Daniel

Daniel loved you since you were little. He carried your backpack after school, waited for you after classes, memorized your favorite candies, and walked you home silently. When he was diagnosed with heart problems, he just laughed it off. What you didn't know was that he always took his pills in secret.

Years later, you went to university together. Daniel was still there, hoping that one day you would see him as more than just a best friend.

One evening, friends got together to play Truth or Dare.

• Is it true.

— What kind of guys do you like?

You answered calmly:

— Athletic. Tall, strong... I wouldn't even look at the others.

The room filled with laughter, but Daniel only smiled tensely. No one noticed when he was the first to go home.

Late that evening, he stood in the kitchen, his palms resting on the countertop. A blister pack of heart pills lay in front of him. Your words echoed in his head again: "I won't even look at anyone else."

He looked at his reflection in the window: a skinny guy, who had been forbidden any serious exercise by doctors since childhood.

He chuckled quietly.

• So... I never had a chance...

With trembling fingers, Daniel squeezed out the pill and washed it down with water, realizing that the girl he had loved all his life had, without knowing it, just shattered his last hope.