
I told her once—
"I'll be your confidence."
Because she had always been mine.54Please respect copyright.PENANAOY6F1MumV9
From the beginning.54Please respect copyright.PENANAhlgIgIJxwO
She lit sparks in dull moments.54Please respect copyright.PENANABOEJXCpZRf
Listened when I didn’t even know what I was saying.54Please respect copyright.PENANAoW7v878zdQ
Talked like every word was music, and I was just lucky to hear it.
So when I saw an internship opportunity from Flipkart — open only for girls —54Please respect copyright.PENANAWIX8Y2isiU
I didn’t hesitate.
I told her.54Please respect copyright.PENANAk1BUAXBxKN
Knowing full well she might hesitate.54Please respect copyright.PENANAzMtwtEFD9R
Because that’s me when it comes to her.
Never missing a chance to be her helping hand.54Please respect copyright.PENANA9JdDX0d3WH
Never wanting her to miss one step toward something better.
She thought about it.
And she said, “Okay.”
The day of the test arrived.54Please respect copyright.PENANAA0OKH4HFUy
We planned to meet in the library, afternoon.54Please respect copyright.PENANAjpe0faiLu9
In one of the quiet discussion rooms.
I reached early.54Please respect copyright.PENANAGS5md3qH2f
Maybe because I was eager.54Please respect copyright.PENANAd9XYUqmQP5
Maybe because I thought, somehow, today could fix the cracks.54Please respect copyright.PENANAmGf0eEwQMI
Or at least remind us of how we once were.
I had everything ready: the laptop open, test page preloaded, my heart strangely light.
When she arrived, I gave her my laptop for a while — to finish some English assignment.54Please respect copyright.PENANAR7ZMqKhCGD
And I took her laptop.54Please respect copyright.PENANACI8ckMdHZt
Told her not to worry about it.54Please respect copyright.PENANAaImUBpfHjL
Told myself it would ease the guilt… the distance.
She smiled.
And it felt like I was doing the right thing.
But then… I did something I can never take back.
Not because I wanted to know who she was texting.54Please respect copyright.PENANA5ZIxRREwMw
Not out of jealousy.
But out of that quiet ache —54Please respect copyright.PENANAEhoefUeS0V
To know if I still existed in her world the way she lived in mine.
I opened her WhatsApp.54Please respect copyright.PENANAyOkY3lTO8M
Typed my own name in the search bar.
What I read…54Please respect copyright.PENANAAQqcTYb4Sz
Was not what I was ready for.
At first, it made me smile.54Please respect copyright.PENANAmmm7WfQ7fG
Little mentions.54Please respect copyright.PENANACn7YwCDCAb
Small memories.54Please respect copyright.PENANAdZIFOWI3nM
Familiar tones.54Please respect copyright.PENANAQZhSZOe4Ie
But then…54Please respect copyright.PENANAFYDaoO4XiA
The words changed.
"I feel awkward around him."54Please respect copyright.PENANAO8fUvUlrOI
"At last, I feel comfortable talking to someone… than talking to him"
It crushed me.
Like being stabbed by a voice I once trusted to save me.
I wanted to cry.54Please respect copyright.PENANAviOUS2ZiHe
But I didn’t.
I couldn’t.
I just stared ahead.54Please respect copyright.PENANA536oglTfWs
Acted normal.54Please respect copyright.PENANAlzKKEUZ5dk
Pretended the world hadn’t just collapsed under my feet.
Because that’s what I do best.54Please respect copyright.PENANAOzhpOySZak
Break in silence.54Please respect copyright.PENANAcv13gTkrYK
Smile with scars.
The test began.
I gave it everything.
Some questions were easy.54Please respect copyright.PENANA60pvOXHlkC
Some weren’t.54Please respect copyright.PENANAEbYOnmjC13
But she never saw the storm behind my calm.54Please respect copyright.PENANAINTwTbXBD0
She didn’t know the war I was fighting in my head as I smiled, as I helped, as I tried to just be a friend.54Please respect copyright.PENANA3q26W1Os7A
But I had made a promise.54Please respect copyright.PENANA7lu6y3t6mm
And no matter how broken I was, I never go back on a promise.
Later, as we packed up to leave…54Please respect copyright.PENANAK1Ma1XfBYz
She noticed something on my laptop.
Her name.
Saved as Stranger.
She asked.54Please respect copyright.PENANAGaYCPOxMVg
But I didn’t answer.
Because how do you explain that someone once felt like home,54Please respect copyright.PENANAtEP9Fj9rmZ
and now they’re just…54Please respect copyright.PENANAkC56Espktc
an address you can’t return to?
I still see her.
With Ren.
Laughing.54Please respect copyright.PENANAl6QQaSeI8j
Talking freely.
No awkwardness.54Please respect copyright.PENANAnhQNRvJNQW
No hesitation.
Everything I ever tried to be for her…54Please respect copyright.PENANA3jPTCF2eJF
he now is.
I never wanted more than friendship.54Please respect copyright.PENANAMohGBOFp6u
But somehow… even that was too much to ask for.
I buried everything — my feelings, thoughts, jealousy, guilt —54Please respect copyright.PENANAJUXyiJKW6Y
over and over.
But no matter how many times I tried to bury it all…54Please respect copyright.PENANApxHFUk84NU
I always ended up the one grieving.
But it never seemed to be enough.
What changed?
Or maybe…54Please respect copyright.PENANAZNSmCBqjsi
nothing ever did.54Please respect copyright.PENANAWJHx5BYLRB
Maybe there was nothing from the start — to change at all.
Now the buses have changed their places again.54Please respect copyright.PENANA3oLCXWCXzu
Destiny playing chess with people’s lives.
Alice’s bus — no longer somewhere in between —54Please respect copyright.PENANAbiudVJFsgk
now parked neatly alongside Ren’s.
While mine?
Still at the same spot since day one.
Watching.
Waiting.
Trying to understand the stories whispered by the evening wind.54Please respect copyright.PENANAE7NUCV0i1K
And the answers it hides in plain sight.54Please respect copyright.PENANAnQbExlrdSE
At last,… all these are just words.
Words I wish she heard.54Please respect copyright.PENANAQS3kVHpiTV
Words I wish I never said.54Please respect copyright.PENANAMXgrfJUs2v
Words I’ll carry long after she forgets them.
Because…54Please respect copyright.PENANA7GViQZoiha
When I saw those messages, I couldn’t bear to read any further.54Please respect copyright.PENANAfk5Aoqdzeh
When I sat across from her —54Please respect copyright.PENANAvh9oZCAXyp
And she had no idea that she still trusted me,54Please respect copyright.PENANAtdVbh3dCqo
While I was doing the very thing I swore, I’d never do.
I broke her trust.54Please respect copyright.PENANAe1lmKMBuu2
I betrayed her.
And the worst part?
I still love her enough to hope…54Please respect copyright.PENANAhguF2VBOri
She never finds out.