Graduation was just around the corner.
Thesis defenses were done, final plates submitted, circuits calibrated and code compiled. There was a buzz in the air, like everyone was on the edge of something massive—nostalgic, electric, and unspoken.
To celebrate the end of an era, the College of Engineering and College of Architecture held one final joint event: a three-day lakeside camp, billed as a chance to "relax, reflect, and reconnect." In reality, it was chaos. Beautiful, chaotic, college-student energy bottled into tents, guitars, and way too many marshmallows.
Riz and Cleo arrived late—tossing backpacks onto sleeping mats in their shared tent before getting pulled in different directions.
The thing was, everyone noticed them now.
Cleo couldn't go five steps without some architecture girls asking him to pose for a group photo. And Riz? He had a swarm of second-years hanging onto his every word like he was a celebrity. Both were used to attention, but this time it came with weight—because it wasn't just campus crushes anymore. It was final chances. Last goodbyes.
The sun dipped below the trees. Golden light flickered through the forest canopy, casting the lakeside in soft amber. Cleo had finally escaped to the docks, toes dangling over the water, hoodie sleeves pulled over his hands. He watched the ripples quietly, trying not to think too much about Riz's laugh echoing across the camp.
He didn't even hear Riz approach until a sneaker nudged his hip.
"You hiding?" Riz asked, plopping down beside him.
Cleo exhaled. "Just taking a break."
"From the flirting horde?" Riz grinned. "You and your fan club."
"I could say the same to you." Cleo's voice was soft, teasing, but edged with something tighter.
Riz nudged his shoulder. "You okay?"
Cleo looked at him. Really looked. Riz's face was half-lit by the last light of day, eyes soft, lashes long, that signature smirk tamed into something gentler.
"I hate this," Cleo muttered.
"Hate what?"
"All of it. The people, the pretending. You letting those girls cling to you. Acting like none of it matters."
Riz blinked. "Cleo—"
"You know what's worse?" Cleo continued, voice shaking a little. "I want to be selfish. I want to pull you away from everyone and say, he's mine. I want to hold your hand in front of the whole damn campus and stop pretending we're just friends with too much tension."
A pause.
Then Riz did something reckless.
He grabbed Cleo's face, tilted it up, and kissed him—right there on the dock, under the last bit of sun, with the lake glittering behind them. Not careful. Not quiet. Not hidden.
It wasn't soft. It was real. Hungry. Gripping. His fingers curled in Cleo's hoodie as Cleo made a stunned noise in his throat, lips parting, hands gripping Riz's waist in disbelief and need.
A loud gasp broke the silence from the trees behind them.
"Oh. My. GOD!" Bea's voice exploded from the path like someone had just revealed the plot twist of the century.
Everyone turned.
There she was—standing like she'd just witnessed a meteor crash into Earth, clutching her chest like she needed a fainting couch, eyes wide enough to pop.
"I KNEW IT!" she screamed, spinning in a circle like her entire soul was combusting. "I KNEW IT! I CALLED IT SINCE YEAR ONE, YOU GUYS OWE ME FIVE HUNDRED PESOS!"
More gasps followed from the nearby camp circle. Heads whipped around like prairie dogs as whispers turned to giggles, then to full-on screeching delight.
"OH MY GOD THEY'RE MAKING OUT! THEY'RE MAKING OUT ON THE DOCK!" Bea practically leapt up and down, waving her arms. "THIS IS NOT A DRILL. RIZ CASTILLO CLEO REYES ARE—OH MY GOD, KISS HIM AGAIN I NEED EVIDENCE!"
Someone from the crowd hollered, "BEA GET THE CAMERA!"
"Already filming!" she yelled, pointing her phone like it was the final act of a telenovela. "This is better than any K-drama I've ever seen. Somebody give me confetti. I need to throw something dramatic!"
Cleo's ears were burning. Riz groaned into his shoulder, muffling a laugh. "She's gonna get us trending on campus Twitter."
Cleo muttered, "I'm going to pass away."
Riz pulled him closer with a smirk. "Too late, babe. We're the main characters now."
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The chaos did not calm down.
Back at the campfire, Bea was now sitting cross-legged on a log like a fortune teller, dramatically fanning herself with a paper plate. "Okay. Okay. Everyone breathe. Deep breaths. We are witnessing history."
"THEY WERE STAR-CROSSED. ENEMIES TO LOVERS. AND YOU GUYS THOUGHT I WAS CRAZY. I AM NEVER WRONG."
Someone handed her a marshmallow stick like it was a microphone, and she dramatically pretended to cry into it.
Several girls were gathered around her, most of them stunned into silence. One girl named Carla had literal tears in her eyes.
"I was gonna ask Riz to the grad ball," she whimpered. "I had a Pinterest board and everything."
"Cleo was my backup plan!" another girl cried, clutching a marshmallow bag to her chest. "Do you know how long I've been flirting with him during lab check-ins?! Do you?!"
"Gone. Both of them. Gone to each other," someone moaned, lying dramatically across a picnic blanket like they were fainting in a Regency drama.
Bea, still wiping away fake tears, turned to face them all. "It's okay, ladies. Let's remember the important thing here: they're hot, and now they're hot together."
A beat of silence.
Then someone whispered, "That is kind of perfect..."
"It's like an enemies-to-lovers novel."
"Wait—do you think they've been secretly together this whole time? Remember the time Riz carried Cleo out of the gym when he twisted his ankle? HE WAS CRADLING HIM."
"I thought they hated each other."
Bea stood again and shouted, "They were PINING!" like she was defending a thesis. "Rivals to soulmates! Architecture x Engineering! The crossover of the century!"
Meanwhile, Riz and Cleo finally emerged from the shadows, Riz still casually holding Cleo's hand as they approached the bonfire. The chatter stopped like someone hit pause.
Cleo cleared his throat, face a deep crimson. "So... uh. Surprise?"
Silence.
Then a chorus of—
"OH MY GODDDD!"
Carla threw a marshmallow into the fire and wailed, "TAKE ME, FLAMES! TAKE ME!"
Someone clapped. Then another. And another.
Then the entire group started cheering like they'd just won a championship. People threw arms around them, laughed, screamed, even chanted "ENGITECTS! ENGITECTS!" for some reason.
Bea ran up and handed Cleo a s'more like it was a trophy. "Congratulations, you beautiful oblivious dumbasses."
Cleo blinked. "Is this the weirdest coming out ever?"
"Absolutely," Riz said with a grin, tugging him closer. "But kinda perfect."
Cleo smiled back, a little overwhelmed, a lot in love.
Meanwhile, Riz just kissed Cleo's temple with a small grin and whispered, "Guess we just came out in flames, huh?"
Cleo groaned—but he was smiling. Bea's chaos and all.
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The fire crackled low now, a warm amber glow flickering against half-empty mugs and the occasional rustle of a marshmallow wrapper. Most of the group had wandered off to their tents or were lying in hammocks, whispering under star-washed skies.
Cleo and Riz had slipped away from the center of it all, sitting shoulder to shoulder on a log at the far edge of the clearing. The night air had grown cool, and Riz's hoodie was draped over Cleo's shoulders.
They sat in silence for a while, watching the embers pulse and fade.
Cleo nudged him softly. "So... how long have you known?"
Riz smirked. "Since the time you got drunk and started telling my dog that my eyes were 'stupidly pretty.'"
Cleo groaned, burying his face in his hands. "You weren't supposed to hear that."
"I was literally sitting next to you."
"You weren't supposed to."
Riz laughed, then leaned in, brushing Cleo's ear with his lips. "They are, though. Stupidly pretty."
Cleo's face flushed again, but he didn't pull away. He turned to meet Riz's eyes instead—calm, dark, shining with quiet warmth in the firelight.
"I didn't mean for tonight to happen like that," Cleo said quietly. "I didn't mean to make a scene."
Riz shrugged. "It was bound to happen. And if I'm being honest?" He reached for Cleo's hand, fingers threading through his. "I liked it."
Cleo let out a breath, and something tight in his chest loosened.
Around them, the forest hummed with nighttime life—crickets chirping, the distant hoot of an owl, the rustle of leaves as the wind curled through the trees.
"I keep thinking about how different this could've been," Cleo said. "If we never talked. If I never got over myself."
Riz tilted his head. "You needed time. I wasn't going anywhere."
That made Cleo's heart twist, in the best way. He leaned against Riz, resting his head on his shoulder, listening to the steady beat of his breathing.
They stayed like that for a long while, until the fire was little more than glowing coals.
Finally, Cleo whispered, "Stay with me tonight?"
Riz pressed a kiss to the top of his head. "Always."
They walked back to their tent hand in hand, under a sky that glittered with stars and promises.
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End of Chapter Seventeen