My birthday came again.
The same day my favorite character had once died in a story I held close —58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ5nJ5rvbDz
and in a strange way, I always felt like a part of me dies a little on this day too.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpTAWACddYH
But this time, I chose to go to college.
Alice wasn't there, though.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbWMLKBcg45
She had gone to meet some friends — people she hadn’t seen in a long time.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkT8BVHnY0c
I understood. I really did.
Still, I had the whole chocolate store in my bag.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡePN9eZoS9c
Literally.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWLoWmv6MWU
It was one of those small, sweet joys.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡImoPKwHEn6
Enough to carry the weight of the day.
That evening, I decided to do something special.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYUUHEnwUPM
Not for me.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡll85YN540x
But for the ones I held dear.
I woke up early.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqNlG8ObJZH
Cooked with all my heart.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDAWHhTjTbN
Packed everything carefully — biryani and chicken curry.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpFOhlB6QrD
Each grain of rice, every spice measured not by recipes but by intent.
It was my second time cooking for my friends.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlYnxpvHUVo
The first time… she didn’t eat.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxhJ12fFrXC
Even though I had packed a box just for her.
But this time, I was determined.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCBDMCG5u9x
This time, she did.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSvgsAjLPNJ
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.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcKKmkKnuOP
The same one where I met her.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHOLLkLU5sc
Just five of us — Forevermore, Leona, Richard, Harry, and me.
We ate.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrT9tC96Qsz
We laughed.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmvW1TSnp1r
And for once, the world paused.
Later that evening, Richard gifted me a sleek clock —58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3Kp7e3JCKO
and Seren handed me something else…58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKNv3sF3A4E
a lamp.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD9W2iKwc5X
Not just a lamp,58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjtUTzwNVlR
a galaxy trapped in glass —58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCGIR3R8NBZ
a swirl of stars and dreams I once saw only in the skies.
Those were the first real gifts I ever got.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6gDdBRq7yf
The kind that whisper of futures still unwritten.
Time passed.
Forevermore and I were learning together again — night calls, evening talks.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSCR1sVU1B7
I met her bus mates, her senior friend who knew Ravikanth.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdz9Ydn7iu1
It was all… steady.
Until one day.
A small moment. A misunderstanding.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG9FK6iO011
And everything cracked like silence after thunder.
Ren doesn’t like chocolate.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxFXJLW6r4a
Everyone knows that.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfYeLz7U9qt
Including me.
And yet —58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsTL3FJDXTZ
that day, when we all stood by the buses,58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJCEkWKr91J
I jokingly asked him for a big one.
He brought a small chocolate anyway.
I didn’t take it.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrTffohlFVC
He handed it to Alice.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgZWJOLwymA
And then he left.
I watched it happen,58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZouu4VIaIU
not as someone who was jealous,58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjVvkfeDTtK
but someone who noticed something off.
It wasn’t the chocolate.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHghgHpV77z
It was why it was given.
Not because it was meant for her.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeDc55SwJlN
But because it was just… there.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi3rXQTgW9a
Something to discard.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPc7FAooGvP
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,58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf98CGP2rOj
looked at her one last time, and said —
“Some things are never meant to be taken.”
I didn’t explain.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHEfVGcpg2D
Didn’t say goodbye.
I hoped she’d understand.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ0QofrxGKf
That she deserved more than secondhand gestures.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡACtH83CBSz
That she was not someone who should accept leftovers from anyone — even friends.
But she didn’t see it that way.
After that day…58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh5AJ2eB4hF
she stopped speaking to me.
No more messages.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ93tmj5iiwM
No calls.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPRYYEDUf3v
Not even eye contact.
It was as if nothing had ever happened between us.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡryCNakeLgM
As if our late-night classes, shared songs, stories, dreams,58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0VgCq1MvDt
as if I… never happened.
I tried to talk.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡel4hh15D8p
To explain.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7FpRBX5mNi
To bridge the gap.
But how do you hold on to someone58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrrQOSGBhYl
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 for58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcNAQ2QCOZA
to finally walk away.
