Dual POV
Mara
I didn’t message him the next day.432Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡddA5ejOUcV
I didn’t need to.
Instead, I opened my music app and created a playlist.432Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcubbZZrcPt
Just three songs.432Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7leJh867Ab
One about missing someone I never had.432Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBJZK7xL0Ef
One about learning how to breathe again.432Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW7waQxeSbZ
And one—soft and wordless—that made me think of him sitting across from me in the rain.
I named it “For When You’re Not Sure.”
No text. No explanation. Just a link I dropped in his inbox that night.
Ten minutes later, a message appeared:
“That third track wrecked me. Here’s mine.”
His playlist was called “If I Said Too Much.”432Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNJFxZs81sa
And it did.432Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnCeVMxnaOa
The second song was a love letter, the third sounded like goodbye, and the fifth…432Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ20dt36yfiK
The fifth was mine. The one I hummed through the window.432Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt3xZio5qnr
Except this time, it was a cover—with lyrics.
That’s when I realized:432Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpnb9QIaIds
He’d heard me long before he met me.432Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGMVjCwCXUB
And maybe… he’d felt something, too.
Eli
I’ve always found it easier to say things through music.432Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn4AQt6uM0B
Words can lie. Songs don’t.
When she sent that playlist, it felt like a door opened.432Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIWywTpP1Hi
Not wide. Just enough.
So I sent mine back, every track carefully chosen.432Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPBuDWcdaSq
No fluff. No random filler. Just the truth I couldn’t voice yet.
She didn’t reply for hours.432Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLtcd9EJxMc
When she finally did, it was just:
“I don’t know what this is yet. But I want to find out.”
That was it.
And somehow, it was more honest than any three-page confession could’ve been.
So we kept exchanging playlists—432Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQTfQLohZHZ
One every night.
No pressure. No labels.432Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHDTJVAwvTn
Just music.
And in that quiet rhythm, we found something neither of us was ready to name.
Not yet.432Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiKmQsj90JC
But soon.
and then Add to home screen.