It was quiet.
Too quiet.
Lu Zhen stood by the window, the faint sound of rain tapping against the glass filling the silence that had settled into the room. The city lights flickered in the distance, blurred by the storm, but he didn't move. He hadn't moved for a long time.
His phone lay in his hand.
The screen was dark.
No messages.
No missed calls.
Nothing.
He should have been used to this.
Silence had always been a part of his life. It was familiar. Safe, even. No expectations. No attachments. No one to leave.
So why did it feel so different now?
His fingers tightened slightly around the phone, the cold edge pressing into his palm.
It wasn't supposed to matter.
He had told himself that from the beginning.
People come. People go.
That's how it's always been.
He knew that.
He understood that better than anyone.
So when everything started getting too close… too real…
he did what he always did.
He pushed it away.
Hard.
A bitter smile tugged at his lips, but it didn't reach his eyes.
"...I told you to leave," he muttered under his breath, his voice barely audible.
But that wasn't true.
Not really.
Because if he was honest—
He had never wanted him to go.
The rain grew heavier, the sound filling the emptiness, but it wasn't enough to drown out the thought that kept repeating in his mind.
For the first time…
No one was there.
And somehow—
That silence hurt more than anything he had ever known.
Lu Zhen closed his eyes slowly, his breathing uneven.
This was what he wanted, wasn't it?
Distance.
No attachments.
No one close enough to break him.
Then why did it feel like something inside him already had?
A faint memory surfaced—warm, persistent, impossible to ignore.
A voice.
Soft.
Steady.
"I'm not going anywhere."
Lu Zhen's grip faltered.
The phone slipped slightly in his hand.
"…Liar."
The word came out weaker than he expected.
Or maybe—
He wasn't talking about him.
The room fell silent again, the rain now the only witness to the quiet unraveling of someone who had always believed he didn't need anyone.
Until he did.
And by the time he realized it—
The one person who stayed…
was gone.