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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