Ep-4

Susen's Pov:

A few days passed, and Ruaan became mostly inactive.

Not completely gone—he’d still appear occasionally in the group chat, drop a random message, then disappear again before conversations could properly start.

Apparently his studies were getting serious.

At least that’s what he told us.

Ruaan: If I fail my exams I’m blaming all of you.

Cherine: As you should.

Theon: Especially Susen she distracts people naturally.

Me: Excuse me?

But even while joking around, I noticed the difference.

The chatroom felt quieter without him.

Not because he talked the most—he definitely didn’t.

But Ruaan had this strange presence that balanced everyone out. Cherine became too loud without him. Theon joked more than usual like he was trying to fill the silence himself.

And me…

I checked my phone more often than I should’ve.

One evening, the three of us were in a call while I pretended to study.

Cherine was ranting dramatically about school while Theon kept teasing her until she threatened to leave the call at least six times.

Then suddenly—

Ruaan joined the voice chat.

My heart reacted before my brain did.

“Took you long enough,” I said immediately.

A small chuckle came from the other side.

“Missed me that much?”

Before I could stop myself, I smiled.

“Maybe.”

The call went oddly quiet for a second.

Cherine made exaggerated gagging noises instantly.

“Oh my God.”

I laughed it off quickly, but somewhere in the silence after that, I noticed Theon had gone unusually quiet.

Not angry.

Not upset.

Just… quiet.

The kind of silence that passes so naturally nobody questions it.

A few minutes later he excused himself casually.

“Gonna eat. You people are unbearable anyway.”

Cherine laughed. “Liar.”

But after he left, I stared at his disconnected icon for a moment longer than necessary.

Something about it felt strange.

Still, Ruaan’s voice pulled my attention back again almost immediately.

And somehow, without realizing it…

I got pulled away by his usual chats.

The call continued like normal after that.

Cherine kept talking endlessly, Ruaan replied whenever he felt like it, and I laughed along while absentmindedly twirling my pen between my fingers.

But every now and then, my eyes drifted toward Theon’s offline icon.

It was silly, honestly.

Theon was never the quiet type. Even on bad days he always found something sarcastic to say, some joke to throw around, some way to keep conversations alive.

So his sudden silence lingered in my mind longer than it should have.

A while later, Cherine left too after her mother yelled at her in the background for staying online again.

Somehow I felt a little uneasy because for the first time in months, our little group didn’t feel perfectly balanced anymore. It was much quieter than usual now. Ruaan and I continued to chat for a while about our day than eventually he had to go off too.

After the call disconnected I tossed my phone on the bed and closed my eyes eventually drifting to slumber.

TO BE CONTINUED~🍀

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