They say time moves people.79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjboUbu70TQ
But sometimes, people just… move.79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmriMYdqKFX
And time only watches.
Ours was a story written in reverse.79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH09ggWD6HQ
When the year began, our buses stood side by side.79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnPFplzAC9n
Just like us.79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtWJpWYdoeb
Close — not always talking, but always within reach.79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ23gfd4zkSz
We met under that old tree, beside those parked buses,79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1eH7nwwFVX
Where the earth still remembered our footsteps,79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKJQ1JX09n4
And the silence between us felt like the loudest comfort.
That was our place.79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNVuFhHMmbg
Not too far. Not too close.79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtE4BO7lZ92
Just enough to look, to smile, to say everything without a word.
And as the semesters rolled in,79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2pEYr8Jgja
So did distance.
Little by little, her bus began to move.79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIZcXTyG2zf
Not suddenly. Not loudly.79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBDrz7kD83F
Just like her — with quiet decisions, soft steps, no explanations.
At first, I didn’t notice.79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzIx6gctoHJ
Because I was too busy holding on to what we had.79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3e2TX2XQKj
But the tree stayed where it was.79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbvnvHvLN57
And so did my bus.79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ99L0CWBYa9
And so did I.
Still waiting. Still hoping.
Her new spot — it wasn’t far in meters,79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhbYufU8LiE
But felt like miles in meaning.79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIfPBceMFli
Now, her bus stood beside his.79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡANiWovqMcf
Not mine.
And that small shift changed everything.
They laughed.79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiENbmxH7oP
They walked.79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjUKr4lavLf
They spoke in the language I thought we built.79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNpPJ4TntSc
One I no longer understood.
And me?79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDf3jT1tVRM
I stood beside my bus.79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdlVbCt5LU1
Just like always.79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkMsGRQo3hD
Like a shadow hoping the sun might notice it again.
I don’t blame her.79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoVkUZ01Le7
Maybe her journey needed a new road.79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiDtSJ0VoHB
Maybe my stillness felt like stagnation to her.79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmQ02eqLpqK
Maybe being beside me wasn’t enough.
But I watched that change —79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWyIVSjzXft
Every day after college, every silent evening.79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0KkNFdXQx5
And it hurt.
Because the buses knew.79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3k66zcanjw
They told a story no one else could see.
Ours was a story of two souls who met where the buses once stood together.79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxht8gvCDAb
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 —79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIVfKB2Q1ax
in a single season —79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR289drvE2N
and remembered always.
She moved forward.79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx6fBWmhWz4
Or sideways.79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxR6sVLFBy4
Or somewhere I couldn’t reach anymore.
And I remained.79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUUAndhxUZJ
Not because I couldn’t move.79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFYk0mARj5B
But because some part of me still believed—
If one day, she ever looked back…79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGf91JvJbdJ
I’d still be there.79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSLtVMBUuij
Beside the same tree.79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpDrJwOJqEG
By the same bus.79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpFuWg57pRZ
Carrying the same love.
Quiet. Constant.79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTQ7KTGRObq
Unseen.
