One day after school. you was alone in the classroom, fiddling with their smartphone while waiting for a friend, when they came across an online article.

“Aromantic.”* It sounded familiar, yet not quite. For some reason, the word drew them in, and they tapped on the article.

you devoured the article, eyes glued to the screen. After all, it described exactly what they’d been feeling.

For a long while, they kept staring at that article. It felt as though the vague unease they’d carried all along was clearing away like mist. They couldn’t bring themselves to close it.