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.54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcJmNAbFiVv
For us, it was an excuse to pretend like we had it all figured out,54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpiTHSZW3FM
to welcome them while barely holding our own chaos together.
I didn’t plan to involve myself.54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQufi39Y9zh
Not in organizing.54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡATA6qfXsKJ
Not in performing.54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡndRoXGCiNY
Just… present.
They needed money.54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZzwpUcjr4r
I gave it.54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5a4LJo0vQx
They needed support.54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwEEnFmiF5B
I stood in the back, clapping quietly.
The first event was for our IT department, held in our own campus.54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKjJJnCpRAH
Forevermore decided to come — with her friends.54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOt2htrrC4X
I hadn’t expected that.
The event went on… music, dance, laughter that felt like echoes from someone else’s joy.54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAv04k0y4Qt
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.54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEkMEeTmaU5
I did it.
But after that… I found myself looking for her again.54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdFOm2Lc5H1
Like a habit. Like a whisper.54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgJOXdb4TCt
I wandered around, the traditional attire weighing heavier with each step —54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9oZ27PUjjz
until I called.
“Where are you?”
“Heading to the buses.”
“Wait for me. Let’s go together.”
And we did.
We walked back together,54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZzyelBAaj7
the usual banter about songs, anime, dramas dancing in the air between us.54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1ESxblqFQo
Nothing grand.54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjFDpAoIgj4
But it was enough.54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTvWv7uCjk6
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.54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9gocGNJnt4
A sudden storm of words.54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfKTjASq1XZ
She was furious, broken —54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS26CsorTYo
and just like that, she didn’t want to be part of their CSP project anymore.
I saw it.54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3l9YdVrwDk
The quiet ache behind her decision.54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2EOWbIGztk
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.54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPZUUuzj2fK
She hesitated.54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNJ4FJ0yCKO
Asked around.54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4MxnA9EfCw
Took her time.
And finally, she said yes.
October 8th, 2024.54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡamgh2OkGGH
That was the day we began.
I picked up Forevermore that morning —54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2F5RKzfbAK
just like I used to pick up my favorite songs for a journey.54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG22JsCnAER
We met Bettie and the others.54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3Vzy1qi5cT
Our project was about farming and floriculture. 54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8PSftCGeV8
Ironically fitting — for someone who called people flowers.
The day flowed like a page from a lighthearted slice-of-life anime.54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0Dx5qQskRn
Laughter over muddy fields,54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkT7guh8duR
my untamed hair rebelling in the wind as I drove without a helmet,54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuU1FBXj0EG
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.54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDCz04chtjP
Hungry and half-sunburned, we ducked into a local restaurant —54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS5REQgz2CV
the same one from our first visit.
But this time…54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8GTdv0F45b
she was here.
And somehow that changed the flavor of everything.
We moved to the nurseries,54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtfOD6yuVGt
ran through rows of green and yellow,54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV2hdmOfzj3
clicked pictures and let the day melt into memory.
By evening, it was time to part.
But before it all ended,54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJqEbyTpAOU
we all are heading back to the restaurant again — one last round of shared laughter.54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9gnqN8SKmh
One last glimpse of what it meant to be in the same story.
Everyone left one by one.54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaMP3fYH9in
Simon and Ramu were the last to go.54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzR53Xnkq5D
And then… it was just me and her.
I dropped her home.54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXC7QgNKX5d
No grand goodbye.54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCL8Aj61AEh
Just that quiet warmth of knowing54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ34G9Q2D8rT
—I was the one to get her home safely.
And as I rode back, hair wild, heart fuller than before…54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ366hvFVlKg
I swear the clouds opened a road for me in the sky.
Because sometimes,54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx5p1RGfTuw
even a single shared day54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyPaqfD1rxV
can feel like flying.
