My birthday came again.
The same day my favorite character had once died in a story I held close —142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaKBRHJTwsa
and in a strange way, I always felt like a part of me dies a little on this day too.142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8h3gb7KK7K
But this time, I chose to go to college.
Alice wasn't there, though.142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqyYF8q37ns
She had gone to meet some friends — people she hadn’t seen in a long time.142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv6bh2bZKLb
I understood. I really did.
Still, I had the whole chocolate store in my bag.142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe8R3z3EuQA
Literally.142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxAWZ8FOaTz
It was one of those small, sweet joys.142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeRS5mQOSvQ
Enough to carry the weight of the day.
That evening, I decided to do something special.142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJDjoDlLzpv
Not for me.142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡooajpYP0d6
But for the ones I held dear.
I woke up early.142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoQ0308U7aB
Cooked with all my heart.142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ74yPOC0Sbl
Packed everything carefully — biryani and chicken curry.142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtDw29X1s89
Each grain of rice, every spice measured not by recipes but by intent.
It was my second time cooking for my friends.142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO27Zswln95
The first time… she didn’t eat.142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfBSvfIXudf
Even though I had packed a box just for her.
But this time, I was determined.142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2zaa2cn5x0
This time, she did.142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA2vDgxZyd8
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.142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1H3ik8YMAO
The same one where I met her.142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH4eFLzXgyq
Just five of us — Forevermore, Leona, Richard, Harry, and me.
We ate.142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB6a8W3qaT1
We laughed.142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIt94DIvinK
And for once, the world paused.
Later that evening, Richard gifted me a sleek clock —142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOlesE6scek
and Seren handed me something else…142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR5E3Z1pVIP
a lamp.142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoxtVouh3p5
Not just a lamp,142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjdAprWFlZS
a galaxy trapped in glass —142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ18hMX0XlxK
a swirl of stars and dreams I once saw only in the skies.
Those were the first real gifts I ever got.142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXO4XgeTMMw
The kind that whisper of futures still unwritten.
Time passed.
Forevermore and I were learning together again — night calls, evening talks.142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUL8QkAkICy
I met her bus mates, her senior friend who knew Ravikanth.142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe1I0smWmBU
It was all… steady.
Until one day.
A small moment. A misunderstanding.142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4XWxxulXMt
And everything cracked like silence after thunder.
Ren doesn’t like chocolate.142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS3d5GWwYsl
Everyone knows that.142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKZAhah07WJ
Including me.
And yet —142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqkGN9iDcB1
that day, when we all stood by the buses,142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYvSgoBAlCr
I jokingly asked him for a big one.
He brought a small chocolate anyway.
I didn’t take it.142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgfdNLvl2W6
He handed it to Alice.142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlamUkcZvDq
And then he left.
I watched it happen,142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsN5zVh7AFW
not as someone who was jealous,142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2LnrJkkjuI
but someone who noticed something off.
It wasn’t the chocolate.142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4dTiU5BmB0
It was why it was given.
Not because it was meant for her.142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0K334SBoxx
But because it was just… there.142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsl3UXwvNMc
Something to discard.142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpzKNtWgLWE
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,142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQxocit4EeM
looked at her one last time, and said —
“Some things are never meant to be taken.”
I didn’t explain.142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDRe3IO1VAm
Didn’t say goodbye.
I hoped she’d understand.142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv4rK05w0hQ
That she deserved more than secondhand gestures.142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtYMATQ0paG
That she was not someone who should accept leftovers from anyone — even friends.
But she didn’t see it that way.
After that day…142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH2JKAloqSd
she stopped speaking to me.
No more messages.142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB4mkptOkIj
No calls.142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ36eQuTGRe7
Not even eye contact.
It was as if nothing had ever happened between us.142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL0lD8x2EB9
As if our late-night classes, shared songs, stories, dreams,142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuUnSp5SOiO
as if I… never happened.
I tried to talk.142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzdlrdtMhXy
To explain.142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ97KdDOkTki
To bridge the gap.
But how do you hold on to someone142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV7c7XT4MeX
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 for142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAxDMgwVrTC
to finally walk away.
