11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjeZviDX8bG
It had been 122 days since Ric first kissed Ren.
Not that Ric was counting.
Okay, he was totally counting.
But not because he was obsessed (he totally was) — just because every day since then had felt like something new. Something worth remembering.
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🕰️ A soft morning in their shared apartment
The sunlight spilled through the white curtains, casting golden warmth on the wooden floorboards. The scent of fresh coffee lingered in the air. Ren stood by the kitchen counter, barefoot, humming softly as he poured milk into two mugs.
Ric wrapped his arms around him from behind.
“You smell like cinnamon,” he murmured, voice still sleepy.
“I put cinnamon in the coffee.”
“No, I mean you. You always smell like cinnamon and rain.”
Ren laughed, turning in his arms. “You’re ridiculous.”
“I’m in love,” Ric said simply. “Let me be ridiculous.”
Ren reached up and kissed him softly — slow and warm and sweet like honey. It still made Ric dizzy, even now.
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🎓 Later that week: Graduation Day
The campus was buzzing. Everyone was in caps and gowns. Parents were crying. Students were laughing too loudly. Cameras flashed everywhere.
Ren stood with Film, Kao, and Tae, adjusting his tassel for the hundredth time.
Ric came up behind him and slid an arm around his waist.
“You look like you own the world,” Ric said.
Ren smiled. “I don’t want the world.”
Ric raised a brow. “No?"
Ren shook his head. “I just want you. And maybe… a job.”
Ric laughed. “One of those is guaranteed.”
They took photos together — some serious, some silly, some with Film aggressively shouting, “KISS! KISS FOR THE CAMERA!”
Ren rolled his eyes.
Ric kissed him anyway.
---
📖 A letter from Ren’s journal
> Dear Future Me,
You’re not afraid anymore, are you?
You’ve learned how to be loved without running. You’ve learned that soft doesn’t mean weak, and silence can be safe. You’ve found someone who sees every part of you — even the ones you used to hide — and still stays.
You used to dream about love like this. Now you wake up beside it.
Born to be yours,– Ren
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💍 A small surprise on a quiet rooftop
That evening, Ric took Ren to the rooftop of their building. The sky was full of stars. The city buzzed far below, but up there, it was just them.
There was no grand speech. No crowd. No big performance.
Just Ric pulling a silver ring from his pocket — simple, beautiful, with their initials engraved inside.
“I know we’re young,” Ric said. “I know we’ve got so much ahead of us. But I also know… there’s no one else I want to grow with.”
Ren’s breath caught.
“So,” Ric whispered, sliding the ring onto his finger, “this isn’t a proposal. Not yet. But it’s a promise. That I’ll be by your side. Wherever you go. However far. However long.”
Ren looked down at the ring, then back up at Ric, tears in his eyes.
“Then here’s mine,” he said, pulling out his own matching ring from his pocket — the one he’d been too scared to give until now. “I was going to wait too. But… you beat me.”
Ric laughed, kissed his forehead, and held him close.
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🌙 That night
They lay in bed, facing each other, legs tangled, hands resting between them.
“I used to think love was supposed to be loud,” Ren whispered. “Like, heart-racing, fire-burning, chaos kind of love.”
“And now?” Ric asked.
“Now I know it’s like this,” Ren said. “Quiet. Safe. A breath you didn’t know you were holding.”
Ric reached out, brushing his thumb across Ren’s cheek.
“You were never hard to love,” he said. “You just hadn’t found someone who knew how.”
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🌌 Final lines
As the stars watched from above, and the world slowed to a hush, two boys who had once been strangers……now lay side by side, sharing secrets in the silence.
Loving softly. Loving completely.
No longer lost.
No longer waiting.
Because from the very beginning…
They were born to be yours.
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💫 THE END 💫
Thank you for walking with Ric and Ren. For listening to the silences, feeling the rain, and believing in quiet love.
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