I was never one to stand out. I could blend into any crowd, and most of the time, I preferred it that way. But it was during my senior year of high school that things started to change... or so I thought.

My name is Dax, and this is a story that doesn't begin with a big moment, but with small things. Shared laughter, exchanged glances, silly jokes in the hallways. She was there, with her overwhelming energy, always ready to tease, to make you smile. I was just... me. An ordinary guy with a backpack full of books and another invisible one full of insecurities.

At first, I didn't notice. I thought she was just cool, that she treated everyone that way. But there were gestures, words, details that started to make noise in my head. We shared food, we shared laughter, we even shared silences. And there, in the midst of all that, I began to build something that only existed in my mind: hope.

It wasn't love that I felt. It was something softer, more tender. A longing for closeness, for sharing the world with someone like her. Wanting to hold her hand without words, watch a movie on a rainy afternoon, play, talk about everything and nothing. Nonsense! anyone would say. But for me it was important.

And without realizing it, I started staying up late waiting for her to come online, looking at her seat in class just to make sure she had arrived, smiling when she wrote to me, even if it was nonsense. That's when I knew: I had grown fond of her. Much more than I wanted to admit.

But reality isn't like in manga. Sometimes you make up a story in your head and forget to look at the real one. I understood that when I saw her with someone else... and when I dared to be honest.

And she was too.

“I don't want a partner. I just want friends, buddies... I want to enjoy this last year however I want,” she told me.

And there I was. With my heart echoing in the void. It wasn't rejection. It was clarity. And it hurt.

I backed away. Literally and figuratively. When she tried to touch my hair, that innocent gesture, I pulled away. Because even though part of me wanted to feel that contact, another part knew it was better to keep my distance.

Sometimes, the heart wants to rush forward, but the soul knows it's time to stop.

That was the beginning.

Of something that didn't happen.

But it still left its mark on me.