sɪɴғᴜʟ sʜᴏᴛs ☄️

After the Storm

Alina

The wind was soft, brushing against my skin like a whisper from the past. I walked slowly, the streets quiet, the sky heavy with gray clouds that promised rain. The kind of weather that makes you remember things you'd rather forget.

I wore my favorite jeans and an old crop top with an open flannel shirt thrown over it—careless, simple, me. I felt... at peace.

Until I heard it.

"Alina."

His voice.

Even after all this time, I knew it instantly.

I froze mid-step.

My whole body tensed, fighting the instinct to look back. Two years had passed. Two long years of silence. I had left everything behind—him, the city, the memories. I'd tried so hard to move on.

But Ryan had always been the kind of person who could walk into your life like a breeze and leave like a hurricane.

And now here he was again—just as suddenly.

My feet moved faster, not because I wanted to run, but because I didn't know how to face the one person I had tried the hardest to forget.

But of course, he followed.

He always followed.

He caught up to me, gently grabbing my arm. His grip was familiar—firm, warm, grounding. I stopped walking, but I couldn't face him yet. Not yet.

"Alina," he said again, softer now.

There was so much in that one word—relief, sadness, confusion... and something else. Maybe forgiveness. Maybe longing.

I looked up slowly, and there he was.

Ryan.

A little older. A little more tired. But still him. Still the same intense eyes, the same messy hair, the same presence that made the world disappear around him.

Except this time, he didn't smile.

And I didn't run.

He stepped closer, wrapping me in a sudden hug, like he needed to make sure I was real. I stood still in his arms, caught in the same dilemma I'd run from years ago—do I hold on, or do I let go again?

But the rain had started to fall. It hid my tears as well as his.

When he finally pulled away, his voice cracked.

"Why?"

And God, I hated that question. Because I had no good answer. Because even I didn't know, not fully.

He deserved more than silence, so I gave him the only truth I had in me.

"Why won't you leave me alone, Ryan? Why are you still here?" I shouted, partly at him, partly at the sky.

He flinched—but stood his ground.

"This isn't you," he whispered. "You were my—"

"We were never just friends," I snapped. "And we both know it. We never had the courage to say it. And now... now I'm just tired. Tired of carrying it all."

My chest heaved with every word. I hadn't even planned to say this. But once I started, I couldn't stop.

"I hate you, Ryan. I hate you for being so close but never reaching. For pretending to care and never actually showing it. I hate you for letting me fall alone. And mostly..." I paused, voice shaking, "I hate myself for falling in love with you."

There. I said it.

Everything I had buried over the past two years spilled out in seconds.

And then... silence.

The rain was heavier now, thundering around us like the sky itself couldn't handle the tension.

Ryan didn't move. Didn't speak. He just stood there, dripping, devastated.

I turned to leave.

But in one step, he was in front of me.

His eyes were unreadable now—no longer full of pain, but full of something deeper. Understanding. Realization. Maybe even closure.

"Alina," he said finally, voice softer than I'd ever heard it. "You were right to leave."

I blinked, confused.

"I was angry back then. I hated you for disappearing. But it took me this long to realize... you did it because you were protecting both of us. You left because I was still figuring myself out. Because I was with someone else. Because we weren't ready."

My heart twisted at his words.

"I haven't stopped thinking about you," he continued. "I haven't stopped missing you. And not because we kissed, or almost became something more... but because you understood me. Even when I didn't understand myself."

Tears were already slipping down my face, but I didn't bother hiding them.

"I thought about you every day," I said, voice cracking. "And I hated myself for it. Because I told myself we ended for a reason."

"But maybe," he said quietly, "we didn't end. Maybe we just... paused."

We stood there in the rain, facing each other with nothing left to hide.

"I still love you," he said simply.

And I didn't hesitate this time.

"I still love you too."

He took one step forward, and I closed the gap.

There were no fireworks. No breathless declarations. Just two people, scarred and softened by time, finally choosing to stop running.

He pulled me into his arms again—not to possess me, not to fix me, but simply to be close. To start something right where we left off—with honesty, not silence.

And in that moment, I knew something I had tried so hard to deny.

It was never meant to break.

We were just meant to grow first—apart, yes—but only so we could find our way back to each other.

Together, this time.