It all happened in a blur.84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy6HIMtihAp
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.84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS51wvQFbgW
A few messages. A few replies. A few misunderstandings.84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOyg8dv25cl
So little, yet somehow, I made them… heavy.84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrUPkaphNdu
Weighted them down with emotion I never learned how to express.
That day, we met — face to face.84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR5w8rPOIv9
For once, no phones, no typing bubbles, no delays.84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj5y3DPBQXF
Just her. And me.
We argued, gently.84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJJMthybYAk
More like scraping wounds that hadn’t healed.84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI8R8RVbqCH
I brushed it off — said the words that hurt her weren’t even mine.84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYQUR0Hr8xj
"That was just something ChatGPT wrote," I mumbled, eyes looking anywhere but her.84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAdT1Knm5YR
It was easier to lie, easier to detach.84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9RcBvi29oQ
Because admitting I meant every word would mean risking everything.84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiizJkvuVMf
And I wasn’t ready to lose her.84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNGYvZOYwWe
Not yet.84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRYIAFZgJ4F
Not ever.
"I just don’t want to say something you never wanted to hear," I said,84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs7wZ96FFU3
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 —84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMutRWuI9gE
She was staying at college late and needed help carrying her luggage to the bus.84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5ils6pLSSD
I agreed.
And then, out of instinct or maybe longing,84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5iGs3mDJRe
I turned to Seren.
“Come with me?”
She said yes.
We walked together.84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbKz2fH8c9I
Not like we used to.84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwfmprJqldV
The air was different.84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvRicwjpAUM
But still, she came.
We met the senior, carried the bags.84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH30eo7OGpr
The sun was low. The clouds darker.
As we neared my bus — Bus 495 now, no longer 222 —84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg8TYVulJIA
It began to drizzle.
And without thinking,84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV8iEAqCJAf
I handed her a small bag and told her to hold it over her head.84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOetWEcSzEg
A stupid gesture, clumsy and warm.84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtfKdt9g7rI
Something straight out of the kind of slice-of-life drama.84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy35EsOXuCC
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.84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXT73mUp6CQ
It was pouring.
Her bus wasn’t beside mine anymore.84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl8hNPZ8IWt
It stood at the center of the soaked ground, distant.84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkfKMfSMokD
Like her.
We waited under the bus shelter.84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKB0BpVlWKl
Time slowed.
We talked.
Not about the fight. Not about the awkwardness.84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVmLXwmucl8
Just talked.84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrBTgqBf4wj
About things that didn’t hurt.84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCGwy2yP9Z5
Like we used to.84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXffEO40bXY
And it felt like maybe — just maybe — the storm could pass.
But the rain didn’t stop.
We looked for an umbrella.84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUhcBw2Cag4
Hoped someone would have one.
Then, through the curtains of rain,84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgPkZX4u2zs
I saw Krish walking to his bus, holding an umbrella like a shield against the world.
Without thinking, I leapt.
Out into the storm.84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZlyYV9fPIK
Through the cold.84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHqHPqzZtQe
Feet sinking into mud.84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJbO2gJFDog
Each step heavy — but not with water.
I ran after him, waited till he was close to his bus,84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfhrqQfhSQn
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.84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwXzhtmSAdn
We shared the cover.
And as we are walking towards her bus.84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG7OXqFCeCy
Our shoulders touched.
For a moment —84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8FH0gmWkb1
A second that felt like eternity —84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1pTfZVFtrA
Everything froze.
And I knew.
I wasn’t meant to be the one holding the umbrella.84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjfFYyRcWHA
I wasn’t meant to be the one by her side.
This was a borrowed moment.84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDk0DqiM7J6
A borrowed feeling.
And so, I stepped out.
Let the rain welcome me back.84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFU6mV2nrMu
Let it hide the tears that I couldn't let her see.
We walked to her bus together.84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN7WisUXodb
Her — warm, untouched by the storm.84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLqGDfrJdma
Me — soaked, alone beneath the sky.
When we reached, she turned and smiled.
I just smiled.84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCHVZw561ao
No words.84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcZeEZ8Kde3
Just the weight of goodbye unspoken.
And then she stepped onto her bus.84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv3C8s9HMrF
And I turned away.84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgakm8FQpfF
And the rain kept falling.
But it wasn’t just rain anymore.
It was the sky grieving with me.
ns216.73.216.62da2
