I told her once—
"I'll be your confidence."
Because she had always been mine.352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJWHXlVzfs3
From the beginning.352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDHigevLfed
She lit sparks in dull moments.352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFQ6ZqGyGqK
Listened when I didn’t even know what I was saying.352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe8OxMA9PNh
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 —352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCPDNfuwJK2
I didn’t hesitate.
I told her.352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGuXBBVmwEA
Knowing full well she might hesitate.352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNbm2cIS0AT
Because that’s me when it comes to her.
Never missing a chance to be her helping hand.352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLZ5Gk9FM1X
Never wanting her to miss one step toward something better.
She thought about it.
And she said, “Okay.”
The day of the test arrived.352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ72Z86QlmK
We planned to meet in the library, afternoon.352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0zkFm29Gon
In one of the quiet discussion rooms.
I reached early.352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG7ZgEZhkmY
Maybe because I was eager.352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpdEtWyMKJr
Maybe because I thought, somehow, today could fix the cracks.352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcssWecJt07
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.352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ89sIDqoPI0
And I took her laptop.352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbCOiDZexSv
Told her not to worry about it.352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡemVK1DxPyC
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.352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ22ZwGNKSRd
Not out of jealousy.
But out of that quiet ache —352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbsbp11FVAK
To know if I still existed in her world the way she lived in mine.
I opened her WhatsApp.352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDQ3J5Ny5pK
Typed my own name in the search bar.
What I read…352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzAzjlFiuTP
Was not what I was ready for.
At first, it made me smile.352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF59nPLCEXv
Little mentions.352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrQ4NsZGPPA
Small memories.352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1QLseKXlmL
Familiar tones.352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa4H4oQ25mF
But then…352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMetLW8I44a
The words changed.
"I feel awkward around him."352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKAzw5seQQp
"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.352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDqOt3C53Hv
But I didn’t.
I couldn’t.
I just stared ahead.352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuDJOOYWlGO
Acted normal.352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEtpyEiGxFc
Pretended the world hadn’t just collapsed under my feet.
Because that’s what I do best.352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC14SGKy2dH
Break in silence.352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXOChdoRVbr
Smile with scars.
The test began.
I gave it everything.
Some questions were easy.352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSOm40cAqJn
Some weren’t.352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMSrkQ8dRoH
But she never saw the storm behind my calm.352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo67z4eVmXi
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.352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpJr6BmEKEh
But I had made a promise.352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2LOahwlcUb
And no matter how broken I was, I never go back on a promise.
Later, as we packed up to leave…352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWf7HXI3HlM
She noticed something on my laptop.
Her name.
Saved as Stranger.
She asked.352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuk8GuSCPEV
But I didn’t answer.
Because how do you explain that someone once felt like home,352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡawp9nxaxW0
and now they’re just…352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM1mCG2tfiR
an address you can’t return to?
I still see her.
With Ren.
Laughing.352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTBfLjwPNm6
Talking freely.
No awkwardness.352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUqTDzSvndY
No hesitation.
Everything I ever tried to be for her…352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcn0ZtCnyLa
he now is.
I never wanted more than friendship.352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHdsna21WjO
But somehow… even that was too much to ask for.
I buried everything — my feelings, thoughts, jealousy, guilt —352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡue9UKroJlS
over and over.
But no matter how many times I tried to bury it all…352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrM3Q66lVw1
I always ended up the one grieving.
But it never seemed to be enough.
What changed?
Or maybe…352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoBNVcrUjN7
nothing ever did.352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡioSnGiQgAw
Maybe there was nothing from the start — to change at all.
Now the buses have changed their places again.352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpBgrKnAROs
Destiny playing chess with people’s lives.
Alice’s bus — no longer somewhere in between —352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPO5J2OD1jD
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.352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN6nA0OSD7n
And the answers it hides in plain sight.352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrIK3uumABw
At last,… all these are just words.
Words I wish she heard.352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡluPttojhCH
Words I wish I never said.352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrk3vTU4HV8
Words I’ll carry long after she forgets them.
Because…352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvtXZdhg4vu
When I saw those messages, I couldn’t bear to read any further.352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSNr2Icjkoz
When I sat across from her —352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxykGY98xYb
And she had no idea that she still trusted me,352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡid2qirBv10
While I was doing the very thing I swore, I’d never do.
I broke her trust.352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcFXZXSKrYj
I betrayed her.
And the worst part?
I still love her enough to hope…352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSQJRs7hKbx
She never finds out.
and then Add to home screen.