After that day, the externals began. Then the semester-end exams arrived like an avalanche.138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAglC0PV1YZ
January became a blur of tension and ticking clocks — PDFs flooding WhatsApp, people panicking over units they hadn’t touched, doubt circling like vultures.138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhrx5br6i9G
It was the busiest I’d ever seen our campus.
And in that chaos, I tried. I gave it what I could.138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvkAvx0KFUE
Some nights I stared blankly at notes, hoping something would stick. Some days, I simply trusted intuition, muscle memory, or fate.138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSZOFz5rq1h
I did what I could — the rest, I left to whatever force governs unfair results and late realizations.
Then February breezed in, bringing a short, scattered week of holidays. A blink. A breath. And just like that, the second semester began.
Five months.138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFSin10ALPL
That’s how long the first semester lasted.138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4nTCOXv6Y1
Five months — that's what the calendar says. But to me, it didn’t feel like months.138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLry33rZWDc
It felt like moments — raw, unfinished, incomplete. Like scribbles in a notebook I never meant to show anyone.
And then… something shifted.138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaqIiyJaWq2
Something in the air.138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsUQlEmA5jq
Something in her.
Seren.
I don’t remember the exact moment I realized it. Maybe it wasn’t a moment — maybe it was a slow unraveling.138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ15kKO4LLFG
Our evening talks behind the buses — stopped.138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhXSfjXtvRT
Her presence, once familiar like a hum at the back of my mind — faded.138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8JYUetgJQu
I kept telling myself it was nothing. Just timing. Just routine.138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPLG9GlKYyN
But the truth has a way of finding you… when you least want it.
One day, I was with Simon. Just a regular day.138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjBguwDRncT
And that’s when I saw them.
Her.138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQxYptLd7OW
Smiling. Laughing. Walking.138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjM2aC3DBpg
And Ren.
He walked beside her — like he belonged there.
Time slowed.
She approached like everything was normal. Like my world hadn’t cracked open a little.138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkONqlcCm6b
I smiled, because what else could I do?138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8OS81Joz4s
But deep inside, I was quiet. Frozen. Trying to act okay, because that’s what we do, right?
Later that day, I asked her.138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7LrT9Qt93P
“How do you know Ren?”
She said — that,138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTvSHbSGwD1
“Oh… we met online,”.
Simple. Innocent. Coincidence.
That word hit harder than I expected.138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIt4rI5Ah7s
Coincidence.
It echoed in my mind, looping like a cruel joke.138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡejPIFKYIDm
Because that’s how she and I started too.138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvnfpd0Cp5E
A coincidence.
Only this time, it wasn’t mine.
And in that moment, I realized something no one prepares you for —138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUwkjKGO50Z
Sometimes, people slip away. Not because they mean to. Not because of a fight. But because fate hands them a different coincidence.138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDwv5j3vw85
A different thread.138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjIj5MN6IhR
And you’re left holding the memory of what could’ve been.
