Chapter 1: The Bus Stop Min En hated the rain. It made her shoes squishy, her books damp, and her already messy hair a disaster. But today, she didn’t mind it so much. Because today, at the old bus stop on Jalan Merpati, Rui Song was standing there again. He always waited five minutes early. Hair slightly wet, earbuds in, sketchpad half-open. Min En had passed him every Monday for almost a year, and though they'd never spoken a full sentence, she’d memorized the way his hands moved when he drew. Today, she stood beside him. Same bus. Same sky. But something felt different. She glanced sideways. He looked up. Their eyes met for the first time. And then he said it: “Do you believe people can fall in love before they speak?” Chapter 2: The First Message They didn’t talk on the bus. But the next day, a folded note was taped to her locker. “You’re the only person I wait for without knowing why.” No name. No signature. But she knew. Of course she knew. Min En replied with a sketch of the bus stop in pencil, two tiny figures standing under one umbrella. She left it under the bench. He found it. And thus began the silent exchange. Every week, they wrote letters. Sometimes poems. Sometimes playlists. Never once did they say it aloud: I like you. But it was in the way he sketched her smile. It was in the way she started carrying an umbrella big enough for two. Chapter 3: Before He Leaves On a rainy Thursday, Rui Song didn’t bring his sketchpad. He just stood there, fidgeting with a ticket. “Korea,” he said. “Art school. Four years.” Min En smiled like her heart wasn’t being shredded inside. “That’s amazing,” she whispered. “When do you go?” “Tomorrow.” They didn’t hug. They didn’t kiss. They just stood there as the bus passed by and didn’t get on. “I’ll write,” he promised. “I’ll wait,” she lied. Chapter 4: Letters Between Raindrops For months, they wrote. Real paper. Real ink. No texts. No calls. He sent drawings of snow-covered rooftops, cafes in Seoul, a puppy named Bingsu. She sent pressed flowers, poems about waiting, and stories about rainy afternoons in Malaysia. But the letters slowed down. First weekly. Then monthly. Then… nothing. Chapter 5: The Last Letter Min En sat alone at the same bus stop. Two years had passed. She didn’t carry an umbrella anymore. A boy sat beside her. Not Rui Song. But when she looked down, there it was. A letter. Wrapped in plastic. Left under the bench. “I drew every version of you I remembered. But the real you… still makes my hands tremble.” She smiled through the rain. Love, it seemed, didn’t need loud declarations. Just enough silence to feel it grow. And enough rain to hide the tears.

Emily Tran just wanted to stay invisible. New school, new faces, and a quiet corner seat—that was her plan. But when Kai Tan, the school’s quiet top student (and secret artist), chooses to sit beside her, everything changes. Between silent glances, mysterious sketches, and the world's friendliest golden retriever named Miso, Emily finds herself slowly stepping out of her shell. Sometimes, love doesn’t need big words. It begins with a shared bench, a dog’s paw, and the feeling that someone finally sees you. When You Sat Beside Me is a soft, slow-burn teen romance about connection, kindness, and the art of being seen.