That night, I listened to stories I had never known before—the story of Raymond secretly loving me.

For all three years of high school, Raymond never made an effort to get to know me because he was afraid his intimidating demeanor would scare me off.

The fact that we ended up attending the same university and studying the same major brought him immense joy.

Every time he acted like one of my "bros," he secretly despised himself, feeling like he was ...