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.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwECM2t02Br
For us, it was an excuse to pretend like we had it all figured out,27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCISaHMeMc5
to welcome them while barely holding our own chaos together.
I didn’t plan to involve myself.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPFNkvcUtuj
Not in organizing.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡykd7jmJxd9
Not in performing.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPIkbtEZ4yC
Just… present.
They needed money.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3octdOzcRw
I gave it.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8FLieb2Rms
They needed support.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC4UOtRkLfp
I stood in the back, clapping quietly.
The first event was for our IT department, held in our own campus.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa8zVcjyvtr
Forevermore decided to come — with her friends.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMibIWV1VBB
I hadn’t expected that.
The event went on… music, dance, laughter that felt like echoes from someone else’s joy.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBdb0wedto7
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.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBTCEyddV6N
I did it.
But after that… I found myself looking for her again.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaGTWKedMqk
Like a habit. Like a whisper.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiKnsr1MDSB
I wandered around, the traditional attire weighing heavier with each step —27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQo4ZTapQ8u
until I called.
“Where are you?”
“Heading to the buses.”
“Wait for me. Let’s go together.”
And we did.
We walked back together,27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl1qsFdMX5U
the usual banter about songs, anime, dramas dancing in the air between us.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvyECEfBtsB
Nothing grand.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsbvxCadf8h
But it was enough.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy7ts5fCM52
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.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrD372Hs5DP
A sudden storm of words.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2LMdpxr5RB
She was furious, broken —27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4VNtb5XHaZ
and just like that, she didn’t want to be part of their CSP project anymore.
I saw it.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡayjrYNEKwb
The quiet ache behind her decision.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡynOEhi1wRr
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.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGTqMqqFw3c
She hesitated.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnxWmPUHYWU
Asked around.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbwjRriO31N
Took her time.
And finally, she said yes.
October 8th, 2024.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKtq3ZsJH7E
That was the day we began.
I picked up Forevermore that morning —27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHyfu6ITn15
just like I used to pick up my favorite songs for a journey.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT0QQVQZAtK
We met Bettie and the others.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnk8LqwnDBy
Our project was about farming and floriculture. 27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaerxFaPGux
Ironically fitting — for someone who called people flowers.
The day flowed like a page from a lighthearted slice-of-life anime.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb4M8zM1Y3A
Laughter over muddy fields,27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ87ZDmc4GzU
my untamed hair rebelling in the wind as I drove without a helmet,27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1GMrl7KZVi
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.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOnSU8APHWn
Hungry and half-sunburned, we ducked into a local restaurant —27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwYGGWZpEkg
the same one from our first visit.
But this time…27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9rEHI0sHct
she was here.
And somehow that changed the flavor of everything.
We moved to the nurseries,27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwNmTdRK2nH
ran through rows of green and yellow,27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuyKGxpob4j
clicked pictures and let the day melt into memory.
By evening, it was time to part.
But before it all ended,27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOE5s2YDMOU
we all are heading back to the restaurant again — one last round of shared laughter.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXCCHHfhmEA
One last glimpse of what it meant to be in the same story.
Everyone left one by one.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9lpAqLa3EQ
Simon and Ramu were the last to go.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfIshwDNEw3
And then… it was just me and her.
I dropped her home.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWZpWOtO12p
No grand goodbye.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzwVToe5lov
Just that quiet warmth of knowing27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo5feDrfs80
—I was the one to get her home safely.
And as I rode back, hair wild, heart fuller than before…27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ75ZRy4YoBJ
I swear the clouds opened a road for me in the sky.
Because sometimes,27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfz4UkWh4FL
even a single shared day27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiPCgqVh9VD
can feel like flying.
