Eli's POV
Three days.
Three full days.
No texts. No replies. No "I'm okay." Not even a stupid sticker or emoji.
Eli stared at his phone screen for the hundredth time, thumbs hovering over a blank message that he wouldn't send.
Because if he had to beg for someone to stay, it wasn't love anymore—it was punishment.
He paced his bedroom, Riven's drawing still taped to the wall like it hadn't betrayed him too.
Every time he looked at it, he wondered if the boy who saw him in stars had disappeared forever.
The final straw?
Seeing Riven earlier that afternoon across campus.
Wearing his polished blazer. Talking to a family friend. Laughing.
Like nothing happened.
Like Eli didn't exist.
Like they didn't happen.
And so when Riven finally texted—
> 📩 Riven: "Meet me at the rooftop. Please."
Eli didn't reply.
He just went.
With fire in his chest and silence in his fists.
---
Rooftop – Sunset
Riven was already there, leaning against the wall, trying to look casual but failing.
He looked tired. Like someone at war with himself.
Eli stood across from him, arms crossed. "Three days."
"I know."
"You just disappeared."
"I had to."
"No, Riven. You chose to."
Silence.
The wind pushed between them like a ghost.
Riven opened his mouth, then closed it.
Eli shook his head, voice low and shaking. "I told you what I felt. I gave you everything without asking you for forever. I didn't even ask you to stay."
"I wanted to stay, Eli."
"Then why didn't you?"
Riven's fists clenched.
"Because every time I take a step toward you, my world pulls me back. My family—"
"I'm not asking you to choose," Eli cut in, voice rising. "I'm asking you to try. But you vanish the moment it gets hard. Every time."
"I'm trying."
"No, Riven. You're trying to not lose everything else. But you're okay losing me."
That hit.
Riven's shoulders fell.
"I'm not good at this," he whispered. "At feelings. At... being soft."
Eli's voice cracked. "I never asked you to be perfect. Just present."
Riven stepped forward.
Eli stepped back.
It hurt.
More than he thought it would.
"I can't keep doing this," Eli said, voice quiet. "I can't love someone who disappears the moment they feel something real."
Riven's eyes widened.
"Eli—"
"No. Don't explain it. Don't feed me lines about fate or family or pressure. Just own it. You walked away."
"I thought I was protecting you," Riven said, desperate now. "From me. From the mess I am. I didn't want to hurt you."
"You did." Eli snapped. "Not because you're a mess. But because you ran."
And then came the silence.
The kind of silence that isn't empty—but full of everything they couldn't say without shattering.
Riven reached into his coat pocket and pulled out the sketch Eli had given him—creased from being folded too many times.
He held it out.
Eli didn't take it.
Riven's voice cracked. "I kept it with me. Every day. It reminded me why I can't let go."
Eli's eyes glistened.
But he still didn't take it.
"Then why does it feel like you already did?"
---
Riven's POV
He watched Eli walk away—shoulders stiff, head down.
He wanted to run after him.
To scream.
To say, I'm scared too.
But all he could do was stand there.
Holding the sketch of the boy he might already be losing.
---