I told her once—
"I'll be your confidence."
Because she had always been mine.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH9rWTS4VYD
From the beginning.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5dNPMZjTuh
She lit sparks in dull moments.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ4mpdRkTII
Listened when I didn’t even know what I was saying.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ03yZU6DnOp
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 —70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7G33HYHUYh
I didn’t hesitate.
I told her.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXQnRmtSq9I
Knowing full well she might hesitate.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYY0sO8hND7
Because that’s me when it comes to her.
Never missing a chance to be her helping hand.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkUOP5sxG2X
Never wanting her to miss one step toward something better.
She thought about it.
And she said, “Okay.”
The day of the test arrived.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwZuCUiY4cK
We planned to meet in the library, afternoon.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRjN1jJhDL5
In one of the quiet discussion rooms.
I reached early.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNtzv2qJWu5
Maybe because I was eager.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMBj2Q6An3G
Maybe because I thought, somehow, today could fix the cracks.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfzRXK699EY
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.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaciH8ZA5Jh
And I took her laptop.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2uVM1sHh0Q
Told her not to worry about it.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡayoJPiAbId
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.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPmIi68UpPg
Not out of jealousy.
But out of that quiet ache —70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2Jt8zxZRxo
To know if I still existed in her world the way she lived in mine.
I opened her WhatsApp.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡowz1oQGOGr
Typed my own name in the search bar.
What I read…70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmL0h351qp2
Was not what I was ready for.
At first, it made me smile.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ88wxhj5Gfc
Little mentions.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmLQuNLBSqb
Small memories.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBpDC4LDvlo
Familiar tones.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCCHHhotQs1
But then…70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡud1ZoomVEK
The words changed.
"I feel awkward around him."70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAmDvzVJx7t
"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.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVl6RFOhR65
But I didn’t.
I couldn’t.
I just stared ahead.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmOvFWdXKfR
Acted normal.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ29qlsF3K59
Pretended the world hadn’t just collapsed under my feet.
Because that’s what I do best.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxgk7BfgDox
Break in silence.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8UFoCNOPcP
Smile with scars.
The test began.
I gave it everything.
Some questions were easy.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6Nl8xyUNbj
Some weren’t.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ457yGevFG9
But she never saw the storm behind my calm.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkfHwJklqST
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.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqBcE9htdnI
But I had made a promise.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRhdTIqB4h7
And no matter how broken I was, I never go back on a promise.
Later, as we packed up to leave…70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVbZBQc5fGc
She noticed something on my laptop.
Her name.
Saved as Stranger.
She asked.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQdkngHGYC4
But I didn’t answer.
Because how do you explain that someone once felt like home,70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNkqGbzgPDN
and now they’re just…70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0YzYJ0iO8Z
an address you can’t return to?
I still see her.
With Ren.
Laughing.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhsJdgowveR
Talking freely.
No awkwardness.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLduqf436J2
No hesitation.
Everything I ever tried to be for her…70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEFrCIpN3so
he now is.
I never wanted more than friendship.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkL6zfxGqgA
But somehow… even that was too much to ask for.
I buried everything — my feelings, thoughts, jealousy, guilt —70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9lWWewKL0d
over and over.
But no matter how many times I tried to bury it all…70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyn0AtMUsay
I always ended up the one grieving.
But it never seemed to be enough.
What changed?
Or maybe…70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQUtG8bvZWT
nothing ever did.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUojnzpVR20
Maybe there was nothing from the start — to change at all.
Now the buses have changed their places again.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGXOjRpXUcY
Destiny playing chess with people’s lives.
Alice’s bus — no longer somewhere in between —70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa7gWIuPmXF
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.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbuBGBIF7RF
And the answers it hides in plain sight.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQRN1ahU6RO
At last,… all these are just words.
Words I wish she heard.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTaoT2MIK93
Words I wish I never said.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgtx51U5ADZ
Words I’ll carry long after she forgets them.
Because…70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU7hSQdAnSc
When I saw those messages, I couldn’t bear to read any further.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8Pk6oPRBeH
When I sat across from her —70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9BZW9wVNgy
And she had no idea that she still trusted me,70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡObMhmnhWRb
While I was doing the very thing I swore, I’d never do.
I broke her trust.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE7bmqzY6KF
I betrayed her.
And the worst part?
I still love her enough to hope…70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ05t7eGu22K
She never finds out.
and then Add to home screen.