Dual POV
Mara
I didn’t message him the next day.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwLIlxlkeUY
I didn’t need to.
Instead, I opened my music app and created a playlist.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZLaNxt4KI3
Just three songs.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyU9kgA7kYj
One about missing someone I never had.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtYecRbX8Ny
One about learning how to breathe again.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8hxGaUO4OQ
And one—soft and wordless—that made me think of him sitting across from me in the rain.
I named it “For When You’re Not Sure.”
No text. No explanation. Just a link I dropped in his inbox that night.
Ten minutes later, a message appeared:
“That third track wrecked me. Here’s mine.”
His playlist was called “If I Said Too Much.”107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0miQugu5fO
And it did.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzTMCCOSuw8
The second song was a love letter, the third sounded like goodbye, and the fifth…107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjWrDNbmcdk
The fifth was mine. The one I hummed through the window.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBILmPWF5ao
Except this time, it was a cover—with lyrics.
That’s when I realized:107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzSuiK2wPet
He’d heard me long before he met me.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRTpsCb5gAQ
And maybe… he’d felt something, too.
Eli
I’ve always found it easier to say things through music.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGyp5JhBTxW
Words can lie. Songs don’t.
When she sent that playlist, it felt like a door opened.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaRewvvF77t
Not wide. Just enough.
So I sent mine back, every track carefully chosen.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqD5ydIBPRD
No fluff. No random filler. Just the truth I couldn’t voice yet.
She didn’t reply for hours.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhRePv7LWdK
When she finally did, it was just:
“I don’t know what this is yet. But I want to find out.”
That was it.
And somehow, it was more honest than any three-page confession could’ve been.
So we kept exchanging playlists—107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzSz1BBFJVB
One every night.
No pressure. No labels.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBPIa1UhCAS
Just music.
And in that quiet rhythm, we found something neither of us was ready to name.
Not yet.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhgHblqf6Oy
But soon.
