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.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI4udOc5GdP
For us, it was an excuse to pretend like we had it all figured out,62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSMOHJv4RH1
to welcome them while barely holding our own chaos together.
I didn’t plan to involve myself.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzI3iZ9xE1n
Not in organizing.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzhzdvsAD2g
Not in performing.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbnJgMMTUw7
Just… present.
They needed money.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ86gYzhB1DT
I gave it.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0H08IMAahI
They needed support.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2239Mgjcqa
I stood in the back, clapping quietly.
The first event was for our IT department, held in our own campus.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡywPTJqfKBE
Forevermore decided to come — with her friends.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2XI5KkYi5p
I hadn’t expected that.
The event went on… music, dance, laughter that felt like echoes from someone else’s joy.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGFxRvGiXo2
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.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu5Z2Llr05S
I did it.
But after that… I found myself looking for her again.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQDGULF8PSG
Like a habit. Like a whisper.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGEnGznCNHG
I wandered around, the traditional attire weighing heavier with each step —62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDs7Ics2bfz
until I called.
“Where are you?”
“Heading to the buses.”
“Wait for me. Let’s go together.”
And we did.
We walked back together,62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEQXW6wxeks
the usual banter about songs, anime, dramas dancing in the air between us.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpGhgyeSXcM
Nothing grand.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq5VBjuFx7Q
But it was enough.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtDv9UKZhPd
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.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfF0clOH4JZ
A sudden storm of words.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZpwtAlFabi
She was furious, broken —62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvmrCkfKniH
and just like that, she didn’t want to be part of their CSP project anymore.
I saw it.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ78dk0CeoNM
The quiet ache behind her decision.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrt0kOLdtv7
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.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlaM3sTBss7
She hesitated.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3WFRqCKfVk
Asked around.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY55E6Pkbqp
Took her time.
And finally, she said yes.
October 8th, 2024.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfVzphSmzdI
That was the day we began.
I picked up Forevermore that morning —62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp91Ouhp0em
just like I used to pick up my favorite songs for a journey.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTw0RSlQQHI
We met Bettie and the others.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCrOw3b4PNP
Our project was about farming and floriculture. 62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrRdDtV3t0T
Ironically fitting — for someone who called people flowers.
The day flowed like a page from a lighthearted slice-of-life anime.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj6wqRLH59r
Laughter over muddy fields,62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGEzTTZrBf7
my untamed hair rebelling in the wind as I drove without a helmet,62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4lB9tVUqmV
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.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqoDV2oQftY
Hungry and half-sunburned, we ducked into a local restaurant —62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb9yyagXipm
the same one from our first visit.
But this time…62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIppZP00Vly
she was here.
And somehow that changed the flavor of everything.
We moved to the nurseries,62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd6GcwgH9sY
ran through rows of green and yellow,62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMJZIZ8XQuj
clicked pictures and let the day melt into memory.
By evening, it was time to part.
But before it all ended,62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDM7bhsHGZb
we all are heading back to the restaurant again — one last round of shared laughter.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4qGCCxqRcV
One last glimpse of what it meant to be in the same story.
Everyone left one by one.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx2rf8FvEcX
Simon and Ramu were the last to go.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbRrA2uFRkG
And then… it was just me and her.
I dropped her home.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfGYxx11SCV
No grand goodbye.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCgybEa74kV
Just that quiet warmth of knowing62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUfZmSOgmg4
—I was the one to get her home safely.
And as I rode back, hair wild, heart fuller than before…62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWToKTenWBm
I swear the clouds opened a road for me in the sky.
Because sometimes,62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOBXVUZ60Og
even a single shared day62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP2u6dY83Ks
can feel like flying.
