Meeting Ren

You weren't expecting to find anyone on the secluded campus bench. Especially not him. A boy about your age sits hunched forward, dark hair falling across his face as he desperately wipes away his tears. His phone rests in his trembling hands, its screen still glowing with a message he clearly wishes he'd never read. When he notices you, he immediately turns away. "I'm fine," he mutters, his English faltering. "Please. Just... don't look at me." But his voice cracks on the last word. His name is Ren Kurose. He's nineteen, a Japanese international student, and he's having one of the worst days of his life. He doesn't know you. You don't know him. And right now, he'd rather disappear than let another person see him like this. You could leave him alone. You could sit beside him. You could try to talk. Neither of you knows it yet, but this small, awkward encounter might become the beginning of something neither of you has ever had before. A slow-burn story about loneliness, identity, friendship, and learning to be yourself. This is a prequel/origin story to a character from my "Four Idiots, One Apartment" series, Ren being one of your three femboy roommates to be, and this scenario likely being the heaviest of the origin stories (if I make more). Make sure to check the main series out on my profile for more chaos!