Chapter 2: The Stranger on the Steps

Some days, it felt like I was just floating.

Not living… just existing.

School didn’t feel like school anymore.

It was just a place to breathe—where my parents weren’t yelling, crying, or breaking things.

I used to sit alone on the back steps after school, right behind the library.

It was quiet there.

No one noticed me.

And honestly, I preferred it that way.

Until he noticed me.

It was one of those gray afternoons—the kind where the sky feels heavy, and your heart matches the weather.

I was sitting there, earphones in, pretending to listen to music when I wasn’t.

Just staring at nothing, really.

That’s when I heard footsteps.

I looked up and saw a boy I’d never seen before.

Dark hoodie. Messy hair. Faint dark circles under his eyes.

He looked tired—like life had taken a little too much from him lately.

But there was something… still kind in his face.

He didn’t say anything.

He just sat a few steps away from me.

Close, but not too close.

Like he knew I wouldn’t be ready for that.

At first, we didn’t speak.

Not even a nod.

But somehow, his silence wasn’t uncomfortable.

It was… calming. Like a presence that didn’t ask anything of me.

A few minutes passed before he pulled out a small notebook and a black pen.

His fingers moved fast. Focused.

He wasn’t scribbling aimlessly—he was drawing.

Curiosity got the better of me.

I learned a little, not wanting to be obvious, but desperate to see.

He was sketching the library roof. The clouds. A bit of the sky.

His lines weren’t perfect, but they had feelings.

Raw and a little chaotic, but beautiful.

“You draw?” I asked without even thinking.

He didn’t look up. “Sometimes.”

Then he paused. “You sit here a lot.”

I blinked.

“You’ve seen me before?”

He nodded. “Yeah. You always look like you’re somewhere else.”

Something about that hit me hard.

It was the first time someone had really noticed me in weeks.

“I’m Noah,” I said quietly.

He finally looked up at me.

“Kevin.”

And then—he smiled.

A small, crooked smile, but it reached his eyes for a second.

And I swear, my heartbeat went weird.

It caught me off guard.

The way my stomach felt light.

The way I couldn’t stop looking at his face even after he turned back to his notebook.

I looked away fast.

Embarrassed.

Confused.

I’d never felt this way before—not toward a guy.

But there was something about Kevin.

Not loud or obvious.

But something that pulled at me gently, like a whisper I wasn’t ready to hear.

I told myself it was just admiration.

Maybe envy.

But deep down, I already knew it was more than that.

Kevin didn’t try to talk much.

He didn’t ask about my scars.

Didn’t ask about my life.

He just sat there, and for once, that was enough.

And even though I barely knew him…

I already felt like I didn’t want him to leave.

I didn’t understand it.

I didn’t want to.

But something had shifted inside me.

What I didn’t know back then was—

Kevin wasn’t just passing by.

He was the beginning of everything I’d been running from…

and everything I never knew I needed.

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