Second year had barely begun when the word “freshers” echoed through the corridors.
A celebration for the new batch — new faces, new stories, a new chapter.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUuBr8ie3Mv
For us, it was an excuse to pretend like we had it all figured out,34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTtMmNa4KBq
to welcome them while barely holding our own chaos together.
I didn’t plan to involve myself.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdIsDkxpVNm
Not in organizing.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiGBZwqhBqi
Not in performing.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSl44yzn8tA
Just… present.
They needed money.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7fPvyswJD8
I gave it.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPhng0U0TvM
They needed support.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTSc7HNnBvI
I stood in the back, clapping quietly.
The first event was for our IT department, held in our own campus.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvKBHRSvj8G
Forevermore decided to come — with her friends.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2ZCUn2zr0T
I hadn’t expected that.
The event went on… music, dance, laughter that felt like echoes from someone else’s joy.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyN4cRDlt0L
I stayed in the shadows, a spectator in my own celebration.
Then she handed me her phone.
“Can you shoot my friends’ dance on stage?”
Simple.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYqmhAo2vzg
I did it.
But after that… I found myself looking for her again.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwEXz55cuzI
Like a habit. Like a whisper.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2dd850o69A
I wandered around, the traditional attire weighing heavier with each step —34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6ev8jxysaK
until I called.
“Where are you?”
“Heading to the buses.”
“Wait for me. Let’s go together.”
And we did.
We walked back together,34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn49DQyZnk9
the usual banter about songs, anime, dramas dancing in the air between us.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhHGHzQUnbj
Nothing grand.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0BcjM9iSL5
But it was enough.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPWjlrmS7KP
Sometimes enough is everything.
Then came her department's freshers’ event.
But before that — something happened.
She had a falling out with one of her friends, the same one I first met at the college fest.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVNk5PDB8u7
A sudden storm of words.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp36pSE4mPB
She was furious, broken —34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSPS0NP51gA
and just like that, she didn’t want to be part of their CSP project anymore.
I saw it.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGnP9GVV7fO
The quiet ache behind her decision.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLlTUOMrbFr
And without thinking much, I asked:
“Would you like to do it with us instead?”
By us, I meant Simon, Ramu, and a few from her own department.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmldGIFDpFA
She hesitated.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwth2qOodvz
Asked around.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC9KWVYpUaR
Took her time.
And finally, she said yes.
October 8th, 2024.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7n9KcZCAKG
That was the day we began.
I picked up Forevermore that morning —34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ34sB0GNFY2
just like I used to pick up my favorite songs for a journey.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgNfayuQaoD
We met Bettie and the others.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHm0fgdGaAP
Our project was about farming and floriculture. 34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4kLStFRIhu
Ironically fitting — for someone who called people flowers.
The day flowed like a page from a lighthearted slice-of-life anime.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbkzwclKfnp
Laughter over muddy fields,34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡultoyBDmRr
my untamed hair rebelling in the wind as I drove without a helmet,34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3bVlgS8RWM
moments I knew I’d want to rewind again someday.
By noon, Simon and I wandered around the area for an auto to help the others.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaf5H95BPya
Hungry and half-sunburned, we ducked into a local restaurant —34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAcIj7thb61
the same one from our first visit.
But this time…34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTFftwltvG7
she was here.
And somehow that changed the flavor of everything.
We moved to the nurseries,34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtiPMjEmyRQ
ran through rows of green and yellow,34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf7s1B3kDhQ
clicked pictures and let the day melt into memory.
By evening, it was time to part.
But before it all ended,34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKwTYtutciV
we all are heading back to the restaurant again — one last round of shared laughter.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy3jmyg3yyZ
One last glimpse of what it meant to be in the same story.
Everyone left one by one.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlyELZpfKEf
Simon and Ramu were the last to go.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqI2eF9ls3x
And then… it was just me and her.
I dropped her home.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV8AVn727zm
No grand goodbye.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr3wEEhXwvG
Just that quiet warmth of knowing34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbKVtmiOIiO
—I was the one to get her home safely.
And as I rode back, hair wild, heart fuller than before…34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYqrcBikYS5
I swear the clouds opened a road for me in the sky.
Because sometimes,34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ3hr7vLcqO
even a single shared day34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY8NNG8DztY
can feel like flying.
