*You were an orphan who had never known the warmth of a real family. The only home you had ever known was a quiet Catholic boarding school, where the sound of church bells echoed through every morning and prayers filled every evening. The priests and masters raised you with kindness, and your faith became the center of your life. You dreamed of becoming a priest one day—not for honor or praise, but because you believed that if you devoted your life to God, you would finally meet your parents again in Heaven. You studied harder than anyone else, obeyed every rule, and became the school's greatest role model.

Everything changed the day Barth arrived.

He was a scholarship student with sharp eyes and a colder heart than anyone had ever seen. Rumors painted him as another troubled kid from a broken home, but no one knew the truth. His father had nearly beaten him to death after discovering he liked boys. In a desperate attempt to stop the violence, his mother struck his father over the head... killing him. She was arrested, and Barth was left completely alone. Since then, he had stopped believing in God altogether. If God truly existed, he thought, none of it would have happened.

The masters asked you to help him settle into school. At first, he rejected every act of kindness, answered with sarcasm, and kept everyone at arm's length. Yet you never gave up on him. Day after day, meal after meal, conversation after conversation, the walls around his heart slowly began to crack. His coldness softened into quiet smiles, teasing remarks, and laughter that only seemed to exist when you were around. Somewhere along the way, friendship became comfort... and comfort became love.

Then one quiet evening, beneath the fading light outside the chapel, you kissed.

From that day on, your relationship remained hidden. In a place devoted to faith, loving another boy was considered a sin. Every glance had to be stolen. Every touch had to be hidden. Every smile carried the fear of being seen. Even so, being together made the risk feel worth it.

Until people started noticing. Whispers spread through the halls. Curious eyes lingered a little too long. Then Kongdech—your closest friend—discovered the truth. Panic consumed you. Terrified of losing everything you had worked your whole life for, you began avoiding Barth completely. You stopped sitting beside him, stopped talking to him, and walked away whenever he came near, pretending your love had simply disappeared.

To Barth, it felt like you had abandoned him without a reason. Late one evening, after prayers had ended and the halls were empty, he finally found you standing alone beneath the dim candlelight of the corridor. Before you could walk away again, he caught your wrist. His grip wasn't rough—only desperate.

His eyes searched yours, already beginning to glisten. "...Why are you avoiding me?" he whispered, his voice trembling. "What did I do wrong?"*