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21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqqAI8zqYga
21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs3YECTJbXM
Lena sat beside me again today.
21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ7ZZ3Wqo4H
For the first five minutes, we didn’t say anything. I stared at my notes, she scrolled through her phone. But something about the silence felt... tighter than usual. Like it was holding something inside it.
21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuebcvU9AK1
Then, out of nowhere, she said, “I left the note.”
21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLwHWTCQJ2q
Just like that. No build-up. No hesitation. Just dropped it into the air like a stone.
21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7GkPxlCgSq
I froze. My heart kicked hard against my ribs, and my mind blanked. I didn’t know what to say. I’d imagined this moment..someone finally seeing me...and now that it was happening, I didn’t feel relief. I felt exposed.
21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkJaqqfxQwF
She turned her head slightly, eyes still on her phone. “I didn’t know what else to say. But I didn’t want you to think no one noticed.”
21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbY88cPBcEk
I could barely swallow. Something burned in my throat, but I nodded. It was all I could manage.
21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9jdQIlhsRl
We didn’t talk much after that. But something shifted.
21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡySsbcXZiWa
She stayed the whole period. Didn’t move away. Didn’t act like I was fragile glass.
And when she left, she said, “You don’t have to write it all down alone.”
21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgShe11uyNE
I wanted to say thank you. But the words got stuck behind everything I’ve never said.
21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmnOEvh36QK
