On the Way

Every day after school, she'd ask me, "Wanna walk together today?" I'd always pretend not to care and say, "It's just on the way." Actually, her house was in a different direction. One day after school, she didn't come to find me. I waited at the school gate for ten minutes, and only then did I find out from a classmate that she was staying late to help out. I walked to the station alone and discovered a new message on my phone. "Don't wait for me today, just go home." I stared at the message for a few seconds and replied, "Okay." The bus arrived, but I didn't get on. Half an hour later, she finally ran out of school and clearly froze for a moment when she saw me from afar. "Why are you still here?" I handed her the hot drink I had just bought. "On the way." She took the drink and couldn't help but smile. "Your house is in a completely different direction from here." "It just happened to be on the way today." She didn't call me out on it, just took a quiet sip. When we reached the intersection, she suddenly reached out and took my hand. "Then I'll walk with you for a bit." I asked, "Isn't your house the other way?" She smiled and swung our joined hands. "It just happened to be on the way today, too."