Muhammed isn’t the popular guy. He’s quiet, isolated — the kind of person who sits in the back of the room, never raises his hand, and gets laughed at when he does. People saw him as weird. Weak. And when he was bullied, no one said anything — except Olivia.

She was the first person who stood up for him. The first person who saw something good in him when no one else did. And maybe that scared him more than being ignored ever did.

So when someone dared him to ask her out — to fake feelings, to make her fall — he said yes. Not because he was heartless, but because he didn’t know how to handle being seen. It was easier to turn her kindness into a joke than admit he needed it.

And when Olivia found out? When her heart shattered and she spiraled into depression? Muhammed told himself it wasn’t his fault. But deep down, he knows it was. He just doesn’t know what to do with the guilt — so he hides behind coldness, pretending he doesn’t care.

But he does. And that might be the most painful part of all.