It all happened in a blur.42Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5kOyOHapGD
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.42Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq5KOahQkob
A few messages. A few replies. A few misunderstandings.42Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVit5QMOulW
So little, yet somehow, I made them… heavy.42Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTk0vCS5Vvn
Weighted them down with emotion I never learned how to express.
That day, we met — face to face.42Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkuKGJdtzR4
For once, no phones, no typing bubbles, no delays.42Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBwcXV6vggM
Just her. And me.
We argued, gently.42Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOrdsbWmTXw
More like scraping wounds that hadn’t healed.42Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZupMvRetpw
I brushed it off — said the words that hurt her weren’t even mine.42Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD7rRFQvMSo
"That was just something ChatGPT wrote," I mumbled, eyes looking anywhere but her.42Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgDJ2ig7ZYA
It was easier to lie, easier to detach.42Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY9FGeiadLh
Because admitting I meant every word would mean risking everything.42Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjBtVL87hMs
And I wasn’t ready to lose her.42Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMTWZFJaId5
Not yet.42Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtOYwHWEofm
Not ever.
"I just don’t want to say something you never wanted to hear," I said,42Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3gBXwrbdAq
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 —42Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfrn3mE7a3h
She was staying at college late and needed help carrying her luggage to the bus.42Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK5CwBWmTYB
I agreed.
And then, out of instinct or maybe longing,42Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyBMdjKCspl
I turned to Seren.
“Come with me?”
She said yes.
We walked together.42Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVRaDZRZsI1
Not like we used to.42Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡifAJhGJ1A9
The air was different.42Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE0rFm2wbg6
But still, she came.
We met the senior, carried the bags.42Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdJh3GSAjsb
The sun was low. The clouds darker.
As we neared my bus — Bus 495 now, no longer 222 —42Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0XF3hVzpZn
It began to drizzle.
And without thinking,42Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWbXUiHrOXU
I handed her a small bag and told her to hold it over her head.42Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDKcm6752dw
A stupid gesture, clumsy and warm.42Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1cBsPb4Rr2
Something straight out of the kind of slice-of-life drama.42Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ48DDYzZ2ZN
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.42Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmIJcI7qf6A
It was pouring.
Her bus wasn’t beside mine anymore.42Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD61MQn4DXe
It stood at the center of the soaked ground, distant.42Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡueNoAQ0C1K
Like her.
We waited under the bus shelter.42Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJGEGrr2RqW
Time slowed.
We talked.
Not about the fight. Not about the awkwardness.42Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF9DiQSkjrd
Just talked.42Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsM7HeXcUQW
About things that didn’t hurt.42Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxkYWTJm50y
Like we used to.42Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡezuDtLB7bz
And it felt like maybe — just maybe — the storm could pass.
But the rain didn’t stop.
We looked for an umbrella.42Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMAml3nq884
Hoped someone would have one.
Then, through the curtains of rain,42Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5BC2COwa0S
I saw Krish walking to his bus, holding an umbrella like a shield against the world.
Without thinking, I leapt.
Out into the storm.42Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRhe2cLql5j
Through the cold.42Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVzCZPxDiaX
Feet sinking into mud.42Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY9vZP00vRB
Each step heavy — but not with water.
I ran after him, waited till he was close to his bus,42Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvLfD0H1iGi
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.42Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWKzyUSrYAA
We shared the cover.
And as we are walking towards her bus.42Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8oeTh8YbTo
Our shoulders touched.
For a moment —42Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbH1T7Rxg0c
A second that felt like eternity —42Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLkJ892lIQY
Everything froze.
And I knew.
I wasn’t meant to be the one holding the umbrella.42Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6iznKlGEbY
I wasn’t meant to be the one by her side.
This was a borrowed moment.42Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR22aovalno
A borrowed feeling.
And so, I stepped out.
Let the rain welcome me back.42Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu9R4PDyBaE
Let it hide the tears that I couldn't let her see.
We walked to her bus together.42Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcUVGpSV5iQ
Her — warm, untouched by the storm.42Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9aZN8S5EYS
Me — soaked, alone beneath the sky.
When we reached, she turned and smiled.
I just smiled.42Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSgukgc63Pe
No words.42Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡko0fmPWNVp
Just the weight of goodbye unspoken.
And then she stepped onto her bus.42Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9RX3IH6E4D
And I turned away.42Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUiMswvHPbf
And the rain kept falling.
But it wasn’t just rain anymore.
It was the sky grieving with me.
ns216.73.216.30da2
