "Courses. Research programs. Even basic entry-level stuff."
He let out a small laugh—short, dry.
"They all need documents. Identity. Records. Things that prove you exist."
His gaze lowered slightly.
"I don't have any of that."
The words didn't come out heavy.
But they stayed.
Aum swallowed once, his throat tightening just a little.
"I can understand everything here. Learn it. Work with it."
A small pause.
"But I can't… belong to it."
The room fell quiet again.
Xu Chen's fingers tightened slightly against the bedsheet beside him.
Not enough to be visible.
Just enough to feel.
Aum continued, his voice softer now.
"I thought maybe… I could manage."
He exhaled slowly.
"But today it just felt like… no matter what I do, I'll always be outside of it."
There was no frustration in his tone.
No anger.
Just a quiet kind of acceptance that made it harder to hear.
Xu Chen leaned his head back, staring at the ceiling for a moment.
He didn't rush to respond.
Didn't offer a solution immediately.
Because there wasn't an easy one.
Aum shifted again, this time sitting up slightly, his back resting against the headboard. His hands rested loosely in his lap, fingers interlaced without him realizing.
"I kept thinking…" he said, slower now, "if I don't find a way back… what happens then?"
Xu Chen's chest tightened slightly.
Aum looked down at his hands.
"I don't think I'll be able to live properly here."
The words landed quietly.
But they stayed longer than anything else he had said.
Xu Chen turned his head slightly, looking at him properly now.
Aum wasn't looking back.
He was staring at his own hands like they held answers they weren't giving.
For a moment, Xu Chen said nothing.
Inside, something pulled tight.
Not sharp.
Not sudden.
Just… steady.
Relief flickered through him.
Small.
Dangerous.
Because Aum wasn't rejecting the idea of staying.
He was thinking about it.
Trying to understand it.
And that meant there was a possibility.
But right behind that came something else.
Heavier.
Aum still wanted to go back.
Xu Chen exhaled slowly, his gaze dropping for a moment before lifting again.
He didn't move closer.
Didn't reach out.
But his voice, when he spoke, carried something steadier.
"You won't have to figure it out alone."
The words settled between them.
Aum froze slightly.
Not visibly.
Not dramatically.
Just enough.
His fingers tightened where they rested in his lap.
He didn't look up immediately.
The sentence replayed once in his mind.
Then again.
Something about it felt…
Different!!!!
Not logical.
Not structured.
But it stayed.
Aum turned his head slowly, finally looking at Xu Chen.
"Why?" he asked.
The question came out softer than intended.
Xu Chen met his gaze without hesitation.
"For now," he said simply, "you're here."
A brief pause.
"And I'm not going to let you deal with everything on your own."
There was no dramatic emphasis.
No shift in tone.
Just… certainty.
Aum held his gaze for a second longer.
Then looked away.
His chest felt… tight.
Not uncomfortable.
Just unfamiliar.
He placed a hand lightly over it, as if trying to understand the sensation.
Xu Chen noticed.
But didn't say anything.
Aum let out a slow breath.
"That's new," he said quietly.
Xu Chen frowned slightly. "What is?"
Aum hesitated.
Then answered honestly.
"I don't usually… feel like this."
Xu Chen didn't push further.
Because he understood.
Even if Aum didn't fully yet.
The room fell into silence again.
But this time, it wasn't empty.
Aum leaned back against the headboard, his head resting lightly as his gaze drifted forward.
"My planet…" he started, then paused.
Xu Chen turned slightly, listening.
"We don't really think like this," Aum continued. "Everything is structured. Planned. Assigned."
A faint exhale.
"There's no confusion about where you belong."
Xu Chen's lips pressed together slightly.
Aum's gaze softened.
"I didn't realize how much that matters until now."
Another pause.
"Here… it's different."
Xu Chen didn't respond.
Because he knew.
Aum shifted slightly, pulling one knee closer, resting his arm loosely over it.
"People here don't always know what they're doing either," he said.
A faint, almost amused smile appeared.
"But they still keep going."
Xu Chen let out a quiet breath.
"That's kind of the default setting here."
Aum glanced at him.
"Feels inefficient."
Xu Chen smirked slightly.
"It is."
Aum's smile lingered for a second longer this time.
Then faded into something softer.
"I think…" he started, then paused.
Xu Chen waited.
Aum exhaled slowly.
"I think I'm starting to understand it."
Xu Chen didn't say anything.
But something in his chest eased slightly.
They stayed like that for a while.
No urgency.
No pressure to continue.
At some point, Aum shifted slightly, turning off the lamp.
The room dimmed completely, leaving only faint traces of light from outside filtering through the curtains.
They lay down.
This time, neither of them moved far.
The space between them felt… smaller.
Not physically.
Something else.
Aum closed his eyes.
For the first time in days, his mind didn't immediately start running.
The thoughts were still there.
The uncertainty.
The questions.
But they didn't feel as overwhelming.
Because now, there was something else alongside them.
Not answers.
Just… presence.
On the other side of the bed on Couch, Xu Chen lay awake for a while longer.
His gaze fixed somewhere in the dark.
His thoughts quieter than usual.
If Aum stayed…
The idea didn't feel distant anymore.
It felt possible.
And with that possibility came something else.
A quiet decision forming.
He would figure it out.
Whatever it took.
Not just for Aum.
But for them.
He didn't say it out loud.
He didn't need to.
Because for now—
It was enough that Aum didn't feel alone.
And.....
That was enough for Xu Chen too!