Her POV
It wasn’t supposed to rain that day.
The forecast said cloudy. Nothing dramatic. Nothing cinematic. Just another gray Tuesday in a long list of gray Tuesdays. But I guess the sky had other plans.
I’d forgotten my umbrella, of course.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAowzuuOFEA
Didn’t really care. I think part of me wanted to be soaked.
I sat outside the café anyway—my usual seat by the window, even though it was barely shielded from the storm. The streets blurred. The world blurred. So did I.
And then he came.
No coffee. No laptop. No headphones this time.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDzlaom4EK5
Just him.
He didn’t ask if he could sit. He just did.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRB4HuDODfP
Right across from me. Like he’d been rehearsing this for weeks.
He didn’t speak at first. Just reached into his pocket, pulled out one earbud, and gently offered it to me.
I stared at it. Then at him.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ88Y2drfslA
He looked steady, like the storm wasn’t even touching him.
“Listen,” he said.
One word. That’s all.
I took the earbud. Slowly. Carefully. As if it might shatter in my hands. And the moment the music started, something inside me cracked.
It was my song.
The one I hummed in my kitchen when I thought no one was listening.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMfT0WF0Ck9
The one I played when everything else felt like noise.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJBBOZFT783
A song I hadn’t shared with anyone since… since before things changed.
I turned toward him. “How do you know this?”
He looked down, then back up at me.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5BDvWXvN9N
“I hear you. Through the window. Every morning.”
He said it like it wasn’t strange. Like it was normal to memorize someone’s quiet habits from a building away.
“I didn’t think anyone could hear me.”
He smiled—small, soft. “I don’t think you wanted them to. But I did.”
I didn’t know what to say after that. The rain filled in the silence for me.
We just sat there. Sharing one song. One space.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3NQhMLyHTW
Two strangers pretending this moment wasn’t the most honest thing either of us had felt in months.
And for the first time in a long time…17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjt3g92EPC7
I didn’t feel alone in the storm.
