They say time moves people.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdnuetyH7O8
But sometimes, people just… move.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd5zJTtAm1k
And time only watches.
Ours was a story written in reverse.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDHshacuMJe
When the year began, our buses stood side by side.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZIw2np8mXk
Just like us.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd7qikNpcRS
Close — not always talking, but always within reach.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY5QbySEeUh
We met under that old tree, beside those parked buses,25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC699BQ2jAM
Where the earth still remembered our footsteps,25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX4Z3Nqw2Wg
And the silence between us felt like the loudest comfort.
That was our place.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqV5BpAJy5D
Not too far. Not too close.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMmV9PMbld7
Just enough to look, to smile, to say everything without a word.
And as the semesters rolled in,25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡowXWBXUZxu
So did distance.
Little by little, her bus began to move.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5NazA3zHFZ
Not suddenly. Not loudly.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1g2gPi8ICj
Just like her — with quiet decisions, soft steps, no explanations.
At first, I didn’t notice.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhDJakjyhD9
Because I was too busy holding on to what we had.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp8NjPDPxEM
But the tree stayed where it was.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeiArXGyGWt
And so did my bus.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT4AqCi6pbP
And so did I.
Still waiting. Still hoping.
Her new spot — it wasn’t far in meters,25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzA9wpTZ2U7
But felt like miles in meaning.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBEmz4EO8pF
Now, her bus stood beside his.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHs4HhQm1Nd
Not mine.
And that small shift changed everything.
They laughed.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwXRzRrhl0W
They walked.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6QBrmnWkGe
They spoke in the language I thought we built.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ7NwvEaZ3a
One I no longer understood.
And me?25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhZW4cEXY7j
I stood beside my bus.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjVaY4ti94f
Just like always.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTeN8A2naOk
Like a shadow hoping the sun might notice it again.
I don’t blame her.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH1aPTYkHsO
Maybe her journey needed a new road.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2XXk4STejj
Maybe my stillness felt like stagnation to her.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc6ECujJsik
Maybe being beside me wasn’t enough.
But I watched that change —25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4VPcgaTUCs
Every day after college, every silent evening.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx2DT3y5HQB
And it hurt.
Because the buses knew.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ8B0qvaW4F
They told a story no one else could see.
Ours was a story of two souls who met where the buses once stood together.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkyL626nzx7
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 —25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡio375CjImd
in a single season —25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡshcKK8jWJM
and remembered always.
She moved forward.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzrgywNj7QJ
Or sideways.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOaRHkCELeN
Or somewhere I couldn’t reach anymore.
And I remained.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZmfX32CTjL
Not because I couldn’t move.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyBC18EIkNV
But because some part of me still believed—
If one day, she ever looked back…25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsBuB9sKcUf
I’d still be there.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq3gLfxQDic
Beside the same tree.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvyayglp6h0
By the same bus.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6m8ZZjjQVB
Carrying the same love.
Quiet. Constant.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMM2FyRoGnu
Unseen.
