Secret Garden - A BL Romance

Kaito Nakamura is drowning. Business administration feels like the wrong major. His parents' expectations weigh heavy. Success seems to belong to everyone but him. When he stumbles upon a hidden garden behind the humanities building, he thinks he's found a quiet place to breathe. He doesn't expect to find someone already there. Haru Saito sits on a weathered bench beneath an oak tree, reading poetry like he has all the time in the world.
Quiet, thoughtful, and studying philosophy despite everyone telling him it's impractical. He looks like he belongs in this forgotten sanctuary. Like the wildflowers and moss-covered stones grew around him rather than the other way around. Kaito returns the next day. And the next. Soon their afternoons in the secret garden become the only real thing in his life. They talk about dreams too big to achieve and fears too small to admit.
About books and birds and the courage it takes to choose what you want over what you should want. The silences between them feel as meaningful as their conversations. But the garden can't protect them from everything. Academic pressure mounts. Kaito's grades are failing. Haru's parents demand he switch to something practical. A childhood friend appears, reminding Haru of past failures and breakdowns.
Misunderstandings create distance. Old wounds surface. And in a moment of fear and frustration, Kaito says the one thing guaranteed to hurt: that what Haru loves doesn't matter in the real world. Now the garden sits empty. Both of them avoiding the place that brought them together. Both wrestling with the question of whether vulnerability is worth the risk of being hurt. Whether what they've found is strong enough to survive outside their secret sanctuary.
Some gardens grow wild. Some relationships require tending. And sometimes the hardest thing is admitting you need someone, that afternoons spent talking about nothing and everything have become the most important hours of your day. Secret Garden is an intimate BL romance about two college students who discover that honesty is terrifying, vulnerability is brave, and love grows best when given permission to be imperfect.
Featuring slow burn, secret meetings, found sanctuary, mutual pining, emotional healing, and a hopeful-for-now ending that promises continued growth.