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.52Please respect copyright.PENANAOfyBGzYgbY
For us, it was an excuse to pretend like we had it all figured out,52Please respect copyright.PENANA1zfRE4egHp
to welcome them while barely holding our own chaos together.
I didn’t plan to involve myself.52Please respect copyright.PENANAHXTWy1tBfa
Not in organizing.52Please respect copyright.PENANA9BSRATFBys
Not in performing.52Please respect copyright.PENANAxEcv2uGGe4
Just… present.
They needed money.52Please respect copyright.PENANAyEvKUZAKFJ
I gave it.52Please respect copyright.PENANANOeO7hLqDW
They needed support.52Please respect copyright.PENANA21WOO5W5ic
I stood in the back, clapping quietly.
The first event was for our IT department, held in our own campus.52Please respect copyright.PENANAIccCGSkxzq
Forevermore decided to come — with her friends.52Please respect copyright.PENANAls0x6bQAWR
I hadn’t expected that.
The event went on… music, dance, laughter that felt like echoes from someone else’s joy.52Please respect copyright.PENANArJfLISV5Ds
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.52Please respect copyright.PENANACPpmGDpbtK
I did it.
But after that… I found myself looking for her again.52Please respect copyright.PENANAyolpoc5NxE
Like a habit. Like a whisper.52Please respect copyright.PENANABUWDgnZnb7
I wandered around, the traditional attire weighing heavier with each step —52Please respect copyright.PENANADvQItrqNxF
until I called.
“Where are you?”
“Heading to the buses.”
“Wait for me. Let’s go together.”
And we did.
We walked back together,52Please respect copyright.PENANAkRYJzRubMs
the usual banter about songs, anime, dramas dancing in the air between us.52Please respect copyright.PENANAF6GHXoBiaB
Nothing grand.52Please respect copyright.PENANAqh2rGusaiJ
But it was enough.52Please respect copyright.PENANAlUTYWsz7fH
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.52Please respect copyright.PENANAYl4CgVjSk5
A sudden storm of words.52Please respect copyright.PENANA79siyHifZw
She was furious, broken —52Please respect copyright.PENANATsMPbjCHZn
and just like that, she didn’t want to be part of their CSP project anymore.
I saw it.52Please respect copyright.PENANALZSks6FQeS
The quiet ache behind her decision.52Please respect copyright.PENANAtB9mgtq7L0
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.52Please respect copyright.PENANADVEdrLrGoo
She hesitated.52Please respect copyright.PENANAJxtvUTdJli
Asked around.52Please respect copyright.PENANADNiH2A8Fel
Took her time.
And finally, she said yes.
October 8th, 2024.52Please respect copyright.PENANArofcu2Joac
That was the day we began.
I picked up Forevermore that morning —52Please respect copyright.PENANAXddKEiIVUw
just like I used to pick up my favorite songs for a journey.52Please respect copyright.PENANAjKiYz0lWQ4
We met Bettie and the others.52Please respect copyright.PENANAVEPiRatUBX
Our project was about farming and floriculture. 52Please respect copyright.PENANAPLpyCX8wEs
Ironically fitting — for someone who called people flowers.
The day flowed like a page from a lighthearted slice-of-life anime.52Please respect copyright.PENANAaCiuUb3CNr
Laughter over muddy fields,52Please respect copyright.PENANAcVFae39Q2r
my untamed hair rebelling in the wind as I drove without a helmet,52Please respect copyright.PENANAiC5YiYgldK
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.52Please respect copyright.PENANAGDH7mukdGG
Hungry and half-sunburned, we ducked into a local restaurant —52Please respect copyright.PENANAEVvd6v6rtW
the same one from our first visit.
But this time…52Please respect copyright.PENANAC23lvybCNo
she was here.
And somehow that changed the flavor of everything.
We moved to the nurseries,52Please respect copyright.PENANA7tKaBddyld
ran through rows of green and yellow,52Please respect copyright.PENANAOe5KEURAgg
clicked pictures and let the day melt into memory.
By evening, it was time to part.
But before it all ended,52Please respect copyright.PENANATWPIBa1GQW
we all are heading back to the restaurant again — one last round of shared laughter.52Please respect copyright.PENANASbo2tV4wFn
One last glimpse of what it meant to be in the same story.
Everyone left one by one.52Please respect copyright.PENANAoKnqTk3PB6
Simon and Ramu were the last to go.52Please respect copyright.PENANAj8kqYhHf2x
And then… it was just me and her.
I dropped her home.52Please respect copyright.PENANAoMuntxcssG
No grand goodbye.52Please respect copyright.PENANAm1ztEuuOgb
Just that quiet warmth of knowing52Please respect copyright.PENANAaaMEKWGUIC
—I was the one to get her home safely.
And as I rode back, hair wild, heart fuller than before…52Please respect copyright.PENANAWTChKHjMBg
I swear the clouds opened a road for me in the sky.
Because sometimes,52Please respect copyright.PENANAhOPEkYZaUV
even a single shared day52Please respect copyright.PENANAO0EIPSrxKT
can feel like flying.