Her POV
It wasn’t supposed to rain that day.
The forecast said cloudy. Nothing dramatic. Nothing cinematic. Just another gray Tuesday in a long list of gray Tuesdays. But I guess the sky had other plans.
I’d forgotten my umbrella, of course.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOFMwK9RKRR
Didn’t really care. I think part of me wanted to be soaked.
I sat outside the café anyway—my usual seat by the window, even though it was barely shielded from the storm. The streets blurred. The world blurred. So did I.
And then he came.
No coffee. No laptop. No headphones this time.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4sPJAU3W7f
Just him.
He didn’t ask if he could sit. He just did.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1VR5YiPPpe
Right across from me. Like he’d been rehearsing this for weeks.
He didn’t speak at first. Just reached into his pocket, pulled out one earbud, and gently offered it to me.
I stared at it. Then at him.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXhd0nFJkP8
He looked steady, like the storm wasn’t even touching him.
“Listen,” he said.
One word. That’s all.
I took the earbud. Slowly. Carefully. As if it might shatter in my hands. And the moment the music started, something inside me cracked.
It was my song.
The one I hummed in my kitchen when I thought no one was listening.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHYShV2cePO
The one I played when everything else felt like noise.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOjR1FaLK4y
A song I hadn’t shared with anyone since… since before things changed.
I turned toward him. “How do you know this?”
He looked down, then back up at me.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBL9OoHGYdp
“I hear you. Through the window. Every morning.”
He said it like it wasn’t strange. Like it was normal to memorize someone’s quiet habits from a building away.
“I didn’t think anyone could hear me.”
He smiled—small, soft. “I don’t think you wanted them to. But I did.”
I didn’t know what to say after that. The rain filled in the silence for me.
We just sat there. Sharing one song. One space.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJCIjE2DQxW
Two strangers pretending this moment wasn’t the most honest thing either of us had felt in months.
And for the first time in a long time…12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcEhkJ8wE2K
I didn’t feel alone in the storm.
