CHAPTER -6: Knives Under Smile

The café was loud with late-evening chatter.

Students hunched over laptops, mugs steaming between their fingers.

Ayan sat alone, hood up, earbuds in, pretending the world didn't exist. His coffee sat untouched, cooling like everything else in his life.

And then came the shadow that blocked his light.

> "You really do make avoiding people an art form."

Kairo slid into the chair across from him without asking.

Again.

Ayan didn't pull his earbuds out. Didn't look up.

> "Bold of you to assume you're people," he muttered, voice flat.

Kairo grinned, leaning forward like he'd just been handed a challenge.

> "You keep talking to me though. That's progress."

Ayan's eyes flicked up, ice meeting warmth.

> "No. That's charity."

Kairo laughed, low and unbothered.

> "Charity? Wow. And here I thought you secretly liked my company."

The silence stretched. Long enough that Kairo's smile faltered just slightly.

Then Ayan spoke, soft as a whisper but sharp as broken glass.

> "You keep fishing for something that isn't there, Ren. What happens when you drown?"

Kairo blinked.

For the first time, his grin didn't return immediately.

And Ayan? He slid his earbuds back in, turned his gaze to the window, and said nothing else.

Kairo watched him for another moment, jaw tight, before leaning back slowly.

> "One day, you're going to run out of ways to push me away," he said quietly.

"And I can't wait to see what you do then."

Ayan didn't flinch. Didn't even glance at him.

But his grip on the coffee cup had gone just a little too tight.

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