It all happened in a blur.53Please respect copyright.PENANAUBZVvNL3A2
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.53Please respect copyright.PENANAKLd4C3PHke
A few messages. A few replies. A few misunderstandings.53Please respect copyright.PENANAq46yhUGsOE
So little, yet somehow, I made them… heavy.53Please respect copyright.PENANAEJ4nUpTqwq
Weighted them down with emotion I never learned how to express.
That day, we met — face to face.53Please respect copyright.PENANA0r2PVSSGJy
For once, no phones, no typing bubbles, no delays.53Please respect copyright.PENANAEWsSTeJVal
Just her. And me.
We argued, gently.53Please respect copyright.PENANAxG2jsqJJWI
More like scraping wounds that hadn’t healed.53Please respect copyright.PENANAUUMuwkbR1u
I brushed it off — said the words that hurt her weren’t even mine.53Please respect copyright.PENANANpsCfESQWd
"That was just something ChatGPT wrote," I mumbled, eyes looking anywhere but her.53Please respect copyright.PENANAgv899cZHCQ
It was easier to lie, easier to detach.53Please respect copyright.PENANARPuktan6rG
Because admitting I meant every word would mean risking everything.53Please respect copyright.PENANAfv9CLZDFol
And I wasn’t ready to lose her.53Please respect copyright.PENANA2nRIlyptuj
Not yet.53Please respect copyright.PENANAgPEqIIc6Sg
Not ever.
"I just don’t want to say something you never wanted to hear," I said,53Please respect copyright.PENANAWcvDpySJ0J
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 —53Please respect copyright.PENANAiI74EJidOH
She was staying at college late and needed help carrying her luggage to the bus.53Please respect copyright.PENANALp3z4BT6Pi
I agreed.
And then, out of instinct or maybe longing,53Please respect copyright.PENANAD4oC7UaecY
I turned to Seren.
“Come with me?”
She said yes.
We walked together.53Please respect copyright.PENANAKCcLDqXxwI
Not like we used to.53Please respect copyright.PENANAiaMCovQ57d
The air was different.53Please respect copyright.PENANA9513LKOTBJ
But still, she came.
We met the senior, carried the bags.53Please respect copyright.PENANAVOPLyxIuyw
The sun was low. The clouds darker.
As we neared my bus — Bus 495 now, no longer 222 —53Please respect copyright.PENANA2R0MYziWe9
It began to drizzle.
And without thinking,53Please respect copyright.PENANAxug5b5gzPa
I handed her a small bag and told her to hold it over her head.53Please respect copyright.PENANA1J6UveatZK
A stupid gesture, clumsy and warm.53Please respect copyright.PENANAMS2D7ZTvS8
Something straight out of the kind of slice-of-life drama.53Please respect copyright.PENANA1AT7yEJ2ub
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.53Please respect copyright.PENANAlOJpp9jQUv
It was pouring.
Her bus wasn’t beside mine anymore.53Please respect copyright.PENANAeaHN8GAJP7
It stood at the center of the soaked ground, distant.53Please respect copyright.PENANAdzV9Fh6yYf
Like her.
We waited under the bus shelter.53Please respect copyright.PENANAMREZWVbDMW
Time slowed.
We talked.
Not about the fight. Not about the awkwardness.53Please respect copyright.PENANAAPudHmTLmT
Just talked.53Please respect copyright.PENANA2NRlgbU4hc
About things that didn’t hurt.53Please respect copyright.PENANA6FtTiuWjSZ
Like we used to.53Please respect copyright.PENANAp1NRTxCBzf
And it felt like maybe — just maybe — the storm could pass.
But the rain didn’t stop.
We looked for an umbrella.53Please respect copyright.PENANAApCZqm75bk
Hoped someone would have one.
Then, through the curtains of rain,53Please respect copyright.PENANADlNKPDp7ki
I saw Krish walking to his bus, holding an umbrella like a shield against the world.
Without thinking, I leapt.
Out into the storm.53Please respect copyright.PENANAuvAECPsUiY
Through the cold.53Please respect copyright.PENANAb6p9w2lJZT
Feet sinking into mud.53Please respect copyright.PENANA9txkBvGZtM
Each step heavy — but not with water.
I ran after him, waited till he was close to his bus,53Please respect copyright.PENANAWtmlt93wTu
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.53Please respect copyright.PENANA0xaZd4FPIG
We shared the cover.
And as we are walking towards her bus.53Please respect copyright.PENANANftpi7p7bL
Our shoulders touched.
For a moment —53Please respect copyright.PENANAl1O0zDe1Im
A second that felt like eternity —53Please respect copyright.PENANAJV8vV6UTGl
Everything froze.
And I knew.
I wasn’t meant to be the one holding the umbrella.53Please respect copyright.PENANAZC2JNzg3Ao
I wasn’t meant to be the one by her side.
This was a borrowed moment.53Please respect copyright.PENANAK1tpGGG56D
A borrowed feeling.
And so, I stepped out.
Let the rain welcome me back.53Please respect copyright.PENANAbzv2Tp7k8s
Let it hide the tears that I couldn't let her see.
We walked to her bus together.53Please respect copyright.PENANAKKPwDeYSri
Her — warm, untouched by the storm.53Please respect copyright.PENANAXLzc3GIyC1
Me — soaked, alone beneath the sky.
When we reached, she turned and smiled.
I just smiled.53Please respect copyright.PENANAZvOLW3WpPD
No words.53Please respect copyright.PENANAyghWUc6PMB
Just the weight of goodbye unspoken.
And then she stepped onto her bus.53Please respect copyright.PENANAU4vHalk4Ld
And I turned away.53Please respect copyright.PENANA8PP74jXcHw
And the rain kept falling.
But it wasn’t just rain anymore.
It was the sky grieving with me.
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