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.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqPcyTERqGb
For us, it was an excuse to pretend like we had it all figured out,35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcY8E8wp5Ru
to welcome them while barely holding our own chaos together.
I didn’t plan to involve myself.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcnmUFyKdnq
Not in organizing.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFof2LYvh7P
Not in performing.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1ZrwVGtX1p
Just… present.
They needed money.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiw5JKpAM5E
I gave it.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeDOgmv8R1I
They needed support.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡedLvc45H0x
I stood in the back, clapping quietly.
The first event was for our IT department, held in our own campus.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6TIcRXAspM
Forevermore decided to come — with her friends.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAE2Z7l232R
I hadn’t expected that.
The event went on… music, dance, laughter that felt like echoes from someone else’s joy.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1TWQiHWHgF
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.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYJKetaUFi7
I did it.
But after that… I found myself looking for her again.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP0eYujv360
Like a habit. Like a whisper.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡswMtgmL0Cf
I wandered around, the traditional attire weighing heavier with each step —35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ33urUXRx2Y
until I called.
“Where are you?”
“Heading to the buses.”
“Wait for me. Let’s go together.”
And we did.
We walked back together,35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCIr15ji7ks
the usual banter about songs, anime, dramas dancing in the air between us.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8Sg3HgY8um
Nothing grand.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡubgSTROosP
But it was enough.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5Ryc7ymKx1
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.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5rPMZekpEB
A sudden storm of words.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPRLw67nwNg
She was furious, broken —35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXSReelUKHu
and just like that, she didn’t want to be part of their CSP project anymore.
I saw it.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzpzi66K81G
The quiet ache behind her decision.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ427iEwCe2T
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.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaOArmWzhQS
She hesitated.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI0BPpIuMgG
Asked around.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaDhy6UPR7V
Took her time.
And finally, she said yes.
October 8th, 2024.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzP824n8Jsn
That was the day we began.
I picked up Forevermore that morning —35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAzDzpxWE8i
just like I used to pick up my favorite songs for a journey.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcsb9SUpMUS
We met Bettie and the others.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx1cC90JnMs
Our project was about farming and floriculture. 35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc4Psbjpi9N
Ironically fitting — for someone who called people flowers.
The day flowed like a page from a lighthearted slice-of-life anime.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEGgMuUCbFm
Laughter over muddy fields,35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhSzz8a47FU
my untamed hair rebelling in the wind as I drove without a helmet,35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE7pHK404iM
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.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhbmgk6wRZq
Hungry and half-sunburned, we ducked into a local restaurant —35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPB9Bawt3Dt
the same one from our first visit.
But this time…35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCu9ARs1bTR
she was here.
And somehow that changed the flavor of everything.
We moved to the nurseries,35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpQf1rKFTaJ
ran through rows of green and yellow,35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPLa8im2OXJ
clicked pictures and let the day melt into memory.
By evening, it was time to part.
But before it all ended,35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuwmSmSbPbM
we all are heading back to the restaurant again — one last round of shared laughter.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4ynlHdfXXI
One last glimpse of what it meant to be in the same story.
Everyone left one by one.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUAd72J2GCk
Simon and Ramu were the last to go.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡprTzQ9vspj
And then… it was just me and her.
I dropped her home.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡks7EgPEK4h
No grand goodbye.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡApTOLLVFGW
Just that quiet warmth of knowing35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC8aSOEYac9
—I was the one to get her home safely.
And as I rode back, hair wild, heart fuller than before…35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4Foj79lCpJ
I swear the clouds opened a road for me in the sky.
Because sometimes,35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH6PKCSVFGX
even a single shared day35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwGCBylEbDl
can feel like flying.
