Dual POV
Mara
I didn’t message him the next day.96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ004cni6uwt
I didn’t need to.
Instead, I opened my music app and created a playlist.96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJQRl4QrApk
Just three songs.96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxg8M3zx9Fb
One about missing someone I never had.96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR8XlEHhvgd
One about learning how to breathe again.96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpvzVoIQ2e9
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.”96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHQMqHgjOEx
And it did.96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLQFzBLZPHf
The second song was a love letter, the third sounded like goodbye, and the fifth…96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhIv3PWKp6A
The fifth was mine. The one I hummed through the window.96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSDSHTyBJoS
Except this time, it was a cover—with lyrics.
That’s when I realized:96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmAryaAFkut
He’d heard me long before he met me.96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjukXY4anTe
And maybe… he’d felt something, too.
Eli
I’ve always found it easier to say things through music.96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo3nwM4zOwX
Words can lie. Songs don’t.
When she sent that playlist, it felt like a door opened.96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlni7TrDWq8
Not wide. Just enough.
So I sent mine back, every track carefully chosen.96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOvknjuzUNs
No fluff. No random filler. Just the truth I couldn’t voice yet.
She didn’t reply for hours.96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyX9MwuCsNL
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—96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGFap9b2Fer
One every night.
No pressure. No labels.96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc3xwMPm7ha
Just music.
And in that quiet rhythm, we found something neither of us was ready to name.
Not yet.96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGEHrmChj7x
But soon.
and then Add to home screen.