My birthday came again.
The same day my favorite character had once died in a story I held close —43Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrIbrPIGRh2
and in a strange way, I always felt like a part of me dies a little on this day too.43Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBRDPSzfwzT
But this time, I chose to go to college.
Alice wasn't there, though.43Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡecDQ3DACtz
She had gone to meet some friends — people she hadn’t seen in a long time.43Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8RD4HX40DB
I understood. I really did.
Still, I had the whole chocolate store in my bag.43Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvO8qS4tu9E
Literally.43Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSnNbW7bRjL
It was one of those small, sweet joys.43Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLE2OFte1UK
Enough to carry the weight of the day.
That evening, I decided to do something special.43Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLI8ldJIPmy
Not for me.43Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn5v7tFqQyL
But for the ones I held dear.
I woke up early.43Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCoxbxrPD5g
Cooked with all my heart.43Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo6Meb2BEly
Packed everything carefully — biryani and chicken curry.43Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ19bkzmWT2f
Each grain of rice, every spice measured not by recipes but by intent.
It was my second time cooking for my friends.43Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxSDlgyMzrg
The first time… she didn’t eat.43Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdyD814zF7Y
Even though I had packed a box just for her.
But this time, I was determined.43Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGtHVmUjLO3
This time, she did.43Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2ucp3sbtbC
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.43Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqmZI1gZs81
The same one where I met her.43Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfadPehgdFQ
Just five of us — Forevermore, Leona, Richard, Harry, and me.
We ate.43Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKAJEF1IjL4
We laughed.43Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoHPt46UPt8
And for once, the world paused.
Later that evening, Richard gifted me a sleek clock —43Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJxKa72dM3A
and Seren handed me something else…43Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYX6dwv9fXe
a lamp.43Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAG97yLEb9s
Not just a lamp,43Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYhYqejrOnH
a galaxy trapped in glass —43Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8M0KwvDWEC
a swirl of stars and dreams I once saw only in the skies.
Those were the first real gifts I ever got.43Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhFABql9NS4
The kind that whisper of futures still unwritten.
Time passed.
Forevermore and I were learning together again — night calls, evening talks.43Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpUSZCfQYZe
I met her bus mates, her senior friend who knew Ravikanth.43Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1opqBZxeRg
It was all… steady.
Until one day.
A small moment. A misunderstanding.43Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVZvDcxAZmk
And everything cracked like silence after thunder.
Ren doesn’t like chocolate.43Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyYOyW3l7dc
Everyone knows that.43Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7pUgL8kv7c
Including me.
And yet —43Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUh1Fprj8PX
that day, when we all stood by the buses,43Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkE3pNWohbb
I jokingly asked him for a big one.
He brought a small chocolate anyway.
I didn’t take it.43Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZS7qBaKrcO
He handed it to Alice.43Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5lpDtIfZ02
And then he left.
I watched it happen,43Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG0DiZkz5hD
not as someone who was jealous,43Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhBoEfjHOni
but someone who noticed something off.
It wasn’t the chocolate.43Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuJmcflZ23K
It was why it was given.
Not because it was meant for her.43Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTQ3dU1wzXN
But because it was just… there.43Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBZoiSZ33dA
Something to discard.43Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3hzYk8x0ym
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,43Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSbD3awSplW
looked at her one last time, and said —
“Some things are never meant to be taken.”
I didn’t explain.43Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3KEXNdbZBi
Didn’t say goodbye.
I hoped she’d understand.43Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx1cPwOYOoI
That she deserved more than secondhand gestures.43Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoqGJlnqCJN
That she was not someone who should accept leftovers from anyone — even friends.
But she didn’t see it that way.
After that day…43Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdXqE98OfrA
she stopped speaking to me.
No more messages.43Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwtLvJgcJxn
No calls.43Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmCatt7qsJ4
Not even eye contact.
It was as if nothing had ever happened between us.43Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoNcNgCefEq
As if our late-night classes, shared songs, stories, dreams,43Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ97eVk4HEqm
as if I… never happened.
I tried to talk.43Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY7hXiAlh9l
To explain.43Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ67NMLX9pws
To bridge the gap.
But how do you hold on to someone43Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjaYGW1IT4w
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 for43Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLmuUDacHRW
to finally walk away.
