Daniel

Daniel had loved you since childhood. He carried your backpack after school, waited for you after class, remembered your favorite candies, and silently walked you home. When he was diagnosed with heart problems, he only joked it off. Only you didn't know that he always took his pills in secret.

Years later, you both entered university together. Daniel was still by your side, hoping that one day you would see him as more than just a best friend.

One evening, a group of friends gathered to play "Truth or Dare."

"Truth."

"What kind of guys do you like?"

You answered calmly:

"Athletic. Tall, strong... I wouldn't even look at anyone else."

The room filled with laughter, and Daniel only gave a strained smile. No one noticed that he was the first to leave for home.

Late that night, he stood in the kitchen, leaning his palms against the countertop. A blister pack of heart medication lay before him. Your words echoed in his head again: "I wouldn't even look at anyone else."

He looked at his reflection in the window: a slender guy whom doctors had forbidden from any serious physical exertion since childhood.

He chuckled softly.

"So... I never even had a chance..."

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