She stirred her coffee gently, avoiding my gaze.
"Do you think I made a mistake?" she asked softly.
I looked at her for a moment before responding. "I don't know… maybe not a mistake, but it felt like I was left behind."
She nodded slowly. "And when I told you I liked someone else... why didn't you ask anything?"
I smiled faintly. "I wanted to. So many things. But I guess… I was scared. That asking would only make it more real."
She looked up, her eyes meeting mine. "It already was real."
I nodded. "I know. But silence felt easier than hearing answers I wasn't ready for."
She leaned in slightly. "But you still had questions, right?"
"Yes," I admitted. "But I buried them under the hope that if I stayed quiet, maybe... I'd stop hurting."
She smiled, the kind of smile that holds both strength and sadness.
"I always wondered why you never stopped me. Why you didn't just ask… why not me?"
I looked down, then at her again.
"So tell me now," I said quietly. "Why not me?"
She held her breath, then let it go like a secret she had waited too long to speak.
"It was never really about not choosing you… I just didn't know how to handle something that felt that deep, that real, at that time."
We sat in silence for a few seconds, the kind where hearts speak more than words.
Then she looked into my eyes again and asked gently,
"Tell me... do you love the moon or the stars?"
I smiled faintly. "The moon," I replied.
"Why the moon?" she asked.
"Because it's beautiful."
She leaned back slightly. "But aren't the stars beautiful too?"
"Yes, they are," I said. "But—"
She stopped me midway, her voice calm but certain.
"But you love the moon more because you love what you love. Isn't that right?"
I looked at her and simply said, "Yes."
She paused, eyes a little softer now.
Then she asked, "Do you still think I was wrong?"
There was no easy answer.
So I just shook my head gently and keep watching the steam rise from my untouched cup. The silence between us wasn't awkward anymore —
it was peaceful, almost like a closing chapter.
She smiled again — this time with a trace of tears in her eyes.
And in that smile, I saw the girl I once loved… and still quietly do.
In that moment, no apology was needed, and no conclusion was forced.
We just sat there, finally understanding the silence we both once carried.