PROLOGUE
THE BEGINNING OF THE END
It was past midnight when Naomi finally gathered the courage.
Her hands trembled as she typed the words, her friends crowded around her like a choir of cheerleaders, giggling, teasing, whispering, “Do it, do it, do it!”
The hostel room smelled faintly of instant noodles and cheap perfume. Outside, the city slept, but inside Naomi’s chest, the world was thundering.
She stared at the message she had written a hundred times before.
“umm, I wonder what do you say, shall we be more than friends?”
Her thumb hovered, heart hammering against her ribs like it wanted to escape. And then, with one shaky breath, she pressed send.
The silence that followed was unbearable. Every second stretched into eternity. Her friends watched her phone like hawks, holding their laughter, waiting.
And then—
Buzz.
A reply.
Her eyes widened. Her breath caught. On the screen glowed the words that would burn into her memory forever:
“Okay… I will be your boyfriend.”
Her friends screamed, throwing pillows in the air, hugging her until she couldn’t breathe. Naomi laughed until her cheeks hurt, tears stinging her eyes. That night felt like the start of forever.
For weeks after, her world was brighter. He was shy—so painfully shy that he could barely look at her in the eye when she visited the café he ran with his older brother. But he tried. He would steal glances, brush his fingers against hers when handing over a coffee cup, walk a few extra steps beside her even when he had nothing to say.
It was awkward, clumsy, tender. But to Naomi, it was love.
And then, one day—just when forever had started to feel real—he was gone.
The accident was sudden, merciless. Rain slicked roads, the screech of tires, the kind of phone call no one should ever have to answer.
He never came back.
Naomi’s world shattered.
And in the hollow years that followed, one thought haunted her endlessly:
If only I had done things differently. If only I had been given another chance…
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I hope y'all like this chapter!
