The days after that talk with Reha didn't crash like a storm they slipped by, quiet but steady. Something had shifted in Tulip. Not in how she felt about Ren but in how fiercely she clung to what they had.
She didn't pull away. She leaned in deeper, as if to prove Reha and maybe herself wrong.
So instead of crying that night, she did what she always did when the world confused her she sent Ren a dumb meme.He replied instantly with another about a turtle proposing to a frog, both dressed as anime characters.
Just like that, they were laughing again.
Not the loud, echoing laughter of the early days but that private, bubble-in-the-chest kind of laugh.
The kind that only comes when you know someone. Really know them.
And somehow, their chats evolved.
From cat memes to virtual puzzles.
It began with one bored Sunday evening.
Tulip: "Wanna build a 1000-piece digital puzzle of the Mona Lisa wearing shades?"
Ren: "Only if we can put cat ears on her."
Tulip: "Deal."
They'd fight over who got to drag which piece, argue over colors, blame each other when something didn't fit.
But by the end of it, when the picture finally came together offbeat and goofy and perfectly them it felt like a tiny metaphor.
Two very different shapes making something whole.
Ren sent her a blurry photo of himself with a broomstick, pretending to be Zoro.
Tulip immediately FaceTimed him wearing a bedsheet toga and yelling, "BELIEVE IT!" in the worst Naruto voice ever.
For the next few weeks, their camera rolls filled up with badly lit cosplay selfies and chaotic roleplays.
He became her Flynn; she became his Rupanzel.
Together, they became something that felt like a series no one else was watching but it didn't matter.
When the clock struck 1AM and the world quieted down, their ritual began.
They'd hop on Discord like it was a secret meeting under a blanket fort.
"I drew your dream city," she'd say, screen sharing a whimsical watercolor skyline.
"I made your cat a superhero," he'd say, holding up a messy charcoal sketch.
No one else saw these pieces. No Instagram, no portfolio.
It was just for them.
A private gallery of laughter and honesty and unspoken feelings
one that quietly expanded as Tulip began helping him prep for his boards.
And yet...He almost said it one night, in the quiet between two jokes. But swallowed it
Even with all the love memes, the late-night calls, the whispered dreams there was still a "not yet" between them.
A wordless pause.
They never said together.
They said "someday."
They said "if."
They said "maybe."
But never "now."
Still, every time they pressed send, every time they shared a laugh or added another dream to the list it felt like they were building something real.
Maybe not officially a couple.
But something more than memes
He hated math. She hated waking up early.
But every morning, she'd text:
"Rise and grind, genius. Don't make me teleport there."
"Chapter 5 today. No excuses."
"Remember your 'dream list'? This is one brick of it."
She quizzed him, cheered for him, even made flashcards with memes. Another puzzle piece clicked into place.
Hegrumbled, but he showed up. Because she did. And maybe, that was love. Not thekind you posted. But the kind built from more than memes