A Love Like That…

(Metro maps and missed connections)

Among the busy hustle culture of our cities, between Metro stations, passing trains, and concrete pillars, more versions of love have bloomed and withered than in all the stories ever told. Passionate, casual, fleeting, one-sided, or simply transactional… Every variant of love leaves its shadow in these spaces.

This one… was different!

I was on the Green Line, commuting to meet my child, who now lives in the heart of the city. It was a weekday. The train was unusually quiet. Just a few souls sprinkled along the coach, each lost in their own digital bubble.

At the third stop, she entered.

A modern girl in a crop top and rugged jeans, a leather bag slung over one shoulder like armor, headphones cradling her ears, and a book gently held in hand. I leaned slightly to catch the title—“The Warrior Princess: Sita.” She exuded the vibe of someone who reads. That detail alone made her instantly compelling. She wasn’t just fashionable. She was a seeker.

She seated herself across from me, the subtle tension in her body betraying her calm exterior. Every time the train halted, her eyes would lift with expectancy. Her fingers fidgeted and her leg tapped rhythmically. She wasn’t waiting for her destination.

She was waiting for someone…

And then, he arrived!

He wasn’t striking at first glance. Just a simple, familiar boy-next-door look. But there was something gentle about the way he scanned the train and smiled the moment he spotted her. She waved too casually to be casual. And he walked over and sat beside her, shoulders barely brushing.

She nudged him playfully:

“Look who finally decided to exist. You got a PhD in vanishing?”

He smirked:

“Bro. I was only gone for three months. You just time travel in your head or something?”

“Wow. Gaslighting on entry. Classic Noel energy,” she laughed. The tension eased.

They were talking.

I wasn’t eavesdropping intentionally.

But love, when raw and unrehearsed, has a way of flowing into the spaces around it.

He was her classmate once. Now a friend, perhaps the only kind he knew how to be.

But she? And oh, her eyes, they gave it all away!

There was a glow, not just in her smile, but in the way she leaned slightly closer, how she paused a little to enjoy the moment before giving him back when he teased her. How her laugh lingered a second too long...

She was careful. Poised, yet visibly softening every time he looked her way.

And him?

He was kind. Not teasing to mock, but to draw her out. He spoke in tones light and warm—aware of her feelings, not exploiting them, but also not reciprocating. He seemed like a man who had once been broken and now chooses clarity over confusion. There was something deeply respectful about the way he held the boundary… and yet, never moved too far.

Her voice dipped slightly:

“You ever think about how weird it is that we’re not in college anymore? Like... those were peak main character vibes.”

He nodded:

“Yeah, lowkey. Life now’s just giving... background character energy.”

“I miss the lab chaos,” she said, half-whispering. “Those late-night litchi pudding runs. Your weird lemon tea obsession. Us just... vibing.”

“You mean you bullying me daily?” he teased.

“Shut up. You loved it,” she replied, but her eyes said more.

Then came the pause and she said IT.

“Okay… real talk?” she said.

“This feels so dumb and cringeworthy. But, I think I’m into you… Like, for real! No cap!!!”

He didn’t flinch. He just… absorbed it.

Quietly & gently!

As if he'd known all along.

Perhaps he did.

“I figured,” he said, not smug, just honest.

“Was I that obvious?”

“Kinda. You look at me like I’m a Spotify Wrapped playlist.”

They both laughed, but the air had changed. Softer. Realer.

“I’m not expecting a K-drama series, Noel. I just... needed to say it. If I didn’t, it would just sit in my chest like… like unsent voice notes.”

He breathed in. Exhaled slowly.

“You’re amazing. And you’re hella brave. I just… I don’t know what I want. I’m not ready for deep ends right now. My brain’s still buffering.”

She nodded.

No tears.

Just understanding.

“Thanks for not ghosting this convo. That would've been peak coward energy.”

He smiled.

“Yeah, I’m a lot of things. But not that guy.”

“You’ll miss my chaos when I go full radio silence,” she half-joked.

He turned to her, quieter now:

“Already do when you're not around.”

And that is the kind of love we don’t talk enough about. The kind where you open your chest and place your heart in someone’s palm, fully knowing they may never call it their own.

As her stop neared, she gently leaned her head onto his shoulder. No grand gestures, no cinematic music. Just a silent offering of all that remained unspoken. A few tears slid down, unannounced, like the last rays of the evening sun.

He held her hand. Not tightly, not possessively, but just enough to say, “I see you.”

"Later, Space Cadet!" she whispered.

"Bye, Chaos Queen..." he replied, a bit too softly.

When she left, he stayed seated for a moment longer than needed.

And I… I just sat there, stunned!

Because that wasn’t the kind of love you see every day.

It wasn’t about happy endings or couple selfies.

It was about courage.

Respect.

Stillness.

About a girl who wore her heart like eyeliner. Bold, unapologetic, and precise.

And a boy who wasn’t ready to return her love but didn’t diminish it either.

Not every love story needs a ‘happily ever after’ to be complete.

Some are meant to just be.

Will they meet again?

Perhaps!

Or perhaps not!

Maybe that’s the point!

That in this wild world of swipes and situationships, real feelings still happen.

And someone, somewhere, still believes that being honest is worth the risk.

Even if the other person doesn’t say it back.

Even if it ends on a train.

Because love, I mean the real love, sometimes lives quietly between one heartbeat and the next.

And sometimes, that’s more than Enough…

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