My birthday came again.
The same day my favorite character had once died in a story I held close —134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiUQ9CxogoK
and in a strange way, I always felt like a part of me dies a little on this day too.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMeNHDEZxDx
But this time, I chose to go to college.
Alice wasn't there, though.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhqmn0b2Im5
She had gone to meet some friends — people she hadn’t seen in a long time.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡufLLTB5puY
I understood. I really did.
Still, I had the whole chocolate store in my bag.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUjT0Jzev7T
Literally.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRWttlO3d2X
It was one of those small, sweet joys.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRSkL4GnFKu
Enough to carry the weight of the day.
That evening, I decided to do something special.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ4agAKcXcs
Not for me.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTd2fg4yGoO
But for the ones I held dear.
I woke up early.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG3XsQXHQI9
Cooked with all my heart.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF2AGokjSeY
Packed everything carefully — biryani and chicken curry.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnkUDM2Zwqp
Each grain of rice, every spice measured not by recipes but by intent.
It was my second time cooking for my friends.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFALGZFp0Wj
The first time… she didn’t eat.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP82x2mtALD
Even though I had packed a box just for her.
But this time, I was determined.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwHeHsffWyv
This time, she did.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7YIT7fCjH9
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.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡshRdjv6NKY
The same one where I met her.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGOt3VReqtk
Just five of us — Forevermore, Leona, Richard, Harry, and me.
We ate.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOEs53kcmvV
We laughed.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjw3Aohb7km
And for once, the world paused.
Later that evening, Richard gifted me a sleek clock —134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbHFSWqYmME
and Seren handed me something else…134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxYSVsi1Iq7
a lamp.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2nDPqNv4dP
Not just a lamp,134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkHvDyhGB1h
a galaxy trapped in glass —134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSwXMCd8Qvk
a swirl of stars and dreams I once saw only in the skies.
Those were the first real gifts I ever got.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6fgNjPRqeD
The kind that whisper of futures still unwritten.
Time passed.
Forevermore and I were learning together again — night calls, evening talks.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUjzC1wVX60
I met her bus mates, her senior friend who knew Ravikanth.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQqz6TXmVkC
It was all… steady.
Until one day.
A small moment. A misunderstanding.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU0NtoLyTZf
And everything cracked like silence after thunder.
Ren doesn’t like chocolate.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ72GG2RuMmi
Everyone knows that.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPgCwz5SsIV
Including me.
And yet —134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNmKZ54V0Kk
that day, when we all stood by the buses,134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9sdUwabddx
I jokingly asked him for a big one.
He brought a small chocolate anyway.
I didn’t take it.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmv29kZ6AF3
He handed it to Alice.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx8W4isAila
And then he left.
I watched it happen,134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTKuHKsjmO5
not as someone who was jealous,134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOoyh5Eyy1S
but someone who noticed something off.
It wasn’t the chocolate.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO9y8VCxyvq
It was why it was given.
Not because it was meant for her.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwNP6GXhY2P
But because it was just… there.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6GGSMboCFi
Something to discard.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlXugbAsY4J
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,134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlu0WEN5ofY
looked at her one last time, and said —
“Some things are never meant to be taken.”
I didn’t explain.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbe68bdplFG
Didn’t say goodbye.
I hoped she’d understand.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvNSnh5ieQZ
That she deserved more than secondhand gestures.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqlOd1PTQ2X
That she was not someone who should accept leftovers from anyone — even friends.
But she didn’t see it that way.
After that day…134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJlhJ8u00ko
she stopped speaking to me.
No more messages.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxuc6cO4WsW
No calls.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZcpKcCG7GB
Not even eye contact.
It was as if nothing had ever happened between us.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzoIAAPKipa
As if our late-night classes, shared songs, stories, dreams,134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡchRhBL30Z4
as if I… never happened.
I tried to talk.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvJ02fW9HW9
To explain.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBLXeTUhdvk
To bridge the gap.
But how do you hold on to someone134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwN6bNm0nR5
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 for134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLn9FnAep1i
to finally walk away.
