Hendry_budisaputra

She was cold in chat. But when they met, her silence spoke louder than words.

Nayla is the kind of girl who leaves your message unread, not because she doesn’t care, but because she doesn’t know how to care in a way that fits inside a blue bubble.

Raka, a warm and extroverted guy, falls for Nayla’s quiet presence. But as their connection grows, so does his confusion. How do you hold on to someone who disappears every time the screen lights up?

This is not a story of grand declarations. It’s about pauses, glances, and the kind of love that lingers in silence.

Cold on Screen, Warm in Real Life is a slow-burn urban romance about learning to speak each other’s language even when one is made of noise and the other of quiet.

Cold on Screen, Warm in Real Life

Nayla was staring at the message box. Again.

The glow of her phone was the only light in her room, casting faint blue shadows on her blanket and the book she wasn't reading. Her thumb hovered above the keyboard, unmoving. She hated how familiar this had become how often she ended up in this exact position: caught between saying too much and not enough. Trapped in her head, thinking through every possible way her words could be interpreted, misunderstood, or dismissed.

That afternoon, he had texted her something stupidly sweet, something that had no business being so gentle and devastating all at once:

"You crossed my mind today. A lot."

Just that. No emojis. No follow-up. No expectation.

Her heart beat louder with every reread, like it was trying to get her attention. Like it was screaming Say something, anything.

But what could she possibly say to that?

"That's nice?""You too?""Same?"

Each option felt like a cheap copy of what she wanted to express. Too bland, too weak. None of them captured the warmth that had spread through her chest when she saw his name on the screen. None of them said, I think about you more than I'm willing to admit, and it scares me sometimes.

She typed:"I think about you, too."Then deleted it.

Typed again:"That means more than you know."Deleted that, too.

Finally, with a sigh, she settled on the safest response. The one that wrapped her feelings in layers of gauze, the one that wouldn't leave her too exposed:

She hit send. Regret followed immediately, as it always did.

Too flat. Too neutral. Like throwing a blanket over a fire and pretending it was still burning just as bright underneath.

Raka's reply came a few minutes later:

Her chest tightened. Panic stirred in her stomach. Had she messed it up? Was he disappointed?

But before she could spiral further, another message followed:

"Kidding. I know what you mean."

"It's enough that you replied. I'll take it."

That made her pause. Pause. Her fingers stopped moving. Her breath caught.

He wasn't teasing her. He wasn't guilt-tripping her into more. He knew. He understood the hesitation, the silence. Even if he didn't love it, he accepted it. And that… that meant everything.

Later, close to midnight, when the city outside was finally quiet and her thoughts had stopped racing, Nayla did something she had never done before.

"You still awake?"

The response came so fast it made her laugh softly into the dark.

"For you? Always."

Nayla smiled, her phone resting gently against her chest.

It wasn't a grand gesture. But it was new. It was brave for her.

And in that moment, she knew she was inching closer to the edge of her guardedness. And Raka? He was there, steady, waiting, never pushing too hard.

She was still learning how to show up.

But tonight, she had. A little more than yesterday.

Chapter 13 – Status: Typing...