It all happened in a blur.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0RaU4Nj3e6
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.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCa6MzljWKx
A few messages. A few replies. A few misunderstandings.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjWxbcFXks3
So little, yet somehow, I made them… heavy.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN7hKs66QCy
Weighted them down with emotion I never learned how to express.
That day, we met — face to face.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMNOCJKFzUO
For once, no phones, no typing bubbles, no delays.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvews0xTPT4
Just her. And me.
We argued, gently.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9OMxPabYcf
More like scraping wounds that hadn’t healed.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3TQQ1i18CM
I brushed it off — said the words that hurt her weren’t even mine.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHd56TSoGfD
"That was just something ChatGPT wrote," I mumbled, eyes looking anywhere but her.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi5axLs0iSp
It was easier to lie, easier to detach.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWXlXRWZ5KF
Because admitting I meant every word would mean risking everything.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyIsXpNzFEH
And I wasn’t ready to lose her.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmEIcVEn416
Not yet.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAYwE86DtfK
Not ever.
"I just don’t want to say something you never wanted to hear," I said,20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1nm8j3d140
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 —20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnXNHKEP7HF
She was staying at college late and needed help carrying her luggage to the bus.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpFRmcJCPnD
I agreed.
And then, out of instinct or maybe longing,20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKQM90YBF4m
I turned to Seren.
“Come with me?”
She said yes.
We walked together.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTOs7vOfYYV
Not like we used to.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSfukGgzOxy
The air was different.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa7gl5jYX0o
But still, she came.
We met the senior, carried the bags.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyxBq9TpDc7
The sun was low. The clouds darker.
As we neared my bus — Bus 495 now, no longer 222 —20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡToQVWlK9Nw
It began to drizzle.
And without thinking,20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj0hYC1E5II
I handed her a small bag and told her to hold it over her head.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnGcC3FV4Em
A stupid gesture, clumsy and warm.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVQlAkwhqUH
Something straight out of the kind of slice-of-life drama.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdOqwJ8kf6l
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.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6DnTT6ZTMq
It was pouring.
Her bus wasn’t beside mine anymore.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9636o7NpAO
It stood at the center of the soaked ground, distant.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP7Sq9v346h
Like her.
We waited under the bus shelter.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJztox6VWty
Time slowed.
We talked.
Not about the fight. Not about the awkwardness.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxVj80PPqPM
Just talked.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4ND8tVziQ1
About things that didn’t hurt.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdJEZSkhg7m
Like we used to.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgrkVlANtmr
And it felt like maybe — just maybe — the storm could pass.
But the rain didn’t stop.
We looked for an umbrella.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMcBIrmp4BG
Hoped someone would have one.
Then, through the curtains of rain,20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡueYzEdQlce
I saw Krish walking to his bus, holding an umbrella like a shield against the world.
Without thinking, I leapt.
Out into the storm.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5DsCBOuSbW
Through the cold.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSzB07UVdvi
Feet sinking into mud.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjplc0qGRJm
Each step heavy — but not with water.
I ran after him, waited till he was close to his bus,20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ02RMx1omsF
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.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDDE0ZjTq3L
We shared the cover.
And as we are walking towards her bus.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd91JWbw7pl
Our shoulders touched.
For a moment —20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVJQxRvVWHo
A second that felt like eternity —20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxQDbBK1EHL
Everything froze.
And I knew.
I wasn’t meant to be the one holding the umbrella.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡptPnYBLISW
I wasn’t meant to be the one by her side.
This was a borrowed moment.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0EynaPmE0G
A borrowed feeling.
And so, I stepped out.
Let the rain welcome me back.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡISAkHgztPQ
Let it hide the tears that I couldn't let her see.
We walked to her bus together.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ22z4lKni1Y
Her — warm, untouched by the storm.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhKHUzYTsYu
Me — soaked, alone beneath the sky.
When we reached, she turned and smiled.
I just smiled.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy8fKoH7DBE
No words.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzMpBldoFvb
Just the weight of goodbye unspoken.
And then she stepped onto her bus.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUbNKiQjmLn
And I turned away.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIU1tivtAHp
And the rain kept falling.
But it wasn’t just rain anymore.
It was the sky grieving with me.
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