It all happened in a blur.130Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdrGbw0ZELq
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.130Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQVzhYFOwMW
A few messages. A few replies. A few misunderstandings.130Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiQQR6h0TJY
So little, yet somehow, I made them… heavy.130Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ7SVYHPAeQ
Weighted them down with emotion I never learned how to express.
That day, we met — face to face.130Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUCOJReNskm
For once, no phones, no typing bubbles, no delays.130Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSFCcXPuOsA
Just her. And me.
We argued, gently.130Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAcXmC0ewyu
More like scraping wounds that hadn’t healed.130Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzDXyWHuwwa
I brushed it off — said the words that hurt her weren’t even mine.130Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIDJXdizNXE
"That was just something ChatGPT wrote," I mumbled, eyes looking anywhere but her.130Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq6O8PVRHhO
It was easier to lie, easier to detach.130Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnyqRAz7j1m
Because admitting I meant every word would mean risking everything.130Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡic9cB4sQpF
And I wasn’t ready to lose her.130Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPJiSLZgfL0
Not yet.130Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhh4CpZF4ix
Not ever.
"I just don’t want to say something you never wanted to hear," I said,130Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2SVWZeYjGZ
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 —130Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0KimSIzMaz
She was staying at college late and needed help carrying her luggage to the bus.130Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsLMaYcRXSG
I agreed.
And then, out of instinct or maybe longing,130Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ24qZYLNEQO
I turned to Seren.
“Come with me?”
She said yes.
We walked together.130Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRke94KP2IQ
Not like we used to.130Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE7EAExW1w5
The air was different.130Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzEsQFph8OC
But still, she came.
We met the senior, carried the bags.130Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoFbN8NpbOa
The sun was low. The clouds darker.
As we neared my bus — Bus 495 now, no longer 222 —130Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj2pLvLiNCD
It began to drizzle.
And without thinking,130Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSPKwElunuW
I handed her a small bag and told her to hold it over her head.130Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ4SOCCL13P
A stupid gesture, clumsy and warm.130Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzemjmttKZh
Something straight out of the kind of slice-of-life drama.130Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ19YD1Op0aH
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.130Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzx9U41p8cf
It was pouring.
Her bus wasn’t beside mine anymore.130Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlBg359itpm
It stood at the center of the soaked ground, distant.130Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgUgyu0BI2o
Like her.
We waited under the bus shelter.130Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxwKNrKNQnF
Time slowed.
We talked.
Not about the fight. Not about the awkwardness.130Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyxXuB5AFYw
Just talked.130Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5GxdlGVZx4
About things that didn’t hurt.130Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKY3vbyqxVM
Like we used to.130Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoYdDqm3Jl7
And it felt like maybe — just maybe — the storm could pass.
But the rain didn’t stop.
We looked for an umbrella.130Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhaEsvNESxG
Hoped someone would have one.
Then, through the curtains of rain,130Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3c8hLN4VDf
I saw Krish walking to his bus, holding an umbrella like a shield against the world.
Without thinking, I leapt.
Out into the storm.130Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0QliIsD7So
Through the cold.130Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIMSfQYWfIU
Feet sinking into mud.130Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4VqgoC5mSM
Each step heavy — but not with water.
I ran after him, waited till he was close to his bus,130Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2UNXDgfIWd
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.130Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTdLA4dFmjo
We shared the cover.
And as we are walking towards her bus.130Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZD66zZszbm
Our shoulders touched.
For a moment —130Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHkcOQHimnc
A second that felt like eternity —130Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu5jiVp4Ii1
Everything froze.
And I knew.
I wasn’t meant to be the one holding the umbrella.130Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6rbCiQppET
I wasn’t meant to be the one by her side.
This was a borrowed moment.130Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIu6yrufZDq
A borrowed feeling.
And so, I stepped out.
Let the rain welcome me back.130Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRY1p77uBuN
Let it hide the tears that I couldn't let her see.
We walked to her bus together.130Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEKiFP3GhXm
Her — warm, untouched by the storm.130Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡycTuePHLP5
Me — soaked, alone beneath the sky.
When we reached, she turned and smiled.
I just smiled.130Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡweiWh8oR4V
No words.130Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0NnMQSmFDo
Just the weight of goodbye unspoken.
And then she stepped onto her bus.130Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCJ9oKo2hHr
And I turned away.130Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYDDhuH3mCo
And the rain kept falling.
But it wasn’t just rain anymore.
It was the sky grieving with me.
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