It all happened in a blur.124Please respect copyright.PENANANSXW3kzN3n
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.124Please respect copyright.PENANAg9VUemHXyw
A few messages. A few replies. A few misunderstandings.124Please respect copyright.PENANAhuBhhH4dUq
So little, yet somehow, I made them… heavy.124Please respect copyright.PENANAobh2rFL2jP
Weighted them down with emotion I never learned how to express.
That day, we met — face to face.124Please respect copyright.PENANAVdRAmFZwGn
For once, no phones, no typing bubbles, no delays.124Please respect copyright.PENANAK5oy1sFmB2
Just her. And me.
We argued, gently.124Please respect copyright.PENANASseETT55q2
More like scraping wounds that hadn’t healed.124Please respect copyright.PENANAJSSfw28r6x
I brushed it off — said the words that hurt her weren’t even mine.124Please respect copyright.PENANAxFVxXEhvGW
"That was just something ChatGPT wrote," I mumbled, eyes looking anywhere but her.124Please respect copyright.PENANA6BKlJzTt2H
It was easier to lie, easier to detach.124Please respect copyright.PENANAwwJ3FL6SHW
Because admitting I meant every word would mean risking everything.124Please respect copyright.PENANA5TUwmPvx5H
And I wasn’t ready to lose her.124Please respect copyright.PENANATkGOjEdzCH
Not yet.124Please respect copyright.PENANADHnD7VhfuK
Not ever.
"I just don’t want to say something you never wanted to hear," I said,124Please respect copyright.PENANAeMlq1JMfPG
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 —124Please respect copyright.PENANAs5iyB3he0T
She was staying at college late and needed help carrying her luggage to the bus.124Please respect copyright.PENANAX0MCdpqH71
I agreed.
And then, out of instinct or maybe longing,124Please respect copyright.PENANAIzu9IszUxv
I turned to Seren.
“Come with me?”
She said yes.
We walked together.124Please respect copyright.PENANA0zMhZlkkvN
Not like we used to.124Please respect copyright.PENANA1MIyVUior0
The air was different.124Please respect copyright.PENANA60CCWa0Xza
But still, she came.
We met the senior, carried the bags.124Please respect copyright.PENANAjGKah1ZyaQ
The sun was low. The clouds darker.
As we neared my bus — Bus 495 now, no longer 222 —124Please respect copyright.PENANAVHn5lvVY4a
It began to drizzle.
And without thinking,124Please respect copyright.PENANA7bqDMviW41
I handed her a small bag and told her to hold it over her head.124Please respect copyright.PENANAHx84ZgcNXt
A stupid gesture, clumsy and warm.124Please respect copyright.PENANANebEzefBgG
Something straight out of the kind of slice-of-life drama.124Please respect copyright.PENANAfOFOVpaDBz
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.124Please respect copyright.PENANAnEl8ew8VUk
It was pouring.
Her bus wasn’t beside mine anymore.124Please respect copyright.PENANA09O7UHpXOy
It stood at the center of the soaked ground, distant.124Please respect copyright.PENANAOhqnx3iFKq
Like her.
We waited under the bus shelter.124Please respect copyright.PENANAq12G1FKORE
Time slowed.
We talked.
Not about the fight. Not about the awkwardness.124Please respect copyright.PENANAddlvAB0eng
Just talked.124Please respect copyright.PENANAvDJ66Dmq8q
About things that didn’t hurt.124Please respect copyright.PENANARgBamHQ6RY
Like we used to.124Please respect copyright.PENANAv0n43O8JAg
And it felt like maybe — just maybe — the storm could pass.
But the rain didn’t stop.
We looked for an umbrella.124Please respect copyright.PENANAQYGPr9y86j
Hoped someone would have one.
Then, through the curtains of rain,124Please respect copyright.PENANAhsJuX2LVNb
I saw Krish walking to his bus, holding an umbrella like a shield against the world.
Without thinking, I leapt.
Out into the storm.124Please respect copyright.PENANAB07IgCshr2
Through the cold.124Please respect copyright.PENANAdgubpdxVEO
Feet sinking into mud.124Please respect copyright.PENANAfJJqEOiSa1
Each step heavy — but not with water.
I ran after him, waited till he was close to his bus,124Please respect copyright.PENANAeKr5lrB7Ci
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.124Please respect copyright.PENANAkfXxhVuMQS
We shared the cover.
And as we are walking towards her bus.124Please respect copyright.PENANAVpBugW9gcf
Our shoulders touched.
For a moment —124Please respect copyright.PENANA0Z2iXd3xVl
A second that felt like eternity —124Please respect copyright.PENANA9cHn7JFp6J
Everything froze.
And I knew.
I wasn’t meant to be the one holding the umbrella.124Please respect copyright.PENANAjxLKFB4zfe
I wasn’t meant to be the one by her side.
This was a borrowed moment.124Please respect copyright.PENANAOrJPAUbG8v
A borrowed feeling.
And so, I stepped out.
Let the rain welcome me back.124Please respect copyright.PENANAd6VQocqU1a
Let it hide the tears that I couldn't let her see.
We walked to her bus together.124Please respect copyright.PENANAeDPA0ESWji
Her — warm, untouched by the storm.124Please respect copyright.PENANADJtgb52kaY
Me — soaked, alone beneath the sky.
When we reached, she turned and smiled.
I just smiled.124Please respect copyright.PENANAQ3NCu04SRW
No words.124Please respect copyright.PENANAELl8UeyiEa
Just the weight of goodbye unspoken.
And then she stepped onto her bus.124Please respect copyright.PENANAQLf3pfYEFs
And I turned away.124Please respect copyright.PENANAQS5gGOVaXn
And the rain kept falling.
But it wasn’t just rain anymore.
It was the sky grieving with me.
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