Time doesn’t always move forward.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQmjZpltdjW
Sometimes, it spirals.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBFE79iOBG0
Pulling new people into our orbit.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ017MprYJUr
Some arrive with noise. Some with silence.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ9tq2qfTm0
And some simply grow… like flowers.
In Thub, I met two more petals in the garden of this strange semester.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS2OatHhcZM
Both from CSE.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjryTs9HbIP
Both somehow close to Forevermore’s world —41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfOm7ZZpdHO
both from her class.
The first was Richard —41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4wC1JhrkP4
a friend of Ren and Krish,41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVWM7mJPSkI
connected, confident,41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaqtlhW7Um2
a little too good in coding,41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvqkhNlQwc4
a little too sure of himself.
A Dream Flower —41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDQpHegXQa3
blooming with direction and privilege,41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSUdiUaCMko
with roots that never had to fight the soil.
The second was Ramu —41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVCKwFX4kuB
quiet, almost invisible,41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnUDRDFYRy4
but with a light that didn’t need to be loud.
A Hopeless Flower, if I may.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡair3kQBLD8
The kind that blossoms under moonlight,41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡedCCKZIXwu
in silence, in stillness.
He was brilliant.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVUDLajQzRU
Top of the class in both code and core.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFc92uKUt0Z
I met him through Simon —41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzxCHGEqlmn
and oddly enough,41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx7qVcpybe8
Simon and Ramu shared a bond I couldn’t decode.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc3MN5uowWa
A strange comfort, like they were made of the same still water.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9ieZ2X3jUO
And I… I merely drifted into their tide.
As the semester settled, the batch lists were drawn.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlkIlPtJ0vC
To my surprise — or maybe not —41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyKtcBM4K3R
I was placed in Batch 1.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3s7wYdxd6v
A place where the spotlight flickers a little more intensely.
That’s where I properly met Richard and Ramu.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHekhcx3Z7M
And that’s when my rhythm with them began.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdpUl2X3jRC
Our codes spoke before we did.
In academics, I moved like mist.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7HYfDgeqB0
Never too visible, never too prepared.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhREIlJHkz3
I relied on people.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUPskTO9QkZ
My laziness demanded a soft network.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUHZT2i5XEW
I needed people to cover my back so I could care a little less,41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq5YUID1tmE
and create a little more.
Then came something unexpected —41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfywgyMqKgC
Codeblooded.
A student club under TechnicalHub,41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmWt5hbwxcp
and I was selected alongside Richard and Ramu.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9z5qpGjxSe
The first time my name was written alongside something larger.
Code Engine was our first event.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkJhLMIlPGm
An ambitious venture.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtQ1VBuZV54
A bridge between logic and imagination.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7NcOAacCkN
Where we introduced coding to all BTech students,41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfnXIcJduMk
like a spark passed from hand to hand.
And there...41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyvXNwpBHJ4
I met another Hopeless Flower.
His name was Ravikanth —41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzo38ielRCJ
a third-year CSE student from the First Campus.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡofiQFTlvaz
A senior, yes. But he felt like a twin soul, aged by just a year.
A gamer.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYsiRLEn2W6
A poet.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHn8H6iJ47g
A cook.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs6sxoftIgE
A coder.
And most of all,41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2ex5lNUoAe
a quiet rebel in a world full of performances.
I admired him.
Because he didn’t scream his dreams.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVvsdTFHnZJ
He whispered them.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlMFzl0KMlj
And still made you believe.
He was the kind of hopeless that dares to hope anyway.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDNfsRMB3Vj
The kind of flower that dares to bloom in frost.
And maybe…41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmIpLThhSPG
I was one too.
Just a little less brave.
We never realize how many people shape our journey.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡraGhxsGpZR
How each connection — accidental, intentional, or just seasonal —41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ3187taELy
adds a line to the story.
But I remember them.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfxJtzXptC4
All of them.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe0B2UyoFyF
Not as classmates, or peers,41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8uEnArAiXP
but as flowers —41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6MLSwK4ZyD
growing under the same uncertain sky.
And me,41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmPdf6RtP74
somewhere in that garden.
