Dual POV
Mara
I didn’t message him the next day.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGuvB3crMHl
I didn’t need to.
Instead, I opened my music app and created a playlist.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ7R4lU9mET
Just three songs.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwH6juv7XcE
One about missing someone I never had.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBWNwDt2Cbg
One about learning how to breathe again.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM2zmey7jg0
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.”11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuBSnXMif1d
And it did.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgaCB52DwZm
The second song was a love letter, the third sounded like goodbye, and the fifth…11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6BGr7rY5ch
The fifth was mine. The one I hummed through the window.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE6eBF9oyf9
Except this time, it was a cover—with lyrics.
That’s when I realized:11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI9VtAXHt2H
He’d heard me long before he met me.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcqTuM2gbwM
And maybe… he’d felt something, too.
Eli
I’ve always found it easier to say things through music.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6Xxi8TdW5D
Words can lie. Songs don’t.
When she sent that playlist, it felt like a door opened.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYdPDp3B0XU
Not wide. Just enough.
So I sent mine back, every track carefully chosen.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnXjIpnq24C
No fluff. No random filler. Just the truth I couldn’t voice yet.
She didn’t reply for hours.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk0jpKDVNry
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—11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxDpEX6ToAC
One every night.
No pressure. No labels.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSYyrGyhDoi
Just music.
And in that quiet rhythm, we found something neither of us was ready to name.
Not yet.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP5EbwPV0su
But soon.
