Dual POV
Mara
I didn’t message him the next day.103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9XTU443Jlr
I didn’t need to.
Instead, I opened my music app and created a playlist.103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeT0Uc8SZLr
Just three songs.103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEsIAFHDXVn
One about missing someone I never had.103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHfWwbKSAO8
One about learning how to breathe again.103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjasBYF5t1P
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.”103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMDf2ElHixj
And it did.103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpoaijCpKDd
The second song was a love letter, the third sounded like goodbye, and the fifth…103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRO3MsgSdII
The fifth was mine. The one I hummed through the window.103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeFpfavCYGC
Except this time, it was a cover—with lyrics.
That’s when I realized:103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuMjAaQD2Ys
He’d heard me long before he met me.103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCSyENY6BM5
And maybe… he’d felt something, too.
Eli
I’ve always found it easier to say things through music.103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpBKdTJR2AF
Words can lie. Songs don’t.
When she sent that playlist, it felt like a door opened.103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6tDzmwGvu2
Not wide. Just enough.
So I sent mine back, every track carefully chosen.103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOgEcCeJ4z9
No fluff. No random filler. Just the truth I couldn’t voice yet.
She didn’t reply for hours.103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUtvdeqHT9M
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—103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyX2zmTDWmI
One every night.
No pressure. No labels.103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRB5t1jEqHw
Just music.
And in that quiet rhythm, we found something neither of us was ready to name.
Not yet.103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm4giNoG9Jw
But soon.
and then Add to home screen.