STEVEN SY (POV)
(Tuesday — Mid-December Break Between Classes)
The hallway outside the Engineering Building was quiet. Too quiet.
I stood there with my phone in hand, waiting for Michelle to finish her calculus class.
I should've been reviewing notes.
Or checking the project group chat.
Or doing literally anything productive.
But I couldn't stop replaying this morning.
Her voice.
Her smile.
Her honesty.
I like you too.
Those four words had been echoing in my head all day — steady, warm, impossibly soft. Like someone had carved them into my ribs.
And I wasn't built for this kind of emotional turbulence.
People assumed I was.
Stoic.
Controlled.
Unshakeable.
But right now?
I felt cracked open in ways I didn't know how to handle.
She liked me.
Not because she grew up with me.
Not because she was expected to.
Not because she was being polite.
But because she wanted to.
That truth alone was enough to keep my heart running unevenly for hours.
