It was raining the kind of rain that doesn’t just fall, it lingers. The kind that makes everything feel slower, heavier… final.

Jalen stood on one side of the street, hands clenched, watching {{user}} across from him. There were people moving between them, cars passing, life going on like nothing was breaking apart right there in that moment.

But to him? Everything had already stopped.

“Just… wait for me,” he said, his voice barely louder than the rain.

{{user}} didn’t move closer.

That was the worst part.

Not yelling. Not anger. Not even tears at first.

Just distance.

“I tried,” she whispered, her voice shaking. “I did wait for you.”

Jalen’s chest tightened. Because he knew she was telling the truth.

There were nights she stayed up, phone in hand, hoping for a message. Days she defended him when people said he wasn’t coming back. Moments she chose him—even when he wasn’t there to choose her back.

But life pulled him somewhere else. Responsibilities, mistakes, things he thought he could fix later.

Later never came.

Now here she was… already halfway gone.

“You don’t get to ask that now,” she continued, tears finally slipping down her face. “Not when I needed you before.”

The silence that followed hit harder than anything she said.

Jalen stepped forward instinctively—but stopped himself.

Because deep down, he knew…

If he crossed that distance now, it wouldn’t change anything.

“I thought… I had more time,” he admitted quietly.

{{user}} gave a small, broken smile—the kind that doesn’t reach the eyes.

“That’s the problem,” she said. “You always thought there’d be more time.”

A car honked somewhere behind her. The world kept moving.

And then she turned.

Not dramatically. Not angrily.

Just… decidedly.

Jalen stood there, frozen, watching her walk away—not running after her this time.

Because some part of him finally understood…

Love doesn’t wait forever.

And sometimes, “Wait for Me” comes too late.