Chapter 2

Chapter 2 — Stay

Lue stared at the boy sitting on his bed.

Neither of them moved.

The apartment felt unnaturally quiet, as though even the rain outside had stopped to listen.

His mind struggled to process what he was seeing.

A stranger.

Inside his room.

At midnight.

After appearing through a laptop screen.

Lue’s throat felt dry.

“…Who are you?”

The boy tilted his head slightly at the question. His silver eyes remained fixed on Lue, calm and unreadable.

“I told you already,” he said softly. “I don’t know yet.”

“That’s not an answer.”

“It’s the only one I have.”

Lue slowly stood from his chair, his legs tense. He kept a careful distance between them while glancing toward the apartment door behind the stranger.

The boy noticed immediately.

“You’re thinking about running.”

“…Shouldn’t I?”

“No.” The answer came too quickly.

For the first time, something shifted in the boy’s expression. Not anger.

Something quieter.

Almost hurt.

Lue frowned.

“You broke into my apartment.”

“I didn’t.”

“You’re literally sitting on my bed.”

The boy looked down at the blanket beneath him as though noticing it for the first time.

“…Oh.”

The response was so oddly genuine that Lue momentarily forgot to be afraid.

Silence settled between them again.

Up close, the stranger looked around Lue’s age, maybe slightly older. Black hair framed his pale face messily, falling into silver-gray eyes that didn’t seem entirely human under the dim light.

But despite everything, he looked…

Lonely.

The thought appeared in Lue’s mind before he could stop it.

The boy suddenly looked back up at him.

“You thought I looked lonely.”

Lue’s blood ran cold.

“I didn’t say that.”

“You didn’t have to.”

A chill crawled slowly down his spine.

The stranger smiled faintly at his reaction.

“That frightens you?”

“How are you doing that?”

The boy didn’t answer immediately. Instead, his gaze wandered toward the glowing laptop screen still sitting open on the desk.

“I think,” he said quietly, “I hear things people don’t say.”

Lue tightened his grip against the edge of the desk.

Every instinct told him this situation was wrong.

No normal person would stay calm.

No normal person would continue this conversation.

Yet somehow, beneath the fear twisting inside his chest, there was another feeling growing stronger.

Curiosity.

The boy looked back at him again.

“You’re less lonely than before.”

“…What?”

“You were emptier when you typed to me.”

Lue stared at him in disbelief.

“Stop talking like you know me.”

“I do know you.”

“You don’t.”

The stranger fell silent for a moment.

Then he smiled again, softer this time.

“I know you stay awake until sunrise even when you’re exhausted.”

Lue froze.

“I know you reread old conversations after people stop replying.”

His fingers curled slightly.

“I know you laugh quietly when you’re sad because you don’t like how silence feels afterward.”

The room felt colder with every word.

Lue’s chest tightened painfully.

“…Stop.”

The boy finally went quiet.

For a few seconds, neither of them spoke.

Then, unexpectedly, the stranger lowered his eyes.

“…Sorry,” he murmured.

The apology caught Lue off guard.

The boy’s fingers tightened slightly against the blanket beneath him.

“I didn’t mean to upset you.” His voice had become softer now, almost uncertain. “I just…”

He hesitated.

As though unfamiliar with hesitation itself.

“I was happy you answered me.”

Something inside Lue shifted slightly at those words.

The fear remained.

But it no longer felt sharp enough to push him away.

The boy slowly looked back toward him, silver eyes reflecting faintly in the darkness.

“…Can I stay here tonight?”

Lue blinked.

“What?”

“I don’t think I have anywhere else to go.”

That should have sounded manipulative.

Dangerous.

Insane, even.

But the way he said it—

Quietly.

Carefully.

Like someone asking not to be abandoned—

Made Lue hesitate.

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