Kairos

THE SILENCE OF SUMMER BREAK

Summer break began quietly, almost imperceptibly, as if nothing significant had happened before. Yet, in her mind, the school days with him echoed louder than ever. No matter how hard she tried to divert her thoughts—books, music, the sea that some had already planned trips to—he slipped into every quiet moment, every thought before sleep.

She didn’t want to talk about him. Not to her parents, not to acquaintances. Not even to that one friend she sometimes, shyly, revealed fragments of her feelings to. But even she couldn’t explain his behavior. She just shrugged and said:

– “Maybe he needs time. Doesn’t know what he wants? It’s not easy for him…”

She nodded, but inside, she felt emptiness. Time… how long would she wait for him to understand? Or maybe he was just bored… How could I have been so stupid?

She had expected him to write to her. Maybe a short message, or at least a joke in their group chat, something to show she wasn’t forgotten. But the days passed, and her phone remained silent. Instead of his name, another appeared—his friend’s.

The message was strange, almost unexpected. At least, not from Thedor.

– “Hey, do you want to hang out and meet? :)”

As if nothing had happened, as if it were normal for his friend to appear out of nowhere. At first, she thought it was a mistake. Then she read it again. And again.

She sent him ironic memes, the kind that clearly say “No.” She tried to joke, but inside, she was boiling. She knew he knew who she was, and she knew this wasn’t just a random message. After all, they were in the same class.

It felt like some joke that wasn’t funny. Maybe a challenge. Maybe a test. Maybe an attempt to humiliate or confuse her.

Behind that smile in the message, she sensed the same behavior his friends had shown back in school—teasing, interference, pushing him away from her. She remembered how they questioned him about her body, how they forced him to approach her only for him to withdraw, how girls from his circle got too close just to provoke her. A total mess. Almost like a Spanish soap opera.

And now, as the days of summer dragged slowly by, and their paths could cross only if he chose to… someone else reached out. Why not him? Probably, he didn’t like me enough. I’m not special…

At night, she stayed awake, thinking—does he know his friend wrote to her? Is this some inside game between them? Is this his way of testing her reaction?

But she didn’t reply. She didn’t ask. She just stayed silent, as he had. Silence was the only thing they shared that summer, and almost always.