Crossroads of the Heart

his heart, something different from what he felt for his other friends. Sinta always managed to make him smile without any apparent reason, and wheneve

invited Sinta out after school, giving her extra attention, and trying to make her feel special. Faisal, who usually supported Raka in everythi

ached, but he pretended that everything was fine. He kept convincing himself that his feelings were just temporary an

out for meals or movies, gave her small gifts like books he knew she liked, or flowers he pi

wanted to be honest with Sinta, to express his feelings and hope that she felt the same. But every time this urge arose, Fais

f Raka found out, their friendship would be destroyed. This thought made Faisal withdraw even more. He began avoiding situations where

le jealousy rose within him. This jealousy was so strong that sometimes Faisal found himself angry at himself. He felt that he should be b

ecial events or introducing her to his family. Raka was optimistic that Sinta would reciprocate his feelings, and he c

e with Raka, but she also valued Faisal's presence. Whenever Faisal began to pull away, Sinta felt like something was missing, but she

owever, inside, he began to feel exhausted by all the pretense. Faisal wanted desperately to talk to someone about his feelings, b

ould do. He knew he couldn't keep living in the shadow of unexpressed feelings. But he also couldn'

nd now seemed quieter and often avoided gatherings. Raka wondered if Faisal was dealing with some problem he w

her. Sinta sensed that something was wrong, but every time she tried to get closer to Faisal to find out, he always managed to

ven started talking about a future together with Sinta, about plans involving just the two of them. For Faisal, this w

was the most logical decision if he wanted to preserve his friendship with Raka. But letting go of such strong feelings

with Raka, there was a different feeling whenever she was with Faisal. Sinta started questioning h

He was confident that the right time was near to confess his feelings directly to Sinta. Raka

the more he suppressed his feelings, the more significant the gap between him and Raka became. Faisal started considering

uld no longer pretend that everything was okay. Faisal knew that the time had come to make a decision, even though that decision would

he did, someone would get hurt. Sinta didn't want to hurt either Faisal or Raka's feelings, but she also couldn't continue livi

rink of a significant change, where any decision they made would have a profound impact on their friendship. The feelings that had been hidden