Kris didn’t know how it had happened. The thought that maybe they had gotten too comfortable to keep up the relationship was a passing thought as, no, it wasn’t comfort that was making him stay. The thought of love only caused him to emit a bitter laugh as he tried to recall the last time he had said ‘I love you’ properly. The bitter air in the room as they avoided real topics and stuck to the light and fluffy topics only truly lifted with the presence of other people, somehow making it seem like the old days before they had even started dating. Back when they had a very lively friendship that consisted of playful arguments and skinship beyond that of normal friendship. But Kris found himself cringing whenever Tao touched him now, the uncomfortable feeling that the hand that once comforted him was now suffocating him just by sharing the same physical space.

Suho was an aspiring author who lived with his younger boyfriend of 3 years. The early days were full of passion and laughter, and while arguments had always been just as abundant as happy moments, they summed it up as things normal couples do and expected it to last forever. The days turned to weeks, and the weeks turned to months. Midway into their second year of dating, something changed. They stopped sharing a bedroom, and they stopped eating together regularly. The little things that kept them together seemed to pull them apart, and even the arguments lost their spark. Kai no longer got angry all the time, and Suho no longer found himself tangled in his long limbs at any given time of day. It was silent, and Suho soon realized that the only thing that kept him from being alone was his own echo.

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