It all happened in a blur.102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7Hwu6boDIW
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.102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnbuMf5B1Oe
A few messages. A few replies. A few misunderstandings.102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgAvkmwzMbQ
So little, yet somehow, I made them… heavy.102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwlbkKWXF8I
Weighted them down with emotion I never learned how to express.
That day, we met — face to face.102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxv6nEEiZU9
For once, no phones, no typing bubbles, no delays.102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsmpTFyn1ke
Just her. And me.
We argued, gently.102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfApngJHczo
More like scraping wounds that hadn’t healed.102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe4x8T84buy
I brushed it off — said the words that hurt her weren’t even mine.102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZEXyWNR4d5
"That was just something ChatGPT wrote," I mumbled, eyes looking anywhere but her.102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUPvINk4L4f
It was easier to lie, easier to detach.102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzhG6rtgPnO
Because admitting I meant every word would mean risking everything.102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqcR2wrPrUb
And I wasn’t ready to lose her.102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4TtCKqfPlg
Not yet.102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvWN53fic8H
Not ever.
"I just don’t want to say something you never wanted to hear," I said,102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXZSI5yUMAB
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 —102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvsyGdbT7Pt
She was staying at college late and needed help carrying her luggage to the bus.102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLplXRCHP7Z
I agreed.
And then, out of instinct or maybe longing,102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwFdzkacOuq
I turned to Seren.
“Come with me?”
She said yes.
We walked together.102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTToqUFflFn
Not like we used to.102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9FE7n3pSYG
The air was different.102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8Vc5ed8laO
But still, she came.
We met the senior, carried the bags.102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN5Nyl9m9ct
The sun was low. The clouds darker.
As we neared my bus — Bus 495 now, no longer 222 —102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡExxFUUqTcu
It began to drizzle.
And without thinking,102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgejUD4mJfE
I handed her a small bag and told her to hold it over her head.102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF4FvRztppq
A stupid gesture, clumsy and warm.102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs5fOOPCBwo
Something straight out of the kind of slice-of-life drama.102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTGvjhkLqxT
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.102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpRv0LyaEQP
It was pouring.
Her bus wasn’t beside mine anymore.102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfvwA6j4I7y
It stood at the center of the soaked ground, distant.102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7jvffjFAYk
Like her.
We waited under the bus shelter.102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ15VFB6iucr
Time slowed.
We talked.
Not about the fight. Not about the awkwardness.102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBnjzTh8qpa
Just talked.102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLsmev6X2sg
About things that didn’t hurt.102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSFe1bIhTp5
Like we used to.102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4w3SRrDTTb
And it felt like maybe — just maybe — the storm could pass.
But the rain didn’t stop.
We looked for an umbrella.102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7F4MQKojmB
Hoped someone would have one.
Then, through the curtains of rain,102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrCNRg6DmBg
I saw Krish walking to his bus, holding an umbrella like a shield against the world.
Without thinking, I leapt.
Out into the storm.102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbFRamuOtlv
Through the cold.102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc9U6u0qLXu
Feet sinking into mud.102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4i7YIGp3xQ
Each step heavy — but not with water.
I ran after him, waited till he was close to his bus,102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv6IYHHu9HK
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.102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsenmcHITsQ
We shared the cover.
And as we are walking towards her bus.102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJIdvMMLyYM
Our shoulders touched.
For a moment —102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG3Ymy41cdx
A second that felt like eternity —102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ972rkmQbC6
Everything froze.
And I knew.
I wasn’t meant to be the one holding the umbrella.102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2kFJchFFLw
I wasn’t meant to be the one by her side.
This was a borrowed moment.102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeiaJxKOuDI
A borrowed feeling.
And so, I stepped out.
Let the rain welcome me back.102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1dRSU4zpwg
Let it hide the tears that I couldn't let her see.
We walked to her bus together.102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ36JG0fbc9I
Her — warm, untouched by the storm.102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDs7VLx5YlL
Me — soaked, alone beneath the sky.
When we reached, she turned and smiled.
I just smiled.102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5XChm2DzlX
No words.102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmoOtxbJVnH
Just the weight of goodbye unspoken.
And then she stepped onto her bus.102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKCslYcEy1c
And I turned away.102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr1U96DECC5
And the rain kept falling.
But it wasn’t just rain anymore.
It was the sky grieving with me.
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