It all happened in a blur.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfVz7GJUsYg
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.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhzSThzy5GB
A few messages. A few replies. A few misunderstandings.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcrH3SYSCaH
So little, yet somehow, I made them… heavy.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE0PyYVXNnC
Weighted them down with emotion I never learned how to express.
That day, we met — face to face.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ64dCQzznur
For once, no phones, no typing bubbles, no delays.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo316ssKwEA
Just her. And me.
We argued, gently.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOAkZf2kYiG
More like scraping wounds that hadn’t healed.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO1vwleQg3H
I brushed it off — said the words that hurt her weren’t even mine.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl7hc3uiRUf
"That was just something ChatGPT wrote," I mumbled, eyes looking anywhere but her.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiOwVInWNyT
It was easier to lie, easier to detach.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ045OuYfK71
Because admitting I meant every word would mean risking everything.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmg9E8VKVuu
And I wasn’t ready to lose her.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡln9ISfBpiS
Not yet.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmYaHImiKYJ
Not ever.
"I just don’t want to say something you never wanted to hear," I said,107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxXf9UdBzqu
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 —107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFbCCv30EmG
She was staying at college late and needed help carrying her luggage to the bus.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV2u4BdFr9u
I agreed.
And then, out of instinct or maybe longing,107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDB6rdRz2S4
I turned to Seren.
“Come with me?”
She said yes.
We walked together.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUjy7bTUtqX
Not like we used to.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbbblkFwlEd
The air was different.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM611riHQmq
But still, she came.
We met the senior, carried the bags.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqka5V3YHtY
The sun was low. The clouds darker.
As we neared my bus — Bus 495 now, no longer 222 —107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiVpumfNBAp
It began to drizzle.
And without thinking,107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2b9q2El4cD
I handed her a small bag and told her to hold it over her head.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkOHUTB0dw5
A stupid gesture, clumsy and warm.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqJZsA1fSZr
Something straight out of the kind of slice-of-life drama.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY57Yr0cZHR
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.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGpflOEW2NC
It was pouring.
Her bus wasn’t beside mine anymore.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzPAlw5W8QV
It stood at the center of the soaked ground, distant.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYRI68Iy18o
Like her.
We waited under the bus shelter.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoKOfbvvAaA
Time slowed.
We talked.
Not about the fight. Not about the awkwardness.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwmHtftwA1O
Just talked.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTC2sOGVR4b
About things that didn’t hurt.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcDmZqfsiYw
Like we used to.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeBRnRSMXBL
And it felt like maybe — just maybe — the storm could pass.
But the rain didn’t stop.
We looked for an umbrella.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqOjnd32sLa
Hoped someone would have one.
Then, through the curtains of rain,107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzFuSofNk2w
I saw Krish walking to his bus, holding an umbrella like a shield against the world.
Without thinking, I leapt.
Out into the storm.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmvTKlPL5po
Through the cold.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9H2fQFhOxs
Feet sinking into mud.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEAcUycMc8X
Each step heavy — but not with water.
I ran after him, waited till he was close to his bus,107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIu7VuwtKaf
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.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOyPFKvGPQt
We shared the cover.
And as we are walking towards her bus.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxqX1peReRW
Our shoulders touched.
For a moment —107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBuwMZ1LEng
A second that felt like eternity —107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7F3ciqH6Tt
Everything froze.
And I knew.
I wasn’t meant to be the one holding the umbrella.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6Mqz9OwXLR
I wasn’t meant to be the one by her side.
This was a borrowed moment.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuWe9gRQA0n
A borrowed feeling.
And so, I stepped out.
Let the rain welcome me back.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW4ksQchLBu
Let it hide the tears that I couldn't let her see.
We walked to her bus together.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTv0cIVDZaI
Her — warm, untouched by the storm.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0wgD5EJ2k8
Me — soaked, alone beneath the sky.
When we reached, she turned and smiled.
I just smiled.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLkisAvY9Du
No words.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3EL04Ez0fZ
Just the weight of goodbye unspoken.
And then she stepped onto her bus.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbm2EtWd6dq
And I turned away.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxYNW6Cl8k7
And the rain kept falling.
But it wasn’t just rain anymore.
It was the sky grieving with me.
ns216.73.216.6da2
