Maya stood completely still.
It felt like every sound around her had suddenly disappeared.
Only Arjun's final words echoed again and again inside her mind—
"The car hit me too."
Maya's lips went dry.
"What do you mean…?" she asked in a trembling voice.
Arjun stayed silent for a moment.
The wind blew softly. Dark clouds slowly covered the sky again.
Finally, he spoke—
"I survived that day… but not completely."
Maya looked at him in confusion.
"I don't understand."
Arjun gave a faint smile, but there was deep exhaustion hidden inside it.
"After the accident, I stayed in the hospital for a long time," he said.
"When I woke up, the doctors told me I was lucky."
"Then what's the problem?" Maya asked.
Arjun slowly looked down.
"The problem is… after that day, I changed."
Maya's heart skipped a beat.
"How?"
Before answering, Arjun remained quiet for a few seconds.
Then he said—
"Every year… on this exact day… I could see you."
Maya stared at him in shock.
"What?"
"But you couldn't see me," Arjun said softly.
"I used to come to this bus stop. I stood here in the rain. And you… you would just walk past me."
A cold feeling ran through Maya's body.
"That's impossible…"
Arjun pulled out an old, rain-soaked piece of paper from his pocket.
Carefully, he handed it to Maya.
It was a newspaper clipping.
With trembling hands, Maya started reading.
"Terrible road accident on a rainy day two years ago. College student Arjun Sen admitted to the hospital in critical condition."
Below it, there was a smaller line—
"He was injured while trying to save a young woman during the accident."
Maya's vision blurred with tears.
"But you said you survived…"
Arjun looked at her calmly.
"My body survived," he said.
"But a part of my life ended that day."
Just then, a strong wind suddenly blew through the bus stop.
The pages of Maya's notebook began flipping on their own.
Flip. Flip. Flip.
They stopped at one page.
Maya looked down and saw a line written in shaky handwriting—
"If you ever forget me someday, the rain will bring me back to you."
Maya's breath caught.
"I wrote this…?"
Arjun slowly nodded.
"The day before the accident."
Rain began to fall again.
But this time, there was something strange hidden within its sound.
Because Maya suddenly realized one terrifying question…
How had Arjun been returning here every year for the past two years?