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Keng and Namping were never officially together.
At least, that's what Keng would later insist.
They were teenagers when it started..two boys who talked every day, stayed up late texting each other, flirted shamelessly, exchanged little promises, and acted so much like a couple that even their friends stopped asking whether they were dating.
Keng would call Namping baby just to watch him blush.
He'd send him good-morning texts.
He'd wait for him after class.
He'd get jealous when other boys got too close.
And Namping, hopelessly soft for him, fell hard.
On their one-month anniversary, Namping was nervous but happy. He had secretly bought Keng a small gift, convinced that maybe tonight Keng would finally make things official.
Instead, Keng ended it.
Just like that.
No explanation.
No warning.
When Namping confronted him the next day, heartbroken and confused, Keng looked him straight in the eyes and said:
"I don't know what you're talking about. I never said any of that to you."
He denied every message.
Every late-night conversation.
Every flirtatious joke.
Every moment that had made Namping believe he mattered.
It was humiliating.
Namping felt stupid for having believed him.
And somehow, because Namping was Namping, he stayed.
He stayed friends with Keng.
Pretended it didn't hurt.
Pretended he hadn't cried over him.
Pretended he could forget.
Months passed.
Then one ordinary day, Keng finally cracked.
He admitted the truth.
It had always been him.
He had been the one talking to Namping.
The one flirting with him.
The one who had fallen for him.
He hadn't denied it because he didn't care.
He had denied it because he cared too much.
He was terrified of what his feelings meant.
Terrified of being vulnerable.
Terrified of liking another boy.
Terrified of losing control.
So he'd panicked.
And in trying to protect himself, he'd destroyed Namping.
Keng expected forgiveness.
Maybe anger.
Maybe tears.
He didn't expect Namping to simply look at him and say:
"You don't get to hurt me and then explain why you did it as if that makes it okay."
For the first time, Keng understood that an apology couldn't undo what he'd done.
Namping cut him off.
Completely.
Years passed.
Keng eventually became successful, confident, and seemingly unaffected by his past.
Until one evening, he walked into an expensive restaurant and saw him.
Namping.
Older.
Beautiful.
Completely different from the boy Keng remembered.
And sitting across from him was another man.
A handsome man.
The kind who looked at Namping like he was the most precious person in the room.
Namping laughed at something he said.
Then the man reached across the table and casually intertwined their fingers.
Keng stopped breathing.
Because suddenly every memory came rushing back.
The first message.
The flirting.
The one-month anniversary.
Namping's devastated face.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
His confession months later.
Namping's final words.
And now—
Someone else was holding the hand Keng had once been too afraid to hold.
Keng spends the entire evening watching them from across the restaurant.
He tells himself the man could be a friend.
A colleague.
A brother.
Anything.
Until Namping leans closer and the man kisses his forehead.
And Keng knows.
He finally approaches their table.
Namping looks up.
There is a moment of silence.
Then, surprisingly, Namping smiles.
Not bitterly.
Not angrily.
Just politely.
"Keng."
As though he's nothing more than an old acquaintance.
Keng's chest tightens.
They talk.
Namping tells him about his life.
His career.
His travels.
Everything Keng missed.
Keng finally says the words he's carried for years:
"I loved you."
Namping looks at him for a long moment.
"I know."
"I still do."
Another pause.
"I know that too."
And somehow, that hurts worse.
Because Namping isn't angry anymore.
He has simply moved on.
Keng asks the question he has secretly been afraid to ask.
"Is he your boyfriend?"
Namping glances at the man beside him.
His smile is soft.
"Yes."
Keng nods.
He wants to ask if there's still a chance.
He wants to tell Namping that he's changed.
That he was young.
That he was scared.
That if he could go back, he'd do everything differently.
But he knows.
He had his chance.
He had another chance.
And another.
And another.
Namping had waited.
Keng had hesitated.
Then Namping stopped waiting.
As Keng walks away, he realizes something cruel:
He didn't lose Namping because someone else loved him better.
He lost him because he had once been loved by Namping and was too afraid to love him back.
And now, when he's finally brave enough to say it....
He's out of time.