The knock on the door wasn't just loud—it was violent.
" BANG ! "
Each bang was a scream in disguise, a war drum against fragile peace of her mind.
"Serin ! If you don't open this damn door right now, I swear I'll break it down!"
Her mother's voice tore through the silence—raw, ragged, not just angry, but afraid. Like a tiger lashing out from the ruins of a cage it never chose.
Serin stood still, swallowed in the sunset bleeding through the curtains like a memory.
Her silhouette looked golden, almost divine, until you noticed the tremble in her fingers.
Her throat clenched.
Her hands, small and shaking, curled by her sides.
"Is this it…? Is this the day I give up?"
Voice trembling inside.
Gasping.
Suddenly,
The room shrank.
The walls leaned in.
Her knees faltered.
Her breath was no longer hers, it refused to enter.
It was like drowning.
But without water.
Tears gathered but didn't fall.
Her heartbeat wasn't beating anymore, it was thrashing, like a bird slamming itself against invisible glass, begging for freedom.
And then—
"SERIN !!"
The door shuddered.
The floor groaned.
And Serin moved.
Each step felt like walking through cement.
Slow.
Heavy.
Afraid.
Click.
She unlocked the door.
The storm entered.
Her mother burst through the door like chaos incarnate.
"Have you lost your damn mind ?! What the hell is wrong with you ?!"
Serin flinched.
But not like someone scared for the first time, this was the flinch of years.
A flinch born from patterns.
"You haven't even brushed your hair ! Look at you ! You're a mess ! You're sick in the head, Serin ! Oh lord, What happened to my daughter?!"
Every word was a whip, every scream a fracture through her chest.
But Serin didn't cry.
She didn't shout.
She just… stood there.
Numb.
Breathing.
Barely.
Because this wasn't new.
This was home.
Yes ! The sweet home everyone refers.
A home full of noise, but never understanding.
A home with money, gifts, vacations, safety, but never a quiet moment to say:
" I see you. Really see you." , " are you ok serin ? " , " You Can talk to me anytime you want ".
Her mom was still yelling all this time,
" You never speak! You're always locked away! Who are you texting all day ?!"
"I'm not hiding ," she wanted to say. "I'm surviving ."
Instead, she turned away.
Walked to the cupboard. Grabbed a towel, pulled out her baggy shirt and pants—not for sleep, but to disappear.
She hated her body. Always had.
Not because of magazines or mirrors—but because no one ever said,
"You're enough."
"You're safe."
She changed clothes slowly. Not out of laziness. Out of fear.
And as her mother ranted behind her, her thoughts—
drifted to him.
To Ren.
The boy who texted like thunder and hugged like rain.
Her mom slammed the door.
Her heart dropped.
Sound of Her mom's footsteps were fading.
As her heart started to beat normally parallel to it.
Her phone buzzed !!
"Dude I already miss u."
"I will keep yapping till you reply."
"Idk should we call each other baby or something else?"
"DUDE are you ok?"
"Please tell me you're still alive 😭"
"If you don't reply in the next hour, I'm showing up to your home."
"Okay fine, I don't know your address but I WILL JUMP THROUGH DIMENSIONS TO REACH YOUR HOME."
His chaos.
His madness.
It should've been annoying.
But instead, it felt like a blanket around her shaking shoulders.
He effortlessly dropped something cringe, but wholesome to watch.
She smiled.
A real one. Barely there. But enough.
His desperate attempts to make her smile brought her a thought of safety.
The phone buzzed again.
incoming call : Ren.
She picked up.
And there he was, Ren.
Messy hair, hoodie too big, tired eyes filled with a storm of worry.
She didn't say hello.
"Shut up, dummy. Don't your fingers get tired from yapping like that?"
"Trust me, babe, they do," he grinned.
"But every letter is worth typing for you ."
Her smile cracked. Her eyes glistened.
"Today my mom… she yelled like I'm not even hers. Maybe I'm not. Idk...it's just...idk"
"Serin..."
"Hmm?"
"You gotta stop overthinking, baby girl."
She blinked.
"Hey! That's MY line! I'm supposed to call you baby boy, Ren!"
They laughed.
And in that moment—
The sadness loosened its grip.
Her heart was starting to get warm.
There were few blushes sprouting out.
"Look," he said, softer now. "I know our families won't get it. Maybe they never will. But love like this… the real kind… it finds a way. It always does."
Her breath hitched.
He wasn't perfect. But his heart was...
Everything.
"I don't care if it's selfish or cringe or too much… I want to keep you. Just you and me. Forever. I love you so much it hurts sometimes."
She stared. And for once, the tears weren't cold.
"I love you too, Ren. So much. I hope this thing we have... never fades. Not even when we're stars in sky or dust down in earth ."
The screen between them flickered.
Pixels.
But somehow, more humanly than most faces she saw in real life.
"Serin," Ren whispered, serious now. "Do you trust me ? "
"Yeah," she said. "Always."
Ren leaned back. Slowly, he lifted his shirt.
Her breath caught.
"Dude, what the hell are you—"
Then she saw it.
A scar. Jagged. Harsh. Cutting across his ribs like a memory that never healed right.
"When I was a kid… I fell into fire. Real fire." He touched the scar. " This stayed. I hated it. Thought no one could ever love someone with this… broken. But you're part of me now. You should know."
Serin's hands trembled.
She pulled her own shirt slightly off her shoulder. Revealed a scar.
Pale.
Twisted.
"My cousin… stabbed me once. By accident. But this? It never felt like an accident. I never showed it to anyone. Not even myself this scar always haunted me ."
Ren was silent. Not out of pity. But reverence.
"There's nothing wrong with it," he whispered.
"It's beautiful as perfect as You are ."
And something inside her broke.
In the best way.
This boy wasn't just loving her prettiness.
He loved her ruins.
Her flaws.
Whatever she was.
He loved the truth.
Ren took a shaky breath. His eyes weren't just looking at her—they were memorizing her.
"Serin…"
"I know this might sound like a story people laugh at—like a fantasy two broken kids dreamed up just to feel less alone…"
He paused, swallowing a lump in his throat.
"…But I wish we could live outside time. Like the myths that never fade. Like lovers the stars wrote about when no one was watching,
I wish we weren't just Ren and Serin in a tiny room on a forgotten day. I wish we were something bigger—two souls that even the universe would stop and bow to."
"Because loving you doesn't feel real."
"It feels holy."
Her breath hitched. His voice trembled—but he kept going.
"If I could, I'd carve our names into the rings of Saturn. I'd steal the last light of the dying sun just to keep you warm. I'd whisper 'I love you' to every universe and pray it echoes into every version of us."
"And if this world ends…"
"If everything we know burns down to nothing…"
"Then let them say—there was once a boy who loved a girl like she was the last miracle left in creation."
Her whole life, she have never heard something beautifully crafted like that.
Atleast, not to her.
Her eyes glittered.
Filled with tears.
She questioned her reality.
Her heart was pounding.
" I wish the world was as beautiful as this is "
Her heart spoke to her.
She tried to say something,
But her voice never came out.
" But serin, Even if the world resets a thousand times—
Even if every version of me forgets how to breathe—
I will still remember how to love you.
That's my promise, Serin.
In every universe,
You are my first breath."
At that moment,
The most purest form of tears fell from her eyes,
Like the shades of sakura petals falling stopping the space and time.