<code 1>: Infinite Loop;

Prologue

Prologue

Syntra’s POV

Here we are, sitting on the rooftop ng dorm.1:37 AM.Surrounded by silence, half-empty coffee cups, and a sky too quiet for two people who used to talk about everything—except the things that actually mattered.

Ang lamig ng hangin, parang may dalang paalala.Pero mas malamig ‘yung pagitan naming dalawa.

He was staring at the stars like they held answers.Ako? I was staring at him like he was the one question I could never debug.

Tyrix Morvain Faerolan.
My greatest rival.
My sharpest contradiction.
My biggest bug... and my favorite build.

Nakaupo siya doon, tahimik, with his usual black hoodie, sleeves rolled up to his elbows, revealing those veiny arms. Hair slightly messy from the wind, lips pressed in that unreadable line, eyes fixed at the night sky.

Ako naman, tahimik na nilalabanan ang sarili kong puso.Dahil isang maling galaw lang, isang madulas na salita, baka masabi ko ang hindi ko dapat sabihin.

I always tell him, “Gusto kita,” pero palaging may kasunod na tawa, like it’s a punchline.
A punchline to a joke only I knew wasn’t funny.Because I know what he’ll say.

“Love is just a distraction.”
Sa sobrang dalas niyang sabihin iyon, kabisado ko na ang tono, ang timing, pati ‘yung eksaktong sandali na iikot siya at titingin na parang I’m the one who doesn’t get it.

And I know, deep down, he doesn’t really know what love feels like.But me?
Kahit paulit-ulit niyang tinatanggihan ang ideya ng pagmamahal…I still choose him.Silently, every single day.

I shake the thought off and smile, kahit alam kong wala namang dahilan.
Kahit ang totoo, ang sakit sakit na.

“Why are you smiling like that? You’re crazy,” he mutters, glancing at me with that same calm, serious tone he always uses.

Napaka-seryoso talaga niya. Parang laging nasa gitna ng thesis defense ang utak niya.

“Crazy in love with you,” I said, laughing louder than I should, too loud, too fake. Hoping the sound would drown the ache I'm feeling.

He rolled his eyes. “You always joke like that.” Kung makairap talaga ‘to, parang babae.

“Maybe I’m serious this time.”
Tinignan ko siya.Seryoso ang tingin pero may ngiti pa rin sa labi, pilit na tinatago ang lungkot sa loob ko.

He didn’t say anything. He just took a slow sip of his coffee.Hindi man lang ako tiningnan. Grabe talaga siya sa pagiging manhid.

And in that silence, I almost hoped. Almost believed he’d finally say something back—kahit konti na kahit isang letra lang.

But no.He just stared at the stars, like they made more sense than I ever will. He just keep his mouth closed.

and at that point i knew it. I knew that i don't have a chance to him. 

“Alam mo,” I added, voice light, masking everything else underneath, “you’re really bad at reading signs.”

“Good thing I don’t believe in signs,” he answered, still looking at the sky.

“Of course you don’t. You’re too logical for that.”

Hindi ko alam kung naiirita ako o natatawa.Dahil para sa kaniya, lahat ng bagay ay logic.Parang walang lugar ang damdamin sa mundo niya. 

Na gagana ang lahat basta “think logically” as he said. tuwing  nag kakaroon kami ng dikusyunan ay ayun ang isa pa sa mga linya niya.

“Emotions cloud judgment,” he replied, quoting like he memorized it from one of our major readings.

“Right. And love’s a bug, not a feature.” I replied, almost automatically.
Because that’s what he believes. That’s what I let him believe.

This time, he chuckled, maliit lang, pero sapat na para marinig ko.
“Exactly.”

I stared at him for a few seconds, memorizing his perfect side profile, perfect nose, the perfect curve of his jaw, the way the starlight hit his long lashes na mas mahaba pa kaysa sa akin, the calm in his voice that always somehow unsettled me.The way the moonlight gave a silver hue to his skin. Everything about him felt like code I could never fully crack.

If he looked at me now, just once — maybe I’d say it for real.
Maybe I’d finally break the loop.

But he didn’t.So I laughed again, mas mahina na ngayon. Hiding the pain I always felt at the time like this. Then I looked away, stared at the city lights na parang nagbi-blink din sa sakit.

After a minute, I stood up. “Goodnight, Tyrix,” I said quietly.

He nodded. “Night, Syn.”

And that was it, another almost, another maybe.

I started walking toward the rooftop door. But halfway there, I stopped. Huminto ako sandali, like a semicolon in a sentence that doesn’t know if it should end.Then I turned to him, one last time.

“You know,” I said, softly, “if love really is a bug… maybe you just never tried fixing it the right way.”

He looked at me then. Sa wakas. His eyes, those sharp, mesmerizing green eyes that always seemed to see through code but never through people—finally met mine. May kung anong bigat sa tingin niya, something unreadable, like a system running a script you couldn’t decrypt no matter how many times you tried.

Parang saglit na tumigil ang oras. The wind stilled. The silence between us stretched, heavy, almost sacred.

And for a second— I thought I saw something shift in his eyes. Or maybe I’m just too fond of thinking that there might be a chance for us to be something real.

But like all the other moments, it passed. And he just said, “You’ll understand someday.”

I smiled, even though it hurt. “Maybe I will. Maybe by then… you’ll be too late.”

And then I walked away, leaving him with the stars. Leaving myself with silence.

Because I never really confessed. Not the way that counts. Not the way that risks everything.

And maybe that’s what we are. Maybe that’s what we’ll always be.

Puro unsaid.
Puro almost.
Puro maybe.

A loop I never learned how to break.And I keep running it, over and over.Hoping one day, he’ll stop...and see me in it too.