[Music] The Silent Punishment

The point in a relationship where you start reminiscing and reliving memories from when you were still dating hurts more than a breakup.

The loud laughter at night disappears into the cold, with each person turning their back on the other. The cheesy good-morning texts, once followed by a description of how their morning would go or how well they slept, become cold replies and one-line messages.

You are certain things are different, but you cannot fully understand how it got here.
"Traffic Light" captures these happy-sad moments: car rides with her partner that were all fun until things went sour.

She talks about the beautiful moments when he would drive with one hand on her leg, and swerve to the right to bring her closer, I presume. But all of a sudden, things changed. He now focuses so much on the steering wheel, no matter what colour the traffic light glows.

She remembers when he would turn to reassure her of how much he loved her whenever the lights turned red. Now, regardless of the colour, he keeps his eyes on the road and never lets it go.

She keeps holding on to fragments of those moments, but she thinks he is done.
In this condition, you would rather hope for a breakup than endure the silent punishment.

The wordings of her song felt familiar because I have been here, and I know how much it destroyed my mind as I rummaged through the pages of my memory, searching for whatever hurt I might have inflicted on him.

The calls reduced, with the excuse that he was busy. The texts barely came in, and complaining felt like nagging.

I held on, though I was sure as hell that he was done and maybe seeing someone else.
At this point, I would advise anyone to leave with the beautiful memories they created with their partner, rather than hope things get better when they only get worse and hurt even more.

I stayed, and I regret it so much.
Listening to this song, with its sudden change in character, made me feel that she was truly wronged, and so was I. It helped me let go.

Rating: 93/100

Originally posted through scrobble.life/music.