Yumi was fourteen, and at that age, feelings never came quietly. They crashed into her chest without warning, loud and overwhelming, leaving her breathless and hopeful all at once.
Damian was the reason.
He sat two rows ahead of her in class, always slightly hunched over his desk, glasses slipping down his nose as he scribbled notes faster than anyone else. He was the kind of boy teachers praised and students whispered about—the nerd who didn't look like one. Smart, polite, and effortlessly handsome in a way that made hearts stumble. Yumi noticed him long before he noticed her.
For weeks, she admired him from a distance, memorizing the way he smiled when he solved a difficult problem, or how his ears turned red when someone teased him. Her friends said she was brave for liking him. Yumi didn't feel brave. She felt terrified.
But one afternoon, something unexpected happened.
Damian confessed first.
They were standing near the lockers when he awkwardly cleared his throat and said her name. "Yumi… I like you."
Her world froze.
He told her he liked her because she was cute—not just in looks, but in the way she laughed, the way she listened, the way she tried to be kind to everyone. Yumi's heart nearly burst. For the first time, it felt like a dream was choosing her back.
After that, they started chatting every day. Messages late at night, shy smiles in the hallway, small jokes that only they understood. Yumi fell deeper with every passing week. She thought this was the beginning of something real.
But months passed, and something changed.
Damian's replies became shorter. His smiles didn't reach his eyes anymore. Sometimes, he wouldn't look at her at all. Yumi told herself she was overthinking—until she wasn't.
Kai appeared.
Kai was fifteen, confident, beautiful, and glowing in the way social media stars always seemed to be. Damian found her on TikTok, scrolling mindlessly one night, and her face stayed in his mind long after he put his phone down. When he found out she studied at the same school, curiosity turned into interest. Interest turned into excitement.
And excitement turned into love.
Within months, Damian and Kai were inseparable. Walking together, laughing together, posting pictures that gathered likes and comments like falling rain. Yumi watched from the sidelines, her heart quietly breaking in pieces no one noticed.
She never confronted Damian. She never cried in front of anyone. She simply faded—like a ghost in the same hallways she once felt alive in.
That was when Pherrie noticed her.
Pherrie was sixteen, older, calmer, with eyes that saw things others missed. While everyone else chased noise and attention, he paid attention to silence. He noticed how Yumi sat alone now. How her smile disappeared. How she stared out the window as if searching for something she had lost.
Unlike Damian, Pherrie didn't choose Yumi because she was cute.
He chose her because she was real.
Before anything could change between them, something even bigger happened.
One morning, the classroom buzzed with restless chatter until the teacher raised her hand. Her voice was firm, serious—enough to silence everyone.
"Everyone, please pay attention," she said. "Next week, we're going to Balina. We're going to stay there until you all grow up. Balina is your home now."
The room exploded.
Excitement, confusion, disbelief voices clashed as students jumped from their seats. Some laughed, some questioned, some already imagined a new life waiting for them. Bags were packed in rushed excitement. Futures were rewritten in a single announcement.
Yumi sat quietly.
She didn't know it yet, but Balina wasn't just a place. It was the beginning of change. Of healing. Of heartbreak. Of love she never expected to find.
And for a lost soul like Yumi, it was the start of a story that would finally choose her back.