Pov:Max
The semester break had officially begun.
The chaos of exams had left us all drained, and I wanted nothing more than to bury myself in my playlist and disappear into sleep for the next three days.
But peace had other plans.
Or maybe… he did.
The morning sky was grey, the kind that looked like it wanted to rain but held back — just like me.
I stood at the bus stand, luggage dragging my wrist, earbuds in, but no music playing. I wasn't in the mood. I just wanted to get home, away from this twisted web of drama, away from people.
And then I saw him.
Ram.
The one person I wasn't ready to face again… not in a confined bus, not during a long ride, and definitely not after everything that's happened.
But fate had other ideas.
"Going home?" he asked, casually, as if the universe hadn't been throwing our names together in every strange twist since the start of college.
"Yeah," I mumbled, looking at the road instead of him.
He nodded. "We're still neighbors. Remember?"
As if I could forget.
Our tuition days might have been separate, our interactions barely counted on fingers, but I remembered every time I saw him riding that cycle… every time I silently watched him from my balcony, wondering why my heart felt like it was in the middle of a poem it couldn't finish.
We boarded the bus.
No seats together, of course. The bus was packed.
I took a window seat halfway down, and he ended up somewhere at the back.
I plugged in my earphones again, this time pretending to listen to music. Anything to distract myself from the fact that my heart was racing — not from excitement, but from discomfort.
A few minutes into the journey, a man with bloodshot eyes and an unbearable smell slumped into the seat beside me. His clothes were stained, and I could sense the alcohol even through my mask.
I froze. My body stiffened.
His arm brushed mine once — I moved closer to the window. Twice — I flinched.
Panic started crawling in my throat, and just when I thought I'd burst into tears or scream at someone—
Ram appeared.
Without a word, he tapped the man's shoulder and gestured toward his seat.
The man grumbled but moved.
And suddenly, Ram was sitting beside me.
He didn't speak.
I didn't thank him.
But somehow… I felt safe.
We rode the rest of the way in silence.
The air between us was thick with unsaid things, like fog that refused to clear even as the sunlight outside grew stronger.
When the bus finally reached our stop, I stepped out first, barely waiting for him to collect his bag.
Walking through the familiar streets of my neighborhood brought a bittersweet feeling.
It was the place I had grown up.
The place where I had learned to dream… and the same place where many of them shattered.
I reached my gate.
He was a few steps behind me.
My hand hovered over the latch — but I couldn't take it anymore.
"Why did you come back here?" I asked suddenly, turning to face him.
He looked caught off guard. "What?"
"This street. Our old neighborhood. You had other choices… other hostels, or flats with your friends. Why here again? Why now? After all these years?" My voice cracked. I wasn't shouting, but every word was a scream inside.
He opened his mouth, closed it, and then looked away.
I didn't wait for an answer.
Because the real problem wasn't him.
It was me.
Max's inner thoughts,
I spent three years trying to erase his name from my heart.
I tried to call it childish, a phase.
I tried to label it as "just a crush."
But every time I think I've moved on…
Every time I finally begin to breathe without his memory choking me—
He shows up again.
First in the canteen.
Then as "Mike" in a memory I never wanted to remember.
And now…
Sitting next to me in the bus.
Walking behind me like fate's cruel joke.
I stepped inside and closed the gate gently behind me.
But nothing about this moment was gentle.
My chest felt heavy.
My eyes burned.
And my heart… didn't know whether to beat faster or stop completel.
....
Everything I ever tried to forget…
Somehow keeps finding its way back.
Maybe the past never leaves us —
Maybe it just waits for the perfect moment to return.
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