Dual POV
Mara
I didn’t message him the next day.117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfcLXS3KHcm
I didn’t need to.
Instead, I opened my music app and created a playlist.117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDY33Ut5dMg
Just three songs.117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvK1ei7E60h
One about missing someone I never had.117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGIGYkueBql
One about learning how to breathe again.117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQMzD01k1ur
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.”117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6Lh0xv9eoK
And it did.117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlg8k3Nowtc
The second song was a love letter, the third sounded like goodbye, and the fifth…117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLtQWcNLGfX
The fifth was mine. The one I hummed through the window.117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoIM7Z4QPTE
Except this time, it was a cover—with lyrics.
That’s when I realized:117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwY6ZyDn5GH
He’d heard me long before he met me.117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOa1gte6sOI
And maybe… he’d felt something, too.
Eli
I’ve always found it easier to say things through music.117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfywlk8R8Ui
Words can lie. Songs don’t.
When she sent that playlist, it felt like a door opened.117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbuGwzzPihw
Not wide. Just enough.
So I sent mine back, every track carefully chosen.117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJlmtbqC9yN
No fluff. No random filler. Just the truth I couldn’t voice yet.
She didn’t reply for hours.117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL6jPHXCVUJ
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—117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdiEnxbbC53
One every night.
No pressure. No labels.117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRwYxJmqu7a
Just music.
And in that quiet rhythm, we found something neither of us was ready to name.
Not yet.117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMIrS0TjLHI
But soon.
and then Add to home screen.