It all happened in a blur.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf0ARh5Bs1x
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.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡea1yLVy38O
A few messages. A few replies. A few misunderstandings.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD5PYe5dFpX
So little, yet somehow, I made them… heavy.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgLXTBarPxs
Weighted them down with emotion I never learned how to express.
That day, we met — face to face.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZl5RPoFlJ5
For once, no phones, no typing bubbles, no delays.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz7fe10dCOg
Just her. And me.
We argued, gently.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr13mDBFm5W
More like scraping wounds that hadn’t healed.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8rfKqQfh8C
I brushed it off — said the words that hurt her weren’t even mine.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIfx9I5VPLO
"That was just something ChatGPT wrote," I mumbled, eyes looking anywhere but her.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe4awM7gik1
It was easier to lie, easier to detach.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0Gmhw0897l
Because admitting I meant every word would mean risking everything.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXSopJwjR7N
And I wasn’t ready to lose her.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn9q6gNEtZg
Not yet.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdRrp0zazQZ
Not ever.
"I just don’t want to say something you never wanted to hear," I said,28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPfguqt2cUS
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 —28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAxK5Hy5Gxp
She was staying at college late and needed help carrying her luggage to the bus.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrKVsnljFZs
I agreed.
And then, out of instinct or maybe longing,28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkxMKlrYG3D
I turned to Seren.
“Come with me?”
She said yes.
We walked together.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjv3SVwglba
Not like we used to.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtTDEZbCYx4
The air was different.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡThv2m0d7QR
But still, she came.
We met the senior, carried the bags.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTDl54TulFb
The sun was low. The clouds darker.
As we neared my bus — Bus 495 now, no longer 222 —28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbIuyuNecZA
It began to drizzle.
And without thinking,28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡck9HY5DGWa
I handed her a small bag and told her to hold it over her head.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsyKhzothSk
A stupid gesture, clumsy and warm.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB3ZRR2AZem
Something straight out of the kind of slice-of-life drama.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtzoWYfDQVv
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.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkt3QN3nNff
It was pouring.
Her bus wasn’t beside mine anymore.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB4Q4Xc9s1W
It stood at the center of the soaked ground, distant.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc9K1FjYhuG
Like her.
We waited under the bus shelter.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdZI9ftxlcV
Time slowed.
We talked.
Not about the fight. Not about the awkwardness.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVh8IXKJJU7
Just talked.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg9czGGPHeB
About things that didn’t hurt.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡihfC7uWCU4
Like we used to.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjCKM9H25p6
And it felt like maybe — just maybe — the storm could pass.
But the rain didn’t stop.
We looked for an umbrella.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzDG9dUbgPQ
Hoped someone would have one.
Then, through the curtains of rain,28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVw2PjaO28b
I saw Krish walking to his bus, holding an umbrella like a shield against the world.
Without thinking, I leapt.
Out into the storm.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBnorDsFKMv
Through the cold.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ44jkkOZ9Q8
Feet sinking into mud.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDQw8v2BJ2h
Each step heavy — but not with water.
I ran after him, waited till he was close to his bus,28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1F4ixhzmOC
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.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIH26v8or4W
We shared the cover.
And as we are walking towards her bus.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjkxa5oP28U
Our shoulders touched.
For a moment —28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrpkJ2I5x9J
A second that felt like eternity —28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtqOjElbbtF
Everything froze.
And I knew.
I wasn’t meant to be the one holding the umbrella.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0XxLKc2Gh4
I wasn’t meant to be the one by her side.
This was a borrowed moment.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZyoswD4Buk
A borrowed feeling.
And so, I stepped out.
Let the rain welcome me back.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6zVmoe1wYE
Let it hide the tears that I couldn't let her see.
We walked to her bus together.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkr88y48Jd8
Her — warm, untouched by the storm.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9kSV0KtFoC
Me — soaked, alone beneath the sky.
When we reached, she turned and smiled.
I just smiled.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0S4ZsiypkX
No words.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi2pRz9SBrE
Just the weight of goodbye unspoken.
And then she stepped onto her bus.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGqHpaKrJKX
And I turned away.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1uobIoNxB7
And the rain kept falling.
But it wasn’t just rain anymore.
It was the sky grieving with me.
ns216.73.216.0da2
