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.114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSfirEMR8G6
For us, it was an excuse to pretend like we had it all figured out,114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTwKBY9w5Vv
to welcome them while barely holding our own chaos together.
I didn’t plan to involve myself.114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj3R8idsjwt
Not in organizing.114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJMZD4MeleR
Not in performing.114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxLskAIONEo
Just… present.
They needed money.114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwRYS0PrzZI
I gave it.114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD0pZB52nJD
They needed support.114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2cTRz2buWw
I stood in the back, clapping quietly.
The first event was for our IT department, held in our own campus.114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrz1GE5xdIM
Forevermore decided to come — with her friends.114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy9Cx7ZLnWu
I hadn’t expected that.
The event went on… music, dance, laughter that felt like echoes from someone else’s joy.114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqaRyue9NSo
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.114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3hRaIRGpcE
I did it.
But after that… I found myself looking for her again.114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuWCfdRrNss
Like a habit. Like a whisper.114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbsoV7ds2wy
I wandered around, the traditional attire weighing heavier with each step —114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuMrbKDMtj5
until I called.
“Where are you?”
“Heading to the buses.”
“Wait for me. Let’s go together.”
And we did.
We walked back together,114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJjsjhRvG4T
the usual banter about songs, anime, dramas dancing in the air between us.114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9fyfeUtQMa
Nothing grand.114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxoFe48QZ0a
But it was enough.114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvoXjkWFXor
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.114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTmsffIU1Db
A sudden storm of words.114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx1ZB6E7PaN
She was furious, broken —114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYi1ZUi8PTN
and just like that, she didn’t want to be part of their CSP project anymore.
I saw it.114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5sGFFsAYSD
The quiet ache behind her decision.114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbBRFXSogZD
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.114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoSaRLYEuo2
She hesitated.114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ07qZ5JshZK
Asked around.114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdQjWqB6JGo
Took her time.
And finally, she said yes.
October 8th, 2024.114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZZ2bwsGlkm
That was the day we began.
I picked up Forevermore that morning —114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVpK4Q19hN7
just like I used to pick up my favorite songs for a journey.114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjtxxQlmjrf
We met Bettie and the others.114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOAW2XOHKhf
Our project was about farming and floriculture. 114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmwKBMLQMhg
Ironically fitting — for someone who called people flowers.
The day flowed like a page from a lighthearted slice-of-life anime.114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb0l8jiPUI3
Laughter over muddy fields,114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzxPMWpYqU9
my untamed hair rebelling in the wind as I drove without a helmet,114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPkkrtS0ZUc
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.114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtHE9eXLNOA
Hungry and half-sunburned, we ducked into a local restaurant —114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxVoZEW4Vwl
the same one from our first visit.
But this time…114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMYmdD54Edz
she was here.
And somehow that changed the flavor of everything.
We moved to the nurseries,114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy328cCZ6e6
ran through rows of green and yellow,114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE4vnURQPDM
clicked pictures and let the day melt into memory.
By evening, it was time to part.
But before it all ended,114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPF03yMOOCJ
we all are heading back to the restaurant again — one last round of shared laughter.114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2K6WGmI0To
One last glimpse of what it meant to be in the same story.
Everyone left one by one.114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgHIWax3epx
Simon and Ramu were the last to go.114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0tX2Ld1h1x
And then… it was just me and her.
I dropped her home.114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpJGK4kpdLp
No grand goodbye.114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPYo2Fgbgeu
Just that quiet warmth of knowing114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEHij5OAtTX
—I was the one to get her home safely.
And as I rode back, hair wild, heart fuller than before…114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9ZhRLCgAJJ
I swear the clouds opened a road for me in the sky.
Because sometimes,114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQzu8g79UCo
even a single shared day114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFBMMNt8hHG
can feel like flying.
