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.65Please respect copyright.PENANA33xC8QMQKF
For us, it was an excuse to pretend like we had it all figured out,65Please respect copyright.PENANAKusZFD47Uw
to welcome them while barely holding our own chaos together.
I didn’t plan to involve myself.65Please respect copyright.PENANAkcU6doL4VL
Not in organizing.65Please respect copyright.PENANAmbNHQIOztb
Not in performing.65Please respect copyright.PENANAzOjgsbpQ5X
Just… present.
They needed money.65Please respect copyright.PENANA9nY40nOqpD
I gave it.65Please respect copyright.PENANAx6ijN3e1X8
They needed support.65Please respect copyright.PENANAG18TV77sc3
I stood in the back, clapping quietly.
The first event was for our IT department, held in our own campus.65Please respect copyright.PENANAiOyiFB2Rey
Forevermore decided to come — with her friends.65Please respect copyright.PENANAZCBsrUqYTh
I hadn’t expected that.
The event went on… music, dance, laughter that felt like echoes from someone else’s joy.65Please respect copyright.PENANA5G7lYYFek6
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.65Please respect copyright.PENANA3ZkrHhU0aW
I did it.
But after that… I found myself looking for her again.65Please respect copyright.PENANAWCOARRWS51
Like a habit. Like a whisper.65Please respect copyright.PENANA5VklUNz4bV
I wandered around, the traditional attire weighing heavier with each step —65Please respect copyright.PENANAbUvoNCXgKw
until I called.
“Where are you?”
“Heading to the buses.”
“Wait for me. Let’s go together.”
And we did.
We walked back together,65Please respect copyright.PENANACBB1WC0NVK
the usual banter about songs, anime, dramas dancing in the air between us.65Please respect copyright.PENANAf7UL1GyxIq
Nothing grand.65Please respect copyright.PENANAlCeNpnVDWh
But it was enough.65Please respect copyright.PENANATEE5auPtQ5
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.65Please respect copyright.PENANAoQz9elv5qe
A sudden storm of words.65Please respect copyright.PENANAE2v4jfIO7X
She was furious, broken —65Please respect copyright.PENANArZ7eGauxsk
and just like that, she didn’t want to be part of their CSP project anymore.
I saw it.65Please respect copyright.PENANA91050t1QXP
The quiet ache behind her decision.65Please respect copyright.PENANAcBQaCKgOye
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.65Please respect copyright.PENANATDwnEc8WoW
She hesitated.65Please respect copyright.PENANAyokovkywiV
Asked around.65Please respect copyright.PENANAICxYNYvecS
Took her time.
And finally, she said yes.
October 8th, 2024.65Please respect copyright.PENANAn2ctRXQx76
That was the day we began.
I picked up Forevermore that morning —65Please respect copyright.PENANALIP6pgV95V
just like I used to pick up my favorite songs for a journey.65Please respect copyright.PENANAuC6fUdRq1S
We met Bettie and the others.65Please respect copyright.PENANA6DHhhLWQZJ
Our project was about farming and floriculture. 65Please respect copyright.PENANAml8SgDQ2Cj
Ironically fitting — for someone who called people flowers.
The day flowed like a page from a lighthearted slice-of-life anime.65Please respect copyright.PENANAgnbNSc5QIv
Laughter over muddy fields,65Please respect copyright.PENANAM7GxkoBU4t
my untamed hair rebelling in the wind as I drove without a helmet,65Please respect copyright.PENANAVBLtqZD8Qe
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.65Please respect copyright.PENANAyfG3zcGDlw
Hungry and half-sunburned, we ducked into a local restaurant —65Please respect copyright.PENANAwhp6hCySOd
the same one from our first visit.
But this time…65Please respect copyright.PENANAFmIrdPTtMC
she was here.
And somehow that changed the flavor of everything.
We moved to the nurseries,65Please respect copyright.PENANA3tB3iZK0XI
ran through rows of green and yellow,65Please respect copyright.PENANAG2t1yFpeGQ
clicked pictures and let the day melt into memory.
By evening, it was time to part.
But before it all ended,65Please respect copyright.PENANAX0vDBZMOFA
we all are heading back to the restaurant again — one last round of shared laughter.65Please respect copyright.PENANAm0ptKD9qOv
One last glimpse of what it meant to be in the same story.
Everyone left one by one.65Please respect copyright.PENANAAMgQ22tyoY
Simon and Ramu were the last to go.65Please respect copyright.PENANA9UPNiVQYql
And then… it was just me and her.
I dropped her home.65Please respect copyright.PENANAfM1Rn8ck2S
No grand goodbye.65Please respect copyright.PENANALXmvgBuXaY
Just that quiet warmth of knowing65Please respect copyright.PENANAEhAGtB1oux
—I was the one to get her home safely.
And as I rode back, hair wild, heart fuller than before…65Please respect copyright.PENANAXaZShUatcb
I swear the clouds opened a road for me in the sky.
Because sometimes,65Please respect copyright.PENANAAHHn49qMSs
even a single shared day65Please respect copyright.PENANADKNDIWUObW
can feel like flying.