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.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfY9HFKAfQv
For us, it was an excuse to pretend like we had it all figured out,122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyIy8rtMjtS
to welcome them while barely holding our own chaos together.
I didn’t plan to involve myself.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ32KehWuHki
Not in organizing.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh5GgOjTZvl
Not in performing.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4XbmJtZbc4
Just… present.
They needed money.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSWzzVB14qE
I gave it.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWa4bKNAlvM
They needed support.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLlLN6KJLy6
I stood in the back, clapping quietly.
The first event was for our IT department, held in our own campus.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRzqOaWHu5w
Forevermore decided to come — with her friends.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF5vJnqw6WZ
I hadn’t expected that.
The event went on… music, dance, laughter that felt like echoes from someone else’s joy.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwqDTpsI2na
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.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjCdCMpicwO
I did it.
But after that… I found myself looking for her again.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn0lgDcldYS
Like a habit. Like a whisper.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtEdCpnczZR
I wandered around, the traditional attire weighing heavier with each step —122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDXeqLzwtFX
until I called.
“Where are you?”
“Heading to the buses.”
“Wait for me. Let’s go together.”
And we did.
We walked back together,122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn81CQChTGD
the usual banter about songs, anime, dramas dancing in the air between us.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4j8LM8MT95
Nothing grand.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEXicQirvTi
But it was enough.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr5FdJG6J1g
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.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAtlwPBvV0J
A sudden storm of words.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd1GFDMVB28
She was furious, broken —122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqdcelGR729
and just like that, she didn’t want to be part of their CSP project anymore.
I saw it.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFeRsyb389A
The quiet ache behind her decision.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ36oyjjiY1D
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.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxu0LXq67qL
She hesitated.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQZOZVTy6wm
Asked around.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6U304MGMBw
Took her time.
And finally, she said yes.
October 8th, 2024.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkCacmiOymP
That was the day we began.
I picked up Forevermore that morning —122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdMSqEhz209
just like I used to pick up my favorite songs for a journey.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8q7spOsFsI
We met Bettie and the others.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeebCaJYgt4
Our project was about farming and floriculture. 122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡibRrEPK15c
Ironically fitting — for someone who called people flowers.
The day flowed like a page from a lighthearted slice-of-life anime.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzCNhNKvA9Z
Laughter over muddy fields,122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMvGwdD9CvI
my untamed hair rebelling in the wind as I drove without a helmet,122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6aImuKZNFu
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.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwFYWuNRnrF
Hungry and half-sunburned, we ducked into a local restaurant —122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLoMQfSIlUq
the same one from our first visit.
But this time…122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡovJYZppGBW
she was here.
And somehow that changed the flavor of everything.
We moved to the nurseries,122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC6P531Iwuc
ran through rows of green and yellow,122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7e139KO9iZ
clicked pictures and let the day melt into memory.
By evening, it was time to part.
But before it all ended,122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw17C6xPQq5
we all are heading back to the restaurant again — one last round of shared laughter.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLDDulGFJP7
One last glimpse of what it meant to be in the same story.
Everyone left one by one.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzDXTjp38e5
Simon and Ramu were the last to go.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbKPFHg5FsZ
And then… it was just me and her.
I dropped her home.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpH1UyD1tjP
No grand goodbye.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtoSpWuk1xb
Just that quiet warmth of knowing122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeOi7mvBi95
—I was the one to get her home safely.
And as I rode back, hair wild, heart fuller than before…122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVuiCw5nX7O
I swear the clouds opened a road for me in the sky.
Because sometimes,122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjDaMehkJoc
even a single shared day122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzbjm3W49pB
can feel like flying.
