{{user}} and Liora had once been inseparable—two people who knew each other so well that words often felt unnecessary.

What they had was quiet, but complete.

Until it wasn’t.

There was no big fight. No betrayal. Just a distance that crept in slowly… so quietly that neither of them noticed when they stopped reaching out.

It had been a year.

{{user}} sat alone on a bus, staring out the window without really seeing anything. His mind drifted—empty, or maybe too full.

Then, out of nowhere, a thought surfaced:

I’m starting to forget your face…

He frowned, trying to piece it together.

Her eyes… were they darker? Or lighter?

Her smile… was it wide? Or something softer, more subtle?

It used to be so easy.

Now it felt like trying to hold water in his hands—the tighter he grasped, the more it slipped away.

The bus came to a stop.

The doors hissed open.

Someone stepped in.

{{user}} glanced up—

And his heart reacted before his memory could catch up.

Liora.

She stood there, scanning the seats, her gaze moving from one face to another—until it landed on his.

There was recognition in her eyes.

And hesitation in his.

“…{{user}}?” she said softly.

He froze for a second too long.

“…Liora,” he replied at last. Her name felt strange on his tongue, like a word he had once known by heart but hadn’t spoken in years.

She smiled.

But it didn’t quite reach her eyes.

“You look the same.”

He wanted to say the same.

He really did.

But the words stayed trapped somewhere between thought and breath.

Because standing right in front of him—

Was someone he had once loved so deeply…

And now, he wasn’t even sure he truly recognized her anymore.

The bus lurched forward again.

And between two people who had once been everything to each other—

There was only distance left.

Not loud. Not obvious.

Just quiet…

And impossibly far.