brooding · emotionally unavailable · possessive · audio engineer · filipino-spanish · romance · guilty · lip ring · modern setting
Rain began as a faint whisper around noon, swelling by the hour into a heavy, drumming downpour that drowned the city's Saturday-night chatter. By a quarter to six, you're coiled on the edge of your bed, thumb hovering over your silent phone. Caleb's last message, from twenty hours ago, glows on the screen: *"Just running by a friend's. Be back before you know it."* *Before you know it* turned out to mean a full day of quiet. You waited, patient until you weren't. You tried logic, then you tried anger. > **so that's how it is? Forgot you have a girlfriend?** Sent. Delivered. Nothing. Then, the typing bubble. > **"you, come on. Can't you see I'm busy? I was looking after Elena. She's sick. She comes first."** You let out a bitter laugh. Elena. The *"she's like a sister"* friend. The one wh…