My birthday came again.
The same day my favorite character had once died in a story I held close —38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKwjBHhkwC6
and in a strange way, I always felt like a part of me dies a little on this day too.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ96qYONtkIU
But this time, I chose to go to college.
Alice wasn't there, though.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLDBmr1oOYN
She had gone to meet some friends — people she hadn’t seen in a long time.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6wM1Ly0gR1
I understood. I really did.
Still, I had the whole chocolate store in my bag.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb1WrIOnjd0
Literally.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYs4NYVMXgo
It was one of those small, sweet joys.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡscQlAWHZn3
Enough to carry the weight of the day.
That evening, I decided to do something special.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHqX0DZDUY7
Not for me.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrMbyMLXV7d
But for the ones I held dear.
I woke up early.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLlc1Ynb3qQ
Cooked with all my heart.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9L5mnSbAGp
Packed everything carefully — biryani and chicken curry.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVILJkRgHML
Each grain of rice, every spice measured not by recipes but by intent.
It was my second time cooking for my friends.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn2icwwFskI
The first time… she didn’t eat.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUqPH2IaatB
Even though I had packed a box just for her.
But this time, I was determined.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7iPujtMe97
This time, she did.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUGvD6YWjSW
And not only that — she smiled and said:
“It tastes like my mother’s…”
I could’ve cried.
We sat under the same big tree where it all began.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGWasSsJMjy
The same one where I met her.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaDJK628wfd
Just five of us — Forevermore, Leona, Richard, Harry, and me.
We ate.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnEzyHIyuRl
We laughed.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr8qlatYSzJ
And for once, the world paused.
Later that evening, Richard gifted me a sleek clock —38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtEAuWySnz5
and Seren handed me something else…38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2MAo8XqOA3
a lamp.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfjhXjPOTOo
Not just a lamp,38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrKBgHjhicr
a galaxy trapped in glass —38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzukr5ggmdc
a swirl of stars and dreams I once saw only in the skies.
Those were the first real gifts I ever got.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCaemImp7E6
The kind that whisper of futures still unwritten.
Time passed.
Forevermore and I were learning together again — night calls, evening talks.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ9exuahUZn
I met her bus mates, her senior friend who knew Ravikanth.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcjN0FDTKcn
It was all… steady.
Until one day.
A small moment. A misunderstanding.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhOB4hlPqdz
And everything cracked like silence after thunder.
Ren doesn’t like chocolate.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmp8CiZO4OO
Everyone knows that.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL7O8hLyoIR
Including me.
And yet —38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFHbmmVRHXs
that day, when we all stood by the buses,38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG36jYE65v6
I jokingly asked him for a big one.
He brought a small chocolate anyway.
I didn’t take it.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRIEHswkaMm
He handed it to Alice.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLm9XFMmcaV
And then he left.
I watched it happen,38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqnJo2XNI2v
not as someone who was jealous,38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpN5oEtWsss
but someone who noticed something off.
It wasn’t the chocolate.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSzh1JcKbax
It was why it was given.
Not because it was meant for her.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKtZUU4Ez2K
But because it was just… there.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJRbmeFEaqS
Something to discard.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8sRotQvII0
And she accepted it — unaware of how little thought it held.
When Richard called me to leave for another friend’s birthday, I turned back,38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ476ToEO8SF
looked at her one last time, and said —
“Some things are never meant to be taken.”
I didn’t explain.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJhmcmhZj9z
Didn’t say goodbye.
I hoped she’d understand.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxWimJiYqC0
That she deserved more than secondhand gestures.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWVi9Wa725l
That she was not someone who should accept leftovers from anyone — even friends.
But she didn’t see it that way.
After that day…38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡotDBykwwpY
she stopped speaking to me.
No more messages.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKyFjTGZvYJ
No calls.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRtQbAtCsAs
Not even eye contact.
It was as if nothing had ever happened between us.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyQYQLCBjrv
As if our late-night classes, shared songs, stories, dreams,38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRTGkdjRqKu
as if I… never happened.
I tried to talk.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAkutx2Z6JD
To explain.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMcfPkf8kBV
To bridge the gap.
But how do you hold on to someone38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5Mt9ok7C4b
who already let go before you realized they were slipping?
Maybe it was just a small misunderstanding.
Maybe… it was the moment she was waiting for38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPH8vovhXZz
to finally walk away.
