It's been around a year and a half since they attended their first day at the prestigious school.
Currently, Kian and Luna were in the middle of their second year. Their friendship was still as potent as ever.
Today was a semi-special occasion as it was Valentine's Day. A holiday where lovers could show appreciation to one another.
But for Kian, it was just another day.
He would wake up, get ready, go to school with Luna, maybe do something after school, study, and repeat. It was like clockwork for him.
This was more or less his life now. Not that it was bad or stressful, but he was fine with it. Knowing how your day might go can give you a sense of security; you're more prepared for the day as if it may just be on repeat, but it can also be very bad because, let's say you have your mindset set for the day, if something unusual or different were to happen, you could become worse at handling those situations.
And this was exactly what happened to Kian.
"Huh, that's the sixth one now, right?"
He said as a student ran off out of their view.
"Seventh actually"
She said after stuffing the box of chocolate in her bag, which was full of similar boxes.
It was currently the end of the day; due to the holiday, the school let the students have a semi-leeway day; even elites need breaks now and then.
However, this only left Luna to get bombarded by guys trying to win her heart.
And frankly, Kian didn't know what was going on; he never saw anyone receive so much chocolate in such a short period, and the worst part was that every time they confessed their love, he was standing right there next to Luna having a conversation; they'd just interrupt, stutter while handing over the sweets, and runoff; they ignored him while they did it as well, pretending he wasn't even there.
Kian expected her to get attention but not like this. Of course, Kian was a good-looking dude, and he caught a few girls with their eyes on him, but no one approached him when he was around Luna. He honestly couldn't tell why either.
'DING!'
Just then, a loud bell resounded across the school, signaling the end of another day.
"C'mon, let's get out of here before a flock of guys come over and kidnap you."
"You don't have to tell me twice."
And with that, they began their swift escape from the halls of love-infected students.
After making it outside unscathed, they began their journey home.
While walking, Luna's bag full of heart-shaped boxes caught Kian's eye, sending him into a trance of thought. You see, Kian and Luna did pretty much everything together, with their families being so close that it was like they almost grew up as siblings.
Since they were so smart, and with their competitive attitudes, when they weren't hanging out together, they were mostly studying.
This caused Kian to not know much about romance, nor did he ever care to delve much deeper into it. He figured he'd save those thoughts till after he was done with school.
Yet when he saw Luna get so many love proposals, he felt an unknown emotion creep up on him. Well, it wasn't much of an unknown emotion. Kian was by no means a dense guy; he knew he was feeling slightly jealous right now. He had just assumed that the reason he was feeling this way was that if Luna got into a relationship, it could hinder their friendship and time together. It was a very selfish train of thought, but he couldn't help it.
That was pretty much the only thing he could think of for why he was feeling jealous. He could be overthinking it or a little oblivious to something; he may not be dense, but he surely isn't all-knowing.
But he knew that this feeling might eat at him if he didn't figure out the source of the problem, and he was quite good at problem-solving.
"Hey"
Kian said, breaking the silence and his long string of thoughts.
"Hm?"
"So were you thinking about accepting any of the offers you received?"
This caught Luna off guard a little, causing her to think for a little bit before answering.
"No, I have no feelings for any of the guys who gave me these."
she said while lifting her bag.
After she said this, it was like Kian felt an invisible weight being lifted off of his soul, killing that previous emotion he felt.
"Well, there is someone I have strong feelings for, but sadly, he didn't give me any chocolate."
And just like that, the weight was thrown over his shoulders again, except this time it felt much heavier.
On top of all the weight was another strong feeling: self-disappointment. Kian wanted to feel happy that Luna found someone she liked; why wouldn't he want his best friend to find love? He should be cheering her on, but instead, he's sulking in his mind.
Kian made sure to show no signs of his emotions to Luna; he kept the face he had on before and continued to walk.
After a brief moment, Kian figured he should give some words of encouragement since Luna didn't receive chocolate from her crush. They had well over a decade of support that their friendship was built upon; this shouldn't even come close to shaking their foundation.
"Ah, I'm sorry to hear that. Maybe he's going to give it to you another time?"
This was the best Kian could come up with in this situation, as he was still a dunce when it came to romance.
"Well, even if he doesn't, hanging out with him is more than enough."
she said while glancing over at him.
"Huh, so it must be one of her friends she hangs out with when we aren't
"Well, I hope he hangs out with you."
The silence was worryingly loud.
This was the conclusion Kian had come up with.
Maybe he was just slightly dense.
Luna, who was dropping hints of her crush on him, was slightly dissatisfied with this response.
"Kian, I'm really concerned for you sometimes."
"Hmm, why would that be?"
She almost wanted to facepalm but surpassed her urge.
You see, Luna had always had a slight crush on Kian growing up, but it was nothing more than a stupid crush. Now that they are older, those emotions have only grown stronger with time. Constantly being together with someone will do that to a person.
But the thing is, for about the past year, Luna had seen many students in relationships, and it honestly warmed her heart, just a little bit. The other parts were pretty angry that she didn't get to have the school-love experience. The only problem was that Kian couldn't take a hint if it hit him in the face.
And that's kind of what she wants to do to him right now.
She didn't answer his question, and they just continued walking in silence until, eventually, they arrived at Luna's house.
"Hey, I want to hang out for a while."
Luna said while unlocking the door.
"Yeah sure"
After entering the house, they took off their shoes and school jackets and went into Luna's room.
Kian had been here a million times, so it wasn't awkward or anything.
After entering the room, Kian sat on the vacant bed in her room while setting his bag down.
"Kian, why are you so oblivious?"
Luna said with an irritated attitude before closing the door.
'Huh?' Kian had zero clue where this came from.
"Um, actually, I'd call myself pretty aware."
Kian was honestly confused about what she was saying.
"Tch Ironic"
She scoffed while shaking her head.
"Are you making fun of me?" "Is there some joke I'm not getting?"
This must have caused something to snap in Luna's brain. You can study physics and chemistry all you want, but you won't become fluent in love.
Luna seemed to have had enough; after years of emotions built up for him, she had cracked. She knew they were way too close for him to not have feelings back, and honestly, she was willing to jeopardize their friendship to upgrade it to something bigger.
Luna pounced on Kian, who was defenseless on her bed and still clueless about the situation.
"H-"
Kian's words were cut short as Luna pushed him onto the bed, laying him flat on his back. This allowed her to jump on him and grab his hands.
Kian was speechless. Staring down at him was a pair of fiery eyes that looked as if they might melt right through him if he looked into them long enough.
"It's…. It's you, you big dummy.
Her face quickly turned as red as her eyes.
"You're the one I like."
And just then, Kian finally began to understand all of the hints he'd been getting.
***
Ever since then, Kian and Luna have been even more inseparable than they already were, and since they already spent all their time with one another their lifestyles didn't change much. Not to mention their family already expected this at some point, so they weren't too surprised.
But of course, not every story ends happily. Kian and Luna were killed by another human who decided he didn't want to follow the rules. Someone who didn't care too much because their life wasn't going too well.
And so these two seemingly perfect lives ended before they could fully blossom. not because of their incompetence or because they did something wrong, but because of someone else.
But I guess that's just life sometimes.
All it takes is one wrong moment, and it all turns into hell.