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.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdgyXRTSLDc
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.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrn1pa8iUVt
Just him.
He didn’t ask if he could sit. He just did.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYrwl8Kzzc7
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.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL16WIZlS7Z
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.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnrS8gSKtLg
The one I played when everything else felt like noise.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlm6iraho3Y
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.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMy0tcz0wMv
“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.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYFBVcGAi8n
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…15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5TKeIj12Kn
I didn’t feel alone in the storm.
