Tom asked with a terrified face, "What do you mean by 'you'?"

Emilia's expression hardened. "You means you, Tom. I hadn't had you."

"Don't mock me," Tom shot back. "You were approached by the most handsome and smart boys. I've seen you with them. There's no reason you would be after me—a person who is always alone. People only talked to me when they had no choice, and as soon as they got a chance, they got away."

His voice grew hollow. "There's only one explanation for this. You're trying to take advantage of my loneliness and innocence."

"You're just speaking nonsense!" Emilia's voice rose in anger. "What did you say? Taking advantage of you? You don't know—or are you trying to fool yourself?"

She stepped closer, her words cutting through his defenses.

"I always wanted you. I was so curious about you because you never even cared for me or looked at me. You were always in your own mind, confused, never caring what everyone told you or said about you. You just didn't give attention to anything."

Tom stood frozen as she continued.

"You always dressed so messy. Your hairstyle was a mess. All the other guys tried to show off as much as they could—wore brands, maintained their hair and physique. And you? You never cared. I always wanted to know you. You never approached me, and I even wanted to be like a guy who didn't care what everyone thought about himself. Always self-sustained. Never cared what someone said or what someone possessed."

Tom's hands trembled. "This is what you thought about me? Alright, be serious. I always liked you, but I never approached because I always thought I wasn't your match. We lived in different worlds."

His voice cracked. "I never talked to someone intentionally or showed off because I am alone. Why should I show off to people so that they can listen and then make fun of me? Please stop it. My life is far more worse than you can imagine."

"I was always thinking about what others think of me. I tried everything to get friends. In the end, I was left alone. Even people forgot about me. Do you want this life? A life in which nothing wants you and you remain alone?"

Tom's eyes glistened with suppressed emotion. "You don't know, but being alone and carefree looks good on the surface. But when loneliness hits you, it tears your skin so hard you can't even tell anyone. You cry alone, but no one is there to see. You have to do everything yourself. You lose faith in everyone—from God to fate, everything."

SLAP.

Emilia's hand connected with his cheek.

"You know, Tom? You are bullshit."

Tom reeled back, stunned.

"I thought of you as a thoughtful person, but you are worse than scum," she said, her voice shaking with anger. "The reason you suffer this much is your own doing. You created a wall around yourself so that no one can approach you."

"How will people approach you if you hid your true self and shown them a dummy who has no vulnerabilities? Everyone has something vulnerable, but that doesn't mean you have to hide yourself. What is the point of hiding if no one came to find you?"

Her words hit like hammers.

"As you said, there is no fate. And the hope you have inside of you that someone will find you? It's complete bullshit you feed yourself."

Tom opened his mouth to protest, but she kept going.

"If you tried to approach someone and showed your true side—even if it's vulnerable—either people make fun of you and you just ignore them because it's better than being alone, or you get someone who is like you and he will also share his vulnerable side with you."

"If you don't have that side, then you are no longer human. We are human and we are vulnerable. So just shut the fuck up and bring yourself together. Don't say your life is miserable—everyone's life is miserable. It's that they don't show it."

Emilia's eyes blazed. "Don't give yourself false excuses. Just accept it. You were running excuses so that you don't get rejected. Tom, you had fear that someone might see the true self of you, and then you'd have nowhere to go. Then what will you do?"

"Please shut up," Tom whispered, tears threatening. "Don't say something that you don't know."

"Then tell me, Tom." Emilia's voice softened slightly. "What is the reason that you never approached anyone? Tell me. I am here listening to you."

Tom thought for a reason—searched desperately in his mind for the comfortable lies he'd lived with.

But nothing came.

Because it was the truth.

He never approached anyone because he always gave himself excuses. I won't ask Emilia out because she is rich. Maybe she has a boyfriend. I never tried to reach someone else because I was afraid maybe they will make fun of me.

She was saying every word right. He was lying to himself. He was lying to himself.

The wall cracked.

Tom broke into tears—deep, wrenching sobs he hadn't felt in three years. Because now he knew. The suffering he was in was created by himself to keep living with his ego and delusion that it was all happening because he was poor.

But the truth was, he did this so that he never had to face rejection.

Now his ego was broken by someone who actually cared enough to shatter it.

"So what should I do?" Tom asked through tears, his voice breaking. "If everything was a lie fabricated by myself that I didn't realize?"

Emilia knelt beside him, her anger replaced with something gentler.

"Do something what you genuinely like, and do it to the end. Don't stop if someone says anything—that it's worthless, that everyone can do this. Stop when it's completed."

Tom looked up at her, tears streaming down his face, and for the first time in years—

He felt human again.