It all happened in a blur.128Please respect copyright.PENANA6iBpCEQxPD
A single evening, stitched together with words I didn’t mean, silences I couldn’t break, and a downpour I’ll never forget.
It started with something small.128Please respect copyright.PENANAHnwL7tDstF
A few messages. A few replies. A few misunderstandings.128Please respect copyright.PENANAvGhLp925me
So little, yet somehow, I made them… heavy.128Please respect copyright.PENANAZaBH79d5TT
Weighted them down with emotion I never learned how to express.
That day, we met — face to face.128Please respect copyright.PENANAaB5sq5Bd9z
For once, no phones, no typing bubbles, no delays.128Please respect copyright.PENANAJKeWa8CKfk
Just her. And me.
We argued, gently.128Please respect copyright.PENANAMnMMsxJBPb
More like scraping wounds that hadn’t healed.128Please respect copyright.PENANAatBnHIk6fb
I brushed it off — said the words that hurt her weren’t even mine.128Please respect copyright.PENANAd415SUTJHn
"That was just something ChatGPT wrote," I mumbled, eyes looking anywhere but her.128Please respect copyright.PENANA7rv77U0zQP
It was easier to lie, easier to detach.128Please respect copyright.PENANAUfBaaJPd3z
Because admitting I meant every word would mean risking everything.128Please respect copyright.PENANAxZ31JhskPU
And I wasn’t ready to lose her.128Please respect copyright.PENANA91HCqI2Wl6
Not yet.128Please respect copyright.PENANAgq11ETsqhH
Not ever.
"I just don’t want to say something you never wanted to hear," I said,128Please respect copyright.PENANAL9alHmJibW
But the truth was, I never even got to say what I really felt.
Then came something… unexpected.
A senior from my bus asked for a favor —128Please respect copyright.PENANAob7LpApQdL
She was staying at college late and needed help carrying her luggage to the bus.128Please respect copyright.PENANAh0OLZ9bnpb
I agreed.
And then, out of instinct or maybe longing,128Please respect copyright.PENANAyctcoikmOw
I turned to Seren.
“Come with me?”
She said yes.
We walked together.128Please respect copyright.PENANAYlRUrsFXtx
Not like we used to.128Please respect copyright.PENANAU4qyIRIG1I
The air was different.128Please respect copyright.PENANA2QowE0APrd
But still, she came.
We met the senior, carried the bags.128Please respect copyright.PENANAbOeRjEhNui
The sun was low. The clouds darker.
As we neared my bus — Bus 495 now, no longer 222 —128Please respect copyright.PENANAKFj5HOoJSi
It began to drizzle.
And without thinking,128Please respect copyright.PENANABMQDuqI0Sr
I handed her a small bag and told her to hold it over her head.128Please respect copyright.PENANANgyDgiK0pB
A stupid gesture, clumsy and warm.128Please respect copyright.PENANANuUr36DTep
Something straight out of the kind of slice-of-life drama.128Please respect copyright.PENANAoTB3ZLmHed
And suddenly — I realized what I had done.
I was acting like I still had a place beside her.
I turned and ran to the bus, flushed with shame.
She followed. Quiet laughter in her steps.
By the time we reached the bus, the rain wasn’t gentle anymore.128Please respect copyright.PENANAsvuvjnSe25
It was pouring.
Her bus wasn’t beside mine anymore.128Please respect copyright.PENANAPFdJfVH3YU
It stood at the center of the soaked ground, distant.128Please respect copyright.PENANAGsV9GZaLjE
Like her.
We waited under the bus shelter.128Please respect copyright.PENANArRGVdUA8B0
Time slowed.
We talked.
Not about the fight. Not about the awkwardness.128Please respect copyright.PENANAg4BxsD3htr
Just talked.128Please respect copyright.PENANAlmnxkeJf3R
About things that didn’t hurt.128Please respect copyright.PENANADWYh6va6Fa
Like we used to.128Please respect copyright.PENANAQTe9FVCQnR
And it felt like maybe — just maybe — the storm could pass.
But the rain didn’t stop.
We looked for an umbrella.128Please respect copyright.PENANAx7RVmY8wyT
Hoped someone would have one.
Then, through the curtains of rain,128Please respect copyright.PENANA99PSVTPrO8
I saw Krish walking to his bus, holding an umbrella like a shield against the world.
Without thinking, I leapt.
Out into the storm.128Please respect copyright.PENANAuJy0UAasux
Through the cold.128Please respect copyright.PENANABXwTr2WzoI
Feet sinking into mud.128Please respect copyright.PENANApniT01T6Vj
Each step heavy — but not with water.
I ran after him, waited till he was close to his bus,128Please respect copyright.PENANA1QdUoeQqrL
Asked — no, pleaded — and grabbed the umbrella.
Then I ran back.
Drenched. Shivering. But somehow… relieved.
I handed her the umbrella.
She stepped forward, close.128Please respect copyright.PENANAYWFY7QUAww
We shared the cover.
And as we are walking towards her bus.128Please respect copyright.PENANAGvAEgJ8r6q
Our shoulders touched.
For a moment —128Please respect copyright.PENANAKBiOKRUY5r
A second that felt like eternity —128Please respect copyright.PENANApSaEWJ1eFE
Everything froze.
And I knew.
I wasn’t meant to be the one holding the umbrella.128Please respect copyright.PENANA2DFBFIAGdn
I wasn’t meant to be the one by her side.
This was a borrowed moment.128Please respect copyright.PENANAMKZFxcWUe3
A borrowed feeling.
And so, I stepped out.
Let the rain welcome me back.128Please respect copyright.PENANAmR9DcloYmm
Let it hide the tears that I couldn't let her see.
We walked to her bus together.128Please respect copyright.PENANAqyoQ7Z46aZ
Her — warm, untouched by the storm.128Please respect copyright.PENANATIOTeRyg4A
Me — soaked, alone beneath the sky.
When we reached, she turned and smiled.
I just smiled.128Please respect copyright.PENANAuLX67fn03y
No words.128Please respect copyright.PENANAopKsk7cmps
Just the weight of goodbye unspoken.
And then she stepped onto her bus.128Please respect copyright.PENANAF3CcEBH6Gz
And I turned away.128Please respect copyright.PENANAnMSr3EYkJ0
And the rain kept falling.
But it wasn’t just rain anymore.
It was the sky grieving with me.
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