Max pov
Yeah I finally cleared my blurred vision which was already covered by the tears which suddenly comes after realising that he was here
It's funny how a face can drag you years back in seconds. One glance, and I was no longer standing in that crowded canteen beside Kitty. I was seventeen again. Lost. Broken. Still believing that some people were meant to stay.
But they never do.
"Max?" Kitty's voice pulled me halfway back to reality. I blinked fast, pretending it was just something in my eye, but the ache in my chest gave me away.
I didn't answer.
I couldn't.
That familiar face across the canteen had already vanished into the crowd, just like he did years ago. No explanation. No closure. Just… silence.
Kitty didn't push. Maybe she saw the storm in my eyes. Maybe she knew some questions are better left unanswered. She quietly held my wrist and said, "Let's go sit."
We settled on a bench under a tree near the library. The wind was gentle, but inside me, everything was chaos. And then it came—the flood of memories.
He wasn't perfect, but he made my world feel like it was. Back then, every text from him felt like a sunrise, and every call felt like home. I used to write his name in the back pages of my books like a silly cliché. But what we had was more than schoolyard love. Or at least, that's what I believed.
The way he looked at me… it made me feel seen in a way no one else ever had.
Until the day he just… stopped.
The calls faded. The texts dried up. He said he needed space. I gave it. He never came back.
"Is he your ex?" Kitty asked softly, snapping me out of my spiral.
I bit the inside of my cheek. "He was my almost."
Kitty nodded like she understood. Maybe she did. Maybe every girl has that one ghost who lingers in the spaces between her smiles.
"Do you still… y'know, feel things?" she asked.
I smiled sadly. "You don't stop feeling, Kitty. You just learn to carry it quietly."
For a moment, we sat in silence, letting the past hang in the air like fog.
But here's the thing about memories—they don't just come to hurt. Sometimes they come to remind you of who you used to be. What you survived. And how far you've come.
Back in the hostel that night, I stared at the ceiling, headphones in, music low.
A message popped up on my screen. An unknown number.
"Hey. I think I saw you today. It's been a while… Max."
My heart skipped.
Him.
After all these years.
But this time… I didn't cry.
Not yet.
I just stared at the screen, the past and present crashing together.
And for the first time in a long time… I didn't know what to feel