
I told her once—
"I'll be your confidence."
Because she had always been mine.66Please respect copyright.PENANAujvoTI38ik
From the beginning.66Please respect copyright.PENANAwkHlOCvS5j
She lit sparks in dull moments.66Please respect copyright.PENANAp07dwjhUJ5
Listened when I didn’t even know what I was saying.66Please respect copyright.PENANA3xbcYI0AXG
Talked like every word was music, and I was just lucky to hear it.
So when I saw an internship opportunity from Flipkart — open only for girls —66Please respect copyright.PENANA4KRaodPDrL
I didn’t hesitate.
I told her.66Please respect copyright.PENANAPR1QSrDoox
Knowing full well she might hesitate.66Please respect copyright.PENANARtthjTrDA5
Because that’s me when it comes to her.
Never missing a chance to be her helping hand.66Please respect copyright.PENANAXnW3ZA2E4O
Never wanting her to miss one step toward something better.
She thought about it.
And she said, “Okay.”
The day of the test arrived.66Please respect copyright.PENANA1zZIHmHjAM
We planned to meet in the library, afternoon.66Please respect copyright.PENANAXC1SxLAMOK
In one of the quiet discussion rooms.
I reached early.66Please respect copyright.PENANAl7Mmnki4d0
Maybe because I was eager.66Please respect copyright.PENANAE7chnMlGNd
Maybe because I thought, somehow, today could fix the cracks.66Please respect copyright.PENANAOZyZRsWkJf
Or at least remind us of how we once were.
I had everything ready: the laptop open, test page preloaded, my heart strangely light.
When she arrived, I gave her my laptop for a while — to finish some English assignment.66Please respect copyright.PENANAaiC4IzOZmK
And I took her laptop.66Please respect copyright.PENANA3VWJhiCAE5
Told her not to worry about it.66Please respect copyright.PENANAYeALsXBIGW
Told myself it would ease the guilt… the distance.
She smiled.
And it felt like I was doing the right thing.
But then… I did something I can never take back.
Not because I wanted to know who she was texting.66Please respect copyright.PENANA5OGVspBQZ9
Not out of jealousy.
But out of that quiet ache —66Please respect copyright.PENANAJ8KGd1TO0t
To know if I still existed in her world the way she lived in mine.
I opened her WhatsApp.66Please respect copyright.PENANAmG1Dz7LNHJ
Typed my own name in the search bar.
What I read…66Please respect copyright.PENANAqwwPIukNrt
Was not what I was ready for.
At first, it made me smile.66Please respect copyright.PENANAdddlSKzWYV
Little mentions.66Please respect copyright.PENANAiCvCQTb9eX
Small memories.66Please respect copyright.PENANAXEibmBk4pR
Familiar tones.66Please respect copyright.PENANAm6At5q7UGf
But then…66Please respect copyright.PENANAgKFiLBJwTt
The words changed.
"I feel awkward around him."66Please respect copyright.PENANAgGn3qlZF3v
"At last, I feel comfortable talking to someone… than talking to him"
It crushed me.
Like being stabbed by a voice I once trusted to save me.
I wanted to cry.66Please respect copyright.PENANAVTsOtMuMpa
But I didn’t.
I couldn’t.
I just stared ahead.66Please respect copyright.PENANAVKRS6JQMbP
Acted normal.66Please respect copyright.PENANAq8aNEVqIaN
Pretended the world hadn’t just collapsed under my feet.
Because that’s what I do best.66Please respect copyright.PENANAEzMo6C1MGR
Break in silence.66Please respect copyright.PENANAFpGLa2vUPS
Smile with scars.
The test began.
I gave it everything.
Some questions were easy.66Please respect copyright.PENANABndMNMvDVd
Some weren’t.66Please respect copyright.PENANAGbabt1EnhT
But she never saw the storm behind my calm.66Please respect copyright.PENANArDnJi9vohH
She didn’t know the war I was fighting in my head as I smiled, as I helped, as I tried to just be a friend.66Please respect copyright.PENANALN1arQ6iDs
But I had made a promise.66Please respect copyright.PENANAzEmy71yfNP
And no matter how broken I was, I never go back on a promise.
Later, as we packed up to leave…66Please respect copyright.PENANATVqjTvhlaB
She noticed something on my laptop.
Her name.
Saved as Stranger.
She asked.66Please respect copyright.PENANAWEsuCCeJBj
But I didn’t answer.
Because how do you explain that someone once felt like home,66Please respect copyright.PENANAYS9Z2gonna
and now they’re just…66Please respect copyright.PENANAkGloHMM7zZ
an address you can’t return to?
I still see her.
With Ren.
Laughing.66Please respect copyright.PENANA87jOZJWfcR
Talking freely.
No awkwardness.66Please respect copyright.PENANAIbtt7RmBHV
No hesitation.
Everything I ever tried to be for her…66Please respect copyright.PENANAF5e2FhOoIL
he now is.
I never wanted more than friendship.66Please respect copyright.PENANAqunoWPiRjZ
But somehow… even that was too much to ask for.
I buried everything — my feelings, thoughts, jealousy, guilt —66Please respect copyright.PENANAOc7vpraj1G
over and over.
But no matter how many times I tried to bury it all…66Please respect copyright.PENANAx0XhxZK6V3
I always ended up the one grieving.
But it never seemed to be enough.
What changed?
Or maybe…66Please respect copyright.PENANAfjnogd3yRm
nothing ever did.66Please respect copyright.PENANAd0kCykOI0H
Maybe there was nothing from the start — to change at all.
Now the buses have changed their places again.66Please respect copyright.PENANAq0aLcFeKNg
Destiny playing chess with people’s lives.
Alice’s bus — no longer somewhere in between —66Please respect copyright.PENANAMnjY8LJkvE
now parked neatly alongside Ren’s.
While mine?
Still at the same spot since day one.
Watching.
Waiting.
Trying to understand the stories whispered by the evening wind.66Please respect copyright.PENANAPqcs0g8BLO
And the answers it hides in plain sight.66Please respect copyright.PENANAQyAuHO7IWo
At last,… all these are just words.
Words I wish she heard.66Please respect copyright.PENANAqYzaBQ4O51
Words I wish I never said.66Please respect copyright.PENANAMD9GQC0G5F
Words I’ll carry long after she forgets them.
Because…66Please respect copyright.PENANAdvcBF65CUm
When I saw those messages, I couldn’t bear to read any further.66Please respect copyright.PENANAHivjjmhiRC
When I sat across from her —66Please respect copyright.PENANAxCQAH4NXpL
And she had no idea that she still trusted me,66Please respect copyright.PENANAWA2YJQtb66
While I was doing the very thing I swore, I’d never do.
I broke her trust.66Please respect copyright.PENANAYjVbkdOfOn
I betrayed her.
And the worst part?
I still love her enough to hope…66Please respect copyright.PENANAmYhE28z4pf
She never finds out.