My birthday came again.
The same day my favorite character had once died in a story I held close —21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT5ixZ0llE0
and in a strange way, I always felt like a part of me dies a little on this day too.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM92Ln7BFCq
But this time, I chose to go to college.
Alice wasn't there, though.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe7XcPqc81A
She had gone to meet some friends — people she hadn’t seen in a long time.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2pzJtPh7mz
I understood. I really did.
Still, I had the whole chocolate store in my bag.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM40wwv9aoO
Literally.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZEdMFonHy1
It was one of those small, sweet joys.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7biPil6KNi
Enough to carry the weight of the day.
That evening, I decided to do something special.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuvf5c5IxgW
Not for me.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxcIak0eD83
But for the ones I held dear.
I woke up early.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN9NkwG69kQ
Cooked with all my heart.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLkKf8UMwyu
Packed everything carefully — biryani and chicken curry.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcIh1AiAvIx
Each grain of rice, every spice measured not by recipes but by intent.
It was my second time cooking for my friends.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGqh1svIlK1
The first time… she didn’t eat.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU0QlLtfNqO
Even though I had packed a box just for her.
But this time, I was determined.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsS7KqR1xU2
This time, she did.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ98um7kaQPV
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.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi8TWsNTnBW
The same one where I met her.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo4XH4exErr
Just five of us — Forevermore, Leona, Richard, Harry, and me.
We ate.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsbwiVMk3k9
We laughed.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLTjGAjEz3W
And for once, the world paused.
Later that evening, Richard gifted me a sleek clock —21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLtbmXaoeKy
and Seren handed me something else…21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVgRnZSnwba
a lamp.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZwpG9lHUFa
Not just a lamp,21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnbIG3VlP2v
a galaxy trapped in glass —21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYTX8xpafT3
a swirl of stars and dreams I once saw only in the skies.
Those were the first real gifts I ever got.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAsCtK7nmwt
The kind that whisper of futures still unwritten.
Time passed.
Forevermore and I were learning together again — night calls, evening talks.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGMjH6r7lh9
I met her bus mates, her senior friend who knew Ravikanth.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM66PzBVa7c
It was all… steady.
Until one day.
A small moment. A misunderstanding.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYntSz26rIE
And everything cracked like silence after thunder.
Ren doesn’t like chocolate.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3kIuAv4JYi
Everyone knows that.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTE6stBywPm
Including me.
And yet —21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5Ol5irg6Yp
that day, when we all stood by the buses,21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG0TRH5E6YH
I jokingly asked him for a big one.
He brought a small chocolate anyway.
I didn’t take it.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuvd2kW8WMq
He handed it to Alice.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡODk98W7exM
And then he left.
I watched it happen,21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvI9XPQ1Coy
not as someone who was jealous,21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpi4pDLY0H1
but someone who noticed something off.
It wasn’t the chocolate.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxFPIrKVvzz
It was why it was given.
Not because it was meant for her.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ245zMMEVIp
But because it was just… there.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7fdktdn9Zi
Something to discard.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQtJA3ZirFp
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,21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJElBySyELE
looked at her one last time, and said —
“Some things are never meant to be taken.”
I didn’t explain.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsQFqtHWcl0
Didn’t say goodbye.
I hoped she’d understand.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVbdQRLp7Pv
That she deserved more than secondhand gestures.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPwDXK1cHq2
That she was not someone who should accept leftovers from anyone — even friends.
But she didn’t see it that way.
After that day…21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2irxC2KZTg
she stopped speaking to me.
No more messages.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4y3h2csV2t
No calls.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO7PZixR7gz
Not even eye contact.
It was as if nothing had ever happened between us.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpIiv5zNwgf
As if our late-night classes, shared songs, stories, dreams,21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGPrLw1rEY4
as if I… never happened.
I tried to talk.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFnFMB4eAVI
To explain.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX8VPY4QGKs
To bridge the gap.
But how do you hold on to someone21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmFpF7uLXUy
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 for21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡioQa6yi6VZ
to finally walk away.
