It all happened in a blur.52Please respect copyright.PENANAt4pfxNakCj
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.52Please respect copyright.PENANATJpQQCFUfd
A few messages. A few replies. A few misunderstandings.52Please respect copyright.PENANAZXoxg4eftj
So little, yet somehow, I made them… heavy.52Please respect copyright.PENANAWTWGBG5Zog
Weighted them down with emotion I never learned how to express.
That day, we met — face to face.52Please respect copyright.PENANAnpxJC8egeC
For once, no phones, no typing bubbles, no delays.52Please respect copyright.PENANA69xGNDwzpn
Just her. And me.
We argued, gently.52Please respect copyright.PENANArPE3XPTFc3
More like scraping wounds that hadn’t healed.52Please respect copyright.PENANAk6145YLg4Q
I brushed it off — said the words that hurt her weren’t even mine.52Please respect copyright.PENANAJxEWFpBu5p
"That was just something ChatGPT wrote," I mumbled, eyes looking anywhere but her.52Please respect copyright.PENANA97oUa4lWvF
It was easier to lie, easier to detach.52Please respect copyright.PENANA1PeAkRZkSo
Because admitting I meant every word would mean risking everything.52Please respect copyright.PENANAuBQoTzNOXh
And I wasn’t ready to lose her.52Please respect copyright.PENANAvOxhXFfg1u
Not yet.52Please respect copyright.PENANAiaHBxtH0H6
Not ever.
"I just don’t want to say something you never wanted to hear," I said,52Please respect copyright.PENANA5HWRiEdVV0
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 —52Please respect copyright.PENANAefySSHTj3L
She was staying at college late and needed help carrying her luggage to the bus.52Please respect copyright.PENANAdq4jXRL57O
I agreed.
And then, out of instinct or maybe longing,52Please respect copyright.PENANAtFLHS386xC
I turned to Seren.
“Come with me?”
She said yes.
We walked together.52Please respect copyright.PENANAPZV4fZfi45
Not like we used to.52Please respect copyright.PENANAoJnGrGBnOg
The air was different.52Please respect copyright.PENANAHrQL1GZWbP
But still, she came.
We met the senior, carried the bags.52Please respect copyright.PENANAn5JHsgeXKL
The sun was low. The clouds darker.
As we neared my bus — Bus 495 now, no longer 222 —52Please respect copyright.PENANAStiST7FCe0
It began to drizzle.
And without thinking,52Please respect copyright.PENANAg0RzToR5gf
I handed her a small bag and told her to hold it over her head.52Please respect copyright.PENANAIFqw6KhZdX
A stupid gesture, clumsy and warm.52Please respect copyright.PENANASVxE18xZvF
Something straight out of the kind of slice-of-life drama.52Please respect copyright.PENANAk9GPZlDdQf
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.52Please respect copyright.PENANAp9WSoJ7VF5
It was pouring.
Her bus wasn’t beside mine anymore.52Please respect copyright.PENANAjvkZGhSwnU
It stood at the center of the soaked ground, distant.52Please respect copyright.PENANAGTlHEgOoST
Like her.
We waited under the bus shelter.52Please respect copyright.PENANAb3zNaFtIEm
Time slowed.
We talked.
Not about the fight. Not about the awkwardness.52Please respect copyright.PENANA1r2GISfq1B
Just talked.52Please respect copyright.PENANAeSqZI0jpY5
About things that didn’t hurt.52Please respect copyright.PENANADKWYsQ1CRJ
Like we used to.52Please respect copyright.PENANAxfSElvBLDw
And it felt like maybe — just maybe — the storm could pass.
But the rain didn’t stop.
We looked for an umbrella.52Please respect copyright.PENANATExEWBOB0p
Hoped someone would have one.
Then, through the curtains of rain,52Please respect copyright.PENANAapgMKHsqEi
I saw Krish walking to his bus, holding an umbrella like a shield against the world.
Without thinking, I leapt.
Out into the storm.52Please respect copyright.PENANADMjcqpBntG
Through the cold.52Please respect copyright.PENANAq3yhDQTp66
Feet sinking into mud.52Please respect copyright.PENANAJ0B48wEZvk
Each step heavy — but not with water.
I ran after him, waited till he was close to his bus,52Please respect copyright.PENANAXsBoLLHOZ8
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.52Please respect copyright.PENANAVtEAXrhuZh
We shared the cover.
And as we are walking towards her bus.52Please respect copyright.PENANABzW4V6wW0D
Our shoulders touched.
For a moment —52Please respect copyright.PENANAPW2ImI7ljv
A second that felt like eternity —52Please respect copyright.PENANAFL22BVYwFp
Everything froze.
And I knew.
I wasn’t meant to be the one holding the umbrella.52Please respect copyright.PENANARDshudHon5
I wasn’t meant to be the one by her side.
This was a borrowed moment.52Please respect copyright.PENANAvvLNeeeybS
A borrowed feeling.
And so, I stepped out.
Let the rain welcome me back.52Please respect copyright.PENANA2chAmhHhAz
Let it hide the tears that I couldn't let her see.
We walked to her bus together.52Please respect copyright.PENANAXNaIuglbXT
Her — warm, untouched by the storm.52Please respect copyright.PENANANLZjBF6GsE
Me — soaked, alone beneath the sky.
When we reached, she turned and smiled.
I just smiled.52Please respect copyright.PENANABbWflGNiwH
No words.52Please respect copyright.PENANA3OHpCQc9YJ
Just the weight of goodbye unspoken.
And then she stepped onto her bus.52Please respect copyright.PENANA7Sc56qkvXp
And I turned away.52Please respect copyright.PENANAy1ieIIRE3x
And the rain kept falling.
But it wasn’t just rain anymore.
It was the sky grieving with me.
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