The first time anyone saw Dav walking across the wide, sunlit lawns of Maplewood University, it was impossible not to notice him. There was something about the way he carried himself broad-shouldered, tall, his steps neither hurried nor lazy, as though he belonged to every place he entered. His classmates had long gotten used to this quiet confidence, but for Ruth, his presence had always felt different. She would tell herself it was simply admiration for a good friend, for someone who seemed to wear charm the way other people wore clothes. Yet deep inside, Ruth sometimes wondered if there was more to what she felt, though she never dared to dwell on it too long.
Dav and Ruth had known each other since their freshman year. They were not paired by fate in some dramatic classroom moment, but rather by the ordinary rhythm of college life. He had been sitting in the second row of their Introduction to Political Science lecture, doodling casually on the corner of his notebook, when Ruth, searching for a seat in the crowded hall, slid into the chair beside him. He had looked at her once, offered a polite smile, and that was that. By the end of the semester, however, they were sharing textbooks, exchanging ideas before presentations, and even stealing quick laughs in between lectures.
Their bond grew naturally, like vines curling slowly around each other, never forced, never rushed.
Ruth herself was a girl of gentle strength. She wasn't the kind to command the entire room with her presence like Dav, but those who took the time to know her found warmth in her simplicity. She had an easy laugh, a curious mind, and a heart that bent toward kindness. While Dav often drew people in with his charisma, Ruth kept them with her thoughtfulness. Together, they made an unlikely but harmonious pair his sharp edges softened by her calm, and her quiet days brightened by his energy.
Of course, they weren't each other's only companions. Ruth had three other close friends in college Miriam, Tolu, and Grace girls she met during orientation week who had become her anchors in the often chaotic storm of academic life. They were the type of friends who stayed up all night in the library, quizzing one another before finals, or shared a single plate of fried rice in the cafeteria when their allowances ran thin. Together with Dav, this little circle of friends tackled tough assignments and projects, each of them contributing something unique.
It was during one of those long group sessions, crowded around laptops and notebooks, that Ruth first noticed how deeply she trusted Dav. He wasn't just smart though his sharp mind often saved them from confusion over the toughest concepts but he had a way of calming her nerves when deadlines loomed. She could be fretting over citations or a tricky theory, and he would simply lean back in his chair, flash that disarming grin, and say, "Relax, Ruth. We'll figure it out." Somehow, they always did.
Weekends, however, often revealed a different side of their friendship. Dav was a fitness enthusiast, the kind of guy who never missed a gym session unless he was bedridden. On more than one Saturday morning, he would show up at Ruth's hostel gate, dressed in joggers and a fitted shirt, holding a bottle of water in one hand.
"Come with me," he'd say with a playful insistence, "you sit too much during the week."
At first, Ruth protested. The gym wasn't exactly her idea of fun; she preferred books, movies, or leisurely walks around campus. But after a while, she gave in, amused by how persistent Dav could be. Those gym sessions became their little ritual. He would teach her how to use the treadmill, show her proper stretches, and even joke about how quickly she got tired. She, in turn, teased him about his obsession with mirrors, since he always seemed to check his reflection after lifting weights.
What neither of them admitted at least not to each other was how much they both looked forward to those moments.
For Ruth, it wasn't about the gym at all. It was the way Dav walked beside her, carrying her bag when she complained it was heavy, or how he slowed his pace when she struggled to keep up with his stride. It was the laughter they shared on the way back, sweaty and exhausted, sipping cold drinks at the campus café afterward. It was the way he looked at her sometimes just a glance, nothing more but long enough to make her heart stumble before he quickly looked away.
For Dav, though he never voiced it, Ruth was different from any other girl he knew. His classmates admired him, some even flirted openly, but Ruth… Ruth simply treated him like Dav, not like the "handsome guy" people whispered about. She scolded him when he procrastinated, argued passionately with him during debates, and laughed at his lamest jokes as though they were the funniest thing in the world. In her company, he didn't need to be perfect. He could just be himself.
And so their friendship deepened, layer after unspoken layer. They texted late into the night, sometimes about assignments, other times about nothing at all funny memes, random thoughts, dreams they hardly admitted to others. Yet, whenever the thought crept up that maybe this was more than friendship they both pushed it away.
It wasn't that the feelings weren't there. If anything, they lingered constantly, hidden in the spaces between their conversations, in the silences that stretched just a little too long, in the lingering eye contact they both pretended not to notice. But fear had a way of locking those feelings away. Fear of ruining something so good. Fear of crossing a line they could never redraw. Fear that the other might not feel the same.
So they remained "just friends."
But deep down, perhaps even deeper than they allowed themselves to realize, both knew their hearts were not as simple as their words suggested. And though the world around them saw only two inseparable friends, they were, in fact, two souls teetering on the edge of something far greater.
Neither dared to step forward. Not yet.
The story of Dav and Ruth had only just begun.