I told her once—
"I'll be your confidence."
Because she had always been mine.309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsB3hyZsL8X
From the beginning.309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeE53dRv21L
She lit sparks in dull moments.309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSSKsBGqIM5
Listened when I didn’t even know what I was saying.309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeGPbCjVyHp
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 —309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPqaLmqiL8N
I didn’t hesitate.
I told her.309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtu6dnRZxwW
Knowing full well she might hesitate.309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0HamrPP25B
Because that’s me when it comes to her.
Never missing a chance to be her helping hand.309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnmKqXRoKST
Never wanting her to miss one step toward something better.
She thought about it.
And she said, “Okay.”
The day of the test arrived.309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBHbIDVXNfL
We planned to meet in the library, afternoon.309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNSfAthwAFu
In one of the quiet discussion rooms.
I reached early.309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKCTlN13vJr
Maybe because I was eager.309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkuEhKKrzik
Maybe because I thought, somehow, today could fix the cracks.309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzskmTxDFh2
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.309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ82X00W79R7
And I took her laptop.309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ130MqqPLh
Told her not to worry about it.309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTPWdZJswQv
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.309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWLh2TcOos9
Not out of jealousy.
But out of that quiet ache —309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdol9EzaVBV
To know if I still existed in her world the way she lived in mine.
I opened her WhatsApp.309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfwPT4zOQVd
Typed my own name in the search bar.
What I read…309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQG9DwHF5ij
Was not what I was ready for.
At first, it made me smile.309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMN2GxgY3cO
Little mentions.309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlZ8VyGRhgx
Small memories.309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7XNLxaGdqb
Familiar tones.309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzQKudqLq8S
But then…309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeaVoS87nKP
The words changed.
"I feel awkward around him."309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡweEOsC7P8R
"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.309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM2yARILWqc
But I didn’t.
I couldn’t.
I just stared ahead.309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMpU6PpMLIb
Acted normal.309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf4ixibs4tL
Pretended the world hadn’t just collapsed under my feet.
Because that’s what I do best.309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZOfA2S36Kh
Break in silence.309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOkOgzXaMoK
Smile with scars.
The test began.
I gave it everything.
Some questions were easy.309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5jwD7JrQty
Some weren’t.309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQl9R0Rya13
But she never saw the storm behind my calm.309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRMI1EN7Gxe
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.309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKSZP4PPbxy
But I had made a promise.309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAnegMhpGGH
And no matter how broken I was, I never go back on a promise.
Later, as we packed up to leave…309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTNQ0xhf5XE
She noticed something on my laptop.
Her name.
Saved as Stranger.
She asked.309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgRraYF9Y4f
But I didn’t answer.
Because how do you explain that someone once felt like home,309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyPtuZ8Tgx6
and now they’re just…309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA8YWu8PEsQ
an address you can’t return to?
I still see her.
With Ren.
Laughing.309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs6H3vlMUc2
Talking freely.
No awkwardness.309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF0opXcKrFZ
No hesitation.
Everything I ever tried to be for her…309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC74HM2edkr
he now is.
I never wanted more than friendship.309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvfienvblzT
But somehow… even that was too much to ask for.
I buried everything — my feelings, thoughts, jealousy, guilt —309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEOOObgWEWU
over and over.
But no matter how many times I tried to bury it all…309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡewoIIWKGQW
I always ended up the one grieving.
But it never seemed to be enough.
What changed?
Or maybe…309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5rwSi8d6wx
nothing ever did.309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoe09NrWp7c
Maybe there was nothing from the start — to change at all.
Now the buses have changed their places again.309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXKd2Aj71IZ
Destiny playing chess with people’s lives.
Alice’s bus — no longer somewhere in between —309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ24QXoSVbyn
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.309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5p662hv3rQ
And the answers it hides in plain sight.309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYMlsRyqjVN
At last,… all these are just words.
Words I wish she heard.309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa3spMjg35u
Words I wish I never said.309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs1nEiHTbbL
Words I’ll carry long after she forgets them.
Because…309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAXO90InJI6
When I saw those messages, I couldn’t bear to read any further.309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs7FcEY0eLG
When I sat across from her —309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuL5pgQx77A
And she had no idea that she still trusted me,309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5bXgJkjgAk
While I was doing the very thing I swore, I’d never do.
I broke her trust.309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC9cmNy7J1c
I betrayed her.
And the worst part?
I still love her enough to hope…309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNpO6qjZM7z
She never finds out.
and then Add to home screen.