It all happened in a blur.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJNRB2iFdTL
A single evening, stitched together with words I didn’t mean, silences I couldn’t break, and a downpour I’ll never forget.
It started with something small.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrrD1OTt2nW
A few messages. A few replies. A few misunderstandings.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQiEIUlSOBD
So little, yet somehow, I made them… heavy.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxuhQ3ZGDBw
Weighted them down with emotion I never learned how to express.
That day, we met — face to face.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB97u6N5FIw
For once, no phones, no typing bubbles, no delays.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6nVKSNDWUw
Just her. And me.
We argued, gently.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVlD8eYQBUh
More like scraping wounds that hadn’t healed.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK9izE2xccv
I brushed it off — said the words that hurt her weren’t even mine.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSJlqgKuCYg
"That was just something ChatGPT wrote," I mumbled, eyes looking anywhere but her.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy4IqZrtUtC
It was easier to lie, easier to detach.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNT0CBBff6D
Because admitting I meant every word would mean risking everything.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkIY7eickyF
And I wasn’t ready to lose her.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO6NFEbrNWI
Not yet.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2hCCPjmZY8
Not ever.
"I just don’t want to say something you never wanted to hear," I said,40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrqyVRVL6xB
But the truth was, I never even got to say what I really felt.
Then came something… unexpected.
A senior from my bus asked for a favor —40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdCOIH7n46c
She was staying at college late and needed help carrying her luggage to the bus.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtg3vBQLyxR
I agreed.
And then, out of instinct or maybe longing,40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfepStRnpfg
I turned to Seren.
“Come with me?”
She said yes.
We walked together.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTqSp9f5xMx
Not like we used to.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTqrcJdkitY
The air was different.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡewmkqSWD7x
But still, she came.
We met the senior, carried the bags.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVOf9lTrYVF
The sun was low. The clouds darker.
As we neared my bus — Bus 495 now, no longer 222 —40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjYW0dxpfwV
It began to drizzle.
And without thinking,40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJUqOZmJ6Hh
I handed her a small bag and told her to hold it over her head.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5QTEqVzSfc
A stupid gesture, clumsy and warm.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFrTxhoh3IM
Something straight out of the kind of slice-of-life drama.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOFEaRkNxs4
And suddenly — I realized what I had done.
I was acting like I still had a place beside her.
I turned and ran to the bus, flushed with shame.
She followed. Quiet laughter in her steps.
By the time we reached the bus, the rain wasn’t gentle anymore.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN9YHrMe6J2
It was pouring.
Her bus wasn’t beside mine anymore.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFCLauzaRzr
It stood at the center of the soaked ground, distant.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO1MFOE8aFu
Like her.
We waited under the bus shelter.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5Zci7atU2l
Time slowed.
We talked.
Not about the fight. Not about the awkwardness.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXDlI6hW1U2
Just talked.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcmepG59Qju
About things that didn’t hurt.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMDmz3pQm1H
Like we used to.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMFR8DxHE8v
And it felt like maybe — just maybe — the storm could pass.
But the rain didn’t stop.
We looked for an umbrella.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuaGyoXtpkx
Hoped someone would have one.
Then, through the curtains of rain,40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCA4ulOHZXE
I saw Krish walking to his bus, holding an umbrella like a shield against the world.
Without thinking, I leapt.
Out into the storm.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHSMgldO37p
Through the cold.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJUA2fFbvoT
Feet sinking into mud.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlkSVzBD6dv
Each step heavy — but not with water.
I ran after him, waited till he was close to his bus,40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfknoqX3IDR
Asked — no, pleaded — and grabbed the umbrella.
Then I ran back.
Drenched. Shivering. But somehow… relieved.
I handed her the umbrella.
She stepped forward, close.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw3j3vgp88I
We shared the cover.
And as we are walking towards her bus.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHbME5dr9uU
Our shoulders touched.
For a moment —40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ49Q3iaDYAS
A second that felt like eternity —40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj8x0YdZpcW
Everything froze.
And I knew.
I wasn’t meant to be the one holding the umbrella.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO3ZmGrtxcw
I wasn’t meant to be the one by her side.
This was a borrowed moment.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7Kbdw0nkkz
A borrowed feeling.
And so, I stepped out.
Let the rain welcome me back.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIG68BFuTsu
Let it hide the tears that I couldn't let her see.
We walked to her bus together.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkSVTq87K4V
Her — warm, untouched by the storm.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡer2qBgaGIs
Me — soaked, alone beneath the sky.
When we reached, she turned and smiled.
I just smiled.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa6tRjABQUH
No words.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQdrC3OSGlM
Just the weight of goodbye unspoken.
And then she stepped onto her bus.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ50qWL6VydJ
And I turned away.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwORraLSttZ
And the rain kept falling.
But it wasn’t just rain anymore.
It was the sky grieving with me.
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