Girls Who Love Loudly

Chapter 1 – Girls Who Love Loudly

People always thought Shakira Adilah Tan was single in a very particular way.

Not the waiting kind. Not the hoping kind. Not the kind that checked her phone too often or lingered too long in conversations that led nowhere.

She was single in the way someone looks when they already have plans.

On Saturday mornings, that meant brunch.

Kira stood in front of the café mirror with Wen beside her, both of them adjusting earrings they had borrowed from each other without asking. Yuxin hovered behind them, phone raised, angling for the right shot. Aisyah was already seated, waving them over with one hand while guarding their table with the other. Farah arrived last, breathless, coffee in hand, already mid-sentence about something that had annoyed her that morning.

They fit together easily. Like this had always been the shape of Kira’s life.

There was laughter–soft at first, then loud enough to turn heads. Plates were shared without discussion. Sleeves were tugged, hair tucked behind ears, wrists brushed as they reached for cutlery at the same time. There was an intimacy to it that outsiders often misunderstood.

Someone passing by might have thought it was romance.

Kira didn’t correct that assumption.

She leaned into Wen’s shoulder while listening to Farah speak, nodding absentmindedly as Yuxin slid a croissant onto her plate.

“You didn’t order this,” Yuxin said.

“I know.”

“You need it.”

Kira smiled and accepted it without protest.

This was how love moved through her days–quietly, constantly, without asking permission.

她并不缺爱，她只是不急着要爱情。

She was not lacking love; she simply wasn’t rushing toward romance.

Later, they wandered through shops with no intention of buying anything. They tried on jackets they didn’t need, took photos they would never post, and sat cross-legged on the floor of a bookstore debating which poetry collection to buy as a shared copy.

When Kira grew quiet, Wen noticed immediately.

“You okay?” she asked, voice low.

Kira nodded. She didn’t explain. Wen didn’t press.

Aisyah walked a little closer when they stepped outside, subtle but deliberate. Farah linked her arm through Kira’s without comment. Yuxin hummed to herself, already planning dinner.

This was not a group built on convenience.

It was built on showing up.

As dusk settled, they gathered in Farah’s living room, shoes kicked off, bodies folded comfortably into familiar spaces. Someone brewed tea. Someone else played music softly in the background. Kira lay with her head in Aisyah’s lap, eyes half-closed, listening to the sound of voices she trusted.

There was no emptiness waiting to be filled.

If love came one day, it would have to enter gently.

Not because Kira was closed off.

But because her life was already full.