It all happened in a blur.55Please respect copyright.PENANAIoATlhEIPx
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.55Please respect copyright.PENANAVwwhY009Nk
A few messages. A few replies. A few misunderstandings.55Please respect copyright.PENANAsz3xSDqACm
So little, yet somehow, I made them… heavy.55Please respect copyright.PENANANT0gb31zaZ
Weighted them down with emotion I never learned how to express.
That day, we met — face to face.55Please respect copyright.PENANAV9DHJdi4Za
For once, no phones, no typing bubbles, no delays.55Please respect copyright.PENANAOQVCTjpyX4
Just her. And me.
We argued, gently.55Please respect copyright.PENANAOdiPI8VWBv
More like scraping wounds that hadn’t healed.55Please respect copyright.PENANAvKtsOVGlvh
I brushed it off — said the words that hurt her weren’t even mine.55Please respect copyright.PENANA07uqBuHxu2
"That was just something ChatGPT wrote," I mumbled, eyes looking anywhere but her.55Please respect copyright.PENANAyNmocdLrEj
It was easier to lie, easier to detach.55Please respect copyright.PENANAMGbD7jeKfc
Because admitting I meant every word would mean risking everything.55Please respect copyright.PENANAuG30Tu6p1J
And I wasn’t ready to lose her.55Please respect copyright.PENANAtGT26cM2tU
Not yet.55Please respect copyright.PENANAeJZkEqCPnG
Not ever.
"I just don’t want to say something you never wanted to hear," I said,55Please respect copyright.PENANAUKoujuW1iH
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 —55Please respect copyright.PENANAzU7uJDAnPz
She was staying at college late and needed help carrying her luggage to the bus.55Please respect copyright.PENANAOIiFWRi1aA
I agreed.
And then, out of instinct or maybe longing,55Please respect copyright.PENANAuFjXxb8muQ
I turned to Seren.
“Come with me?”
She said yes.
We walked together.55Please respect copyright.PENANANW0tuHOh1H
Not like we used to.55Please respect copyright.PENANABGCcZnkfLN
The air was different.55Please respect copyright.PENANA7PcLDdJrex
But still, she came.
We met the senior, carried the bags.55Please respect copyright.PENANAfSvFuoGflS
The sun was low. The clouds darker.
As we neared my bus — Bus 495 now, no longer 222 —55Please respect copyright.PENANA7Pncn7g0Xz
It began to drizzle.
And without thinking,55Please respect copyright.PENANA3do0DJn0O0
I handed her a small bag and told her to hold it over her head.55Please respect copyright.PENANAoRj1kQu0DS
A stupid gesture, clumsy and warm.55Please respect copyright.PENANAJpsdbImw4G
Something straight out of the kind of slice-of-life drama.55Please respect copyright.PENANAjfFP8xkheo
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.55Please respect copyright.PENANA18IYD434Us
It was pouring.
Her bus wasn’t beside mine anymore.55Please respect copyright.PENANA5xOAEVtvm2
It stood at the center of the soaked ground, distant.55Please respect copyright.PENANA7i0Ylg9xwF
Like her.
We waited under the bus shelter.55Please respect copyright.PENANAiRDaGgUdC6
Time slowed.
We talked.
Not about the fight. Not about the awkwardness.55Please respect copyright.PENANApoDRW6THTG
Just talked.55Please respect copyright.PENANAU67e5c5ieJ
About things that didn’t hurt.55Please respect copyright.PENANA4XQ17T21ND
Like we used to.55Please respect copyright.PENANAiuHaJ8wyxZ
And it felt like maybe — just maybe — the storm could pass.
But the rain didn’t stop.
We looked for an umbrella.55Please respect copyright.PENANAzxSNZ34jBX
Hoped someone would have one.
Then, through the curtains of rain,55Please respect copyright.PENANA0P22tYxUvQ
I saw Krish walking to his bus, holding an umbrella like a shield against the world.
Without thinking, I leapt.
Out into the storm.55Please respect copyright.PENANAumM4uqZ47E
Through the cold.55Please respect copyright.PENANAtWYS6x2b9f
Feet sinking into mud.55Please respect copyright.PENANAdfPXGA66Cz
Each step heavy — but not with water.
I ran after him, waited till he was close to his bus,55Please respect copyright.PENANAAWcSVHGP9J
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.55Please respect copyright.PENANARId9wo6vt4
We shared the cover.
And as we are walking towards her bus.55Please respect copyright.PENANAWGxbDCKdLw
Our shoulders touched.
For a moment —55Please respect copyright.PENANAstexnNkcZh
A second that felt like eternity —55Please respect copyright.PENANAhoS2R9URtp
Everything froze.
And I knew.
I wasn’t meant to be the one holding the umbrella.55Please respect copyright.PENANAXrlPJpnaqe
I wasn’t meant to be the one by her side.
This was a borrowed moment.55Please respect copyright.PENANAttZ9xlGRSo
A borrowed feeling.
And so, I stepped out.
Let the rain welcome me back.55Please respect copyright.PENANA5PFbLJvSOS
Let it hide the tears that I couldn't let her see.
We walked to her bus together.55Please respect copyright.PENANAwBWRzSaf14
Her — warm, untouched by the storm.55Please respect copyright.PENANAIkEveQkocd
Me — soaked, alone beneath the sky.
When we reached, she turned and smiled.
I just smiled.55Please respect copyright.PENANADh2a2iHofo
No words.55Please respect copyright.PENANAR8laewkBz1
Just the weight of goodbye unspoken.
And then she stepped onto her bus.55Please respect copyright.PENANAchUDeLiEAj
And I turned away.55Please respect copyright.PENANAAEN70EY0bO
And the rain kept falling.
But it wasn’t just rain anymore.
It was the sky grieving with me.
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