Pov:Ram
The exams were finally over. The juniors rushed around with tension still on their brows, while I, a senior with nothing much to do, stood at the bus stand with a duffel bag slung lazily on my shoulder and a calmness I hadn't felt in weeks.
Then I saw her.
Max.
The girl who had unknowingly ruined my peace since the day I first saw her at that school competition.
She looked tired.
Headphones in, bag on one shoulder, hoodie slightly too big for her small frame.
But to me—
She looked like the final page of a book you never want to end.
I wanted to speak. To ask about her exams. To say something simple. But with Max, even silence felt meaningful.
I walked up. "Going home?"
She didn't look at me when she nodded.
She didn't know.
How much I'd dreamt of this — not just this ride, but any moment where we'd walk the same path again, like we once did. Like we used to, when I walked beside her cycle just to make the trip to her home feel shorter… for her. But longer, for me.
She said nothing more. And that was okay.
I'd learned long ago that her silence was just another language.
We boarded the bus.
No seats together.
I found one at the back. She found one midway.
I sat down and leaned against the window, pretending to scroll through my phone. But my eyes kept drifting toward her.
She sat near the window, fingers clutching her bag, gaze unfocused.
That's when I noticed the man who sat beside her.
Something about him — the way he leaned, the way she shifted away — wasn't right.
I didn't wait.
I walked up to the man, tapped his shoulder, and offered my seat. He agreed with a grunt, and I sat down beside her.
She didn't say thank you.
But I wasn't expecting one.
Because in that moment, all I wanted was to be there.
Just to make sure she was okay.
The rest of the ride passed with silence — but not the kind that made me uncomfortable.
It was comforting.
Our arms barely brushed, but my heart skipped like we were dancing.
She looked outside. I looked at her reflection in the window.
When we reached our stop, she walked ahead.
I walked behind, watching how the streetlight caught the ends of her hair.
I remembered this road.
How many times I'd passed it, hoping to catch a glimpse of her at her gate.
How many times I'd changed my route just so I could walk beside her a little longer.
She stopped at her gate and turned around.
"Why did you come back here?" she asked suddenly.
I froze.
She didn't mean the bus.
She meant this neighborhood.
This street.
Her world.
"I…" I opened my mouth, but no words came.
How could I explain?
That I moved back because every place without her felt empty?
That I still held onto those tiny moments we had like they were treasure?
I looked away.
Coward. I've always been one when it comes to her.
She didn't wait for an answer.
She turned and disappeared behind her gate, leaving behind a silence that weighed heavier than any words.
Ram's Inner thoughts,
She asked why I came back.
I wanted to say —
"Because I never really left."
"Because you were here."
"Because I thought if I was close again, maybe I'd get a second chance to be someone in your life."
But instead, I said nothing.
Because that's what I always do with her —
Feel everything. Say nothing.
I walked home slowly, the streets turning golden under the setting sun.
My house was the same. My room… even messier. But my heart?
It was full.
One seat beside her.
One bus ride shared.
That was all I had. And yet, it felt enough… for today.
....
She'll never know what that one ride meant to me.
How her silence felt louder than any confession.
How I, the silent boy with a heart too loud,
Found peace in just sitting beside her… again.
-------