They say time moves people.7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx8DLmHmDFx
But sometimes, people just… move.7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzlbqGdI8do
And time only watches.
Ours was a story written in reverse.7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeBezmQT6OR
When the year began, our buses stood side by side.7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw8iVKSfUkx
Just like us.7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUIHbMEQARP
Close — not always talking, but always within reach.7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPlV3TU6l22
We met under that old tree, beside those parked buses,7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4d2XuSQ0hQ
Where the earth still remembered our footsteps,7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxjPHeWqjHK
And the silence between us felt like the loudest comfort.
That was our place.7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVpW8MnxJmJ
Not too far. Not too close.7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡreepy4kIMm
Just enough to look, to smile, to say everything without a word.
And as the semesters rolled in,7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7NnXK9NI5Q
So did distance.
Little by little, her bus began to move.7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ3KrFnTy5Y
Not suddenly. Not loudly.7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBeCg2iIf2o
Just like her — with quiet decisions, soft steps, no explanations.
At first, I didn’t notice.7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlqS7dh1bRb
Because I was too busy holding on to what we had.7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNv1gncQPrJ
But the tree stayed where it was.7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEf3NxmIL1f
And so did my bus.7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIonY0efPBN
And so did I.
Still waiting. Still hoping.
Her new spot — it wasn’t far in meters,7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcdMTHpT2yY
But felt like miles in meaning.7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2jvEiD9ako
Now, her bus stood beside his.7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS5t461AqCS
Not mine.
And that small shift changed everything.
They laughed.7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPnAS7lpz7C
They walked.7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdlmM4aLBr2
They spoke in the language I thought we built.7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF6GcVwP96d
One I no longer understood.
And me?7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7Jrqu0QNlJ
I stood beside my bus.7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF5mZmg4eSX
Just like always.7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtR5fbwqyS5
Like a shadow hoping the sun might notice it again.
I don’t blame her.7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5ghnHv4KlB
Maybe her journey needed a new road.7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ820zfSTGwz
Maybe my stillness felt like stagnation to her.7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrk7rYEba3Q
Maybe being beside me wasn’t enough.
But I watched that change —7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBdlCEI6zC3
Every day after college, every silent evening.7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj9R7DVS18w
And it hurt.
Because the buses knew.7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqzudKmShaQ
They told a story no one else could see.
Ours was a story of two souls who met where the buses once stood together.7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMgMeceL7ZZ
A bond that bloomed between the roots of familiarity and the branches of hope.
But not all flowers bloom forever.
Sometimes, they’re just meant to be admired once —7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqSqHDVrhfP
in a single season —7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyZ7mrcuhT9
and remembered always.
She moved forward.7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFCQiaIT0Ys
Or sideways.7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgYsZnon47g
Or somewhere I couldn’t reach anymore.
And I remained.7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkJRVR3ApmV
Not because I couldn’t move.7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBqtgszK9Yo
But because some part of me still believed—
If one day, she ever looked back…7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhDHtnbUL0d
I’d still be there.7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo7QbjO3Khn
Beside the same tree.7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIhCgTdnJwG
By the same bus.7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeipAqBanLb
Carrying the same love.
Quiet. Constant.7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBa1X1yhwfQ
Unseen.
