Shards of love

he term, something bet

er steps without needing to ask. Maybe it was the way he remembered little things she said and circled b

herself with him and for a

day," he said one afternoon. Hi

him, surprise

n I say, he repli

thoughts kept circling back to him. He see

e feared to ask.He started laughing more with others. Sitting farther from her during free periods. She saw him

friendly. He's allowed to talk to others. B

ked ahead without her. She c

. Yeah, got somewhere

ion. No ex

g out a chair for her, teasing her about h

smiling where she should, bu

es it feel like I'm alway

uard itself.That evening, while brushing her hair in the dim light of her room, she

all so close to

st l

t cer

but no

distance,not out of anger, b

d inside her. So, she stopped waiting for his footsteps after school. Stopped sitting near h

e reclaiming something that had s

hird day, sh

ced. Of co

ask, offering help she no longer accepted.You're avoiding

d, keeping her eyes on her locke

ause.And I'm

rcing a calm she didn't fe

inely speechless. He opened his mouth,

ck.But it wasn't really ok

bsence even when he sat right there. The air bet

across the class. His expression unreadab

d back, the space between them was

istance could prot

uld also