I told her once—
"I'll be your confidence."
Because she had always been mine.288Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvE24HSAseM
From the beginning.288Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnrmK5XIUFb
She lit sparks in dull moments.288Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXMY0ciPOFU
Listened when I didn’t even know what I was saying.288Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsYflahgZmx
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 —288Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDcKEQeMUD6
I didn’t hesitate.
I told her.288Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMcAkiZUELz
Knowing full well she might hesitate.288Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5YLrcuVsHB
Because that’s me when it comes to her.
Never missing a chance to be her helping hand.288Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQPkjROKPiL
Never wanting her to miss one step toward something better.
She thought about it.
And she said, “Okay.”
The day of the test arrived.288Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCiuQcH3Dbg
We planned to meet in the library, afternoon.288Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxsqPLPw8Ha
In one of the quiet discussion rooms.
I reached early.288Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeWxyHHyZwm
Maybe because I was eager.288Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCfz5aHLTEY
Maybe because I thought, somehow, today could fix the cracks.288Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1jBQqIkRX5
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.288Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmMM2Ig6sp0
And I took her laptop.288Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH9xJHdYwq9
Told her not to worry about it.288Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEN0yQ98OEH
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.288Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkMpGdDt4Xl
Not out of jealousy.
But out of that quiet ache —288Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3tfJF08wq1
To know if I still existed in her world the way she lived in mine.
I opened her WhatsApp.288Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGPLO2VQgri
Typed my own name in the search bar.
What I read…288Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz133CgbI4S
Was not what I was ready for.
At first, it made me smile.288Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjS1vmSxt6L
Little mentions.288Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfdxkCEiQw7
Small memories.288Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK718YOQZR8
Familiar tones.288Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrU3yxPE88P
But then…288Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqpYny89h35
The words changed.
"I feel awkward around him."288Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkMEGMHXQqf
"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.288Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ59Ronb3ew1
But I didn’t.
I couldn’t.
I just stared ahead.288Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEkw9z8sppR
Acted normal.288Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡADGktwpWYZ
Pretended the world hadn’t just collapsed under my feet.
Because that’s what I do best.288Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJYdKGagiGB
Break in silence.288Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzNmTRKjaMZ
Smile with scars.
The test began.
I gave it everything.
Some questions were easy.288Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4WF50RguoN
Some weren’t.288Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIVbAOgvkMz
But she never saw the storm behind my calm.288Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡii7moCgVEQ
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.288Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMb6ex3QGAu
But I had made a promise.288Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMJAWePLaPX
And no matter how broken I was, I never go back on a promise.
Later, as we packed up to leave…288Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6zFg70af0O
She noticed something on my laptop.
Her name.
Saved as Stranger.
She asked.288Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9iOggLVRAk
But I didn’t answer.
Because how do you explain that someone once felt like home,288Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMoVPQtjQzf
and now they’re just…288Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI7Ah6KumrO
an address you can’t return to?
I still see her.
With Ren.
Laughing.288Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXktPAhLxpd
Talking freely.
No awkwardness.288Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeOxphtJfHm
No hesitation.
Everything I ever tried to be for her…288Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5X5Q0zExGN
he now is.
I never wanted more than friendship.288Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCBjfPR2ZTW
But somehow… even that was too much to ask for.
I buried everything — my feelings, thoughts, jealousy, guilt —288Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEZClnoyWzv
over and over.
But no matter how many times I tried to bury it all…288Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnqT5JwBY6P
I always ended up the one grieving.
But it never seemed to be enough.
What changed?
Or maybe…288Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ19ATAeAf7U
nothing ever did.288Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFAUMYz5iGe
Maybe there was nothing from the start — to change at all.
Now the buses have changed their places again.288Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx91UmjL1rU
Destiny playing chess with people’s lives.
Alice’s bus — no longer somewhere in between —288Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQpvTZo6red
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.288Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4WT0GgndDv
And the answers it hides in plain sight.288Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTk1gc4QoXp
At last,… all these are just words.
Words I wish she heard.288Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfX3GqwoH13
Words I wish I never said.288Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl64r331QfA
Words I’ll carry long after she forgets them.
Because…288Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7D368lsrQ1
When I saw those messages, I couldn’t bear to read any further.288Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtWO0ERC3me
When I sat across from her —288Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBox0g7UwsO
And she had no idea that she still trusted me,288Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSocc3vqy6I
While I was doing the very thing I swore, I’d never do.
I broke her trust.288Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcvr5n7PIAk
I betrayed her.
And the worst part?
I still love her enough to hope…288Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw2EdHkbhvg
She never finds out.
and then Add to home screen.