
I told her once—
"I'll be your confidence."
Because she had always been mine.67Please respect copyright.PENANAAuIkiicQmO
From the beginning.67Please respect copyright.PENANAmzke7aSdvm
She lit sparks in dull moments.67Please respect copyright.PENANAySbwjWyPxv
Listened when I didn’t even know what I was saying.67Please respect copyright.PENANAR6M9fgLxCE
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 —67Please respect copyright.PENANAFRbG9ogNwO
I didn’t hesitate.
I told her.67Please respect copyright.PENANATqcGw63C6e
Knowing full well she might hesitate.67Please respect copyright.PENANAtPNXz0lzYP
Because that’s me when it comes to her.
Never missing a chance to be her helping hand.67Please respect copyright.PENANA4cWgeHfKYJ
Never wanting her to miss one step toward something better.
She thought about it.
And she said, “Okay.”
The day of the test arrived.67Please respect copyright.PENANAtoe3VcD9GI
We planned to meet in the library, afternoon.67Please respect copyright.PENANA48b9ejgc8n
In one of the quiet discussion rooms.
I reached early.67Please respect copyright.PENANAiKxtWnXPh2
Maybe because I was eager.67Please respect copyright.PENANAiE3QjXwmxL
Maybe because I thought, somehow, today could fix the cracks.67Please respect copyright.PENANAF5fOXV5Ue4
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.67Please respect copyright.PENANAF4lFGSwBbu
And I took her laptop.67Please respect copyright.PENANAS4DHvzMvZn
Told her not to worry about it.67Please respect copyright.PENANA8FjUcvr4I3
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.67Please respect copyright.PENANAE3hdI8LtgE
Not out of jealousy.
But out of that quiet ache —67Please respect copyright.PENANAzAf0hkHJx6
To know if I still existed in her world the way she lived in mine.
I opened her WhatsApp.67Please respect copyright.PENANA093Fr4vLc9
Typed my own name in the search bar.
What I read…67Please respect copyright.PENANA74EQkpP69o
Was not what I was ready for.
At first, it made me smile.67Please respect copyright.PENANAnMsVOBxx7d
Little mentions.67Please respect copyright.PENANAa0ssJsTQWJ
Small memories.67Please respect copyright.PENANA7qHJibF4tS
Familiar tones.67Please respect copyright.PENANA9TATVDhBsv
But then…67Please respect copyright.PENANABhMGALf0pC
The words changed.
"I feel awkward around him."67Please respect copyright.PENANABSvi759kN1
"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.67Please respect copyright.PENANAipwVSA2ttp
But I didn’t.
I couldn’t.
I just stared ahead.67Please respect copyright.PENANASHHMEOSzeL
Acted normal.67Please respect copyright.PENANAvdeyQEd1Za
Pretended the world hadn’t just collapsed under my feet.
Because that’s what I do best.67Please respect copyright.PENANAiLKKha4QGh
Break in silence.67Please respect copyright.PENANA1slUjsRAPp
Smile with scars.
The test began.
I gave it everything.
Some questions were easy.67Please respect copyright.PENANAPYdxqQUEB8
Some weren’t.67Please respect copyright.PENANAnYc9GLwKbV
But she never saw the storm behind my calm.67Please respect copyright.PENANAduiWZfWzeO
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.67Please respect copyright.PENANAd6SbD6juk1
But I had made a promise.67Please respect copyright.PENANAAaAzfdhcI3
And no matter how broken I was, I never go back on a promise.
Later, as we packed up to leave…67Please respect copyright.PENANAjXqnrBqEli
She noticed something on my laptop.
Her name.
Saved as Stranger.
She asked.67Please respect copyright.PENANA0Y6PAl4ytA
But I didn’t answer.
Because how do you explain that someone once felt like home,67Please respect copyright.PENANAAHSbgZTt65
and now they’re just…67Please respect copyright.PENANAPV8ZTXD74e
an address you can’t return to?
I still see her.
With Ren.
Laughing.67Please respect copyright.PENANA5yYwqzgDvC
Talking freely.
No awkwardness.67Please respect copyright.PENANAyb2JvJmkPS
No hesitation.
Everything I ever tried to be for her…67Please respect copyright.PENANAsfbDNH7QuS
he now is.
I never wanted more than friendship.67Please respect copyright.PENANACEOW5AoEZM
But somehow… even that was too much to ask for.
I buried everything — my feelings, thoughts, jealousy, guilt —67Please respect copyright.PENANAfdd7mBQ6dm
over and over.
But no matter how many times I tried to bury it all…67Please respect copyright.PENANA81Mn3m3cI0
I always ended up the one grieving.
But it never seemed to be enough.
What changed?
Or maybe…67Please respect copyright.PENANAZf2lDlfFML
nothing ever did.67Please respect copyright.PENANA9K9TdIyYE4
Maybe there was nothing from the start — to change at all.
Now the buses have changed their places again.67Please respect copyright.PENANAkIMoPHcTp0
Destiny playing chess with people’s lives.
Alice’s bus — no longer somewhere in between —67Please respect copyright.PENANAAJoszFUElb
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.67Please respect copyright.PENANAwywqoMvqkc
And the answers it hides in plain sight.67Please respect copyright.PENANAivqraOGvtR
At last,… all these are just words.
Words I wish she heard.67Please respect copyright.PENANADP7YTmNzye
Words I wish I never said.67Please respect copyright.PENANAQigu6wX4Da
Words I’ll carry long after she forgets them.
Because…67Please respect copyright.PENANAvv89E7WciX
When I saw those messages, I couldn’t bear to read any further.67Please respect copyright.PENANA5teaMd7mY5
When I sat across from her —67Please respect copyright.PENANADoBDUGgi8q
And she had no idea that she still trusted me,67Please respect copyright.PENANAlh6wd4LVe2
While I was doing the very thing I swore, I’d never do.
I broke her trust.67Please respect copyright.PENANAIZxKyP54xv
I betrayed her.
And the worst part?
I still love her enough to hope…67Please respect copyright.PENANAst4NdxSHAH
She never finds out.