My birthday came again.
The same day my favorite character had once died in a story I held close —119Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiZzIyBsNJK
and in a strange way, I always felt like a part of me dies a little on this day too.119Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtQyGfHjRSX
But this time, I chose to go to college.
Alice wasn't there, though.119Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrgVPS8u9Sl
She had gone to meet some friends — people she hadn’t seen in a long time.119Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMTT9ZCyt6t
I understood. I really did.
Still, I had the whole chocolate store in my bag.119Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4ZoY4bgy7Q
Literally.119Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkiHLD3yhcg
It was one of those small, sweet joys.119Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRJqGaTQRu5
Enough to carry the weight of the day.
That evening, I decided to do something special.119Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuUFnl9hLd3
Not for me.119Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNPzEIo4IN3
But for the ones I held dear.
I woke up early.119Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUL6Z2wLyO1
Cooked with all my heart.119Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ98aEGebprx
Packed everything carefully — biryani and chicken curry.119Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3yvr2dlHVw
Each grain of rice, every spice measured not by recipes but by intent.
It was my second time cooking for my friends.119Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnRqPhBECbh
The first time… she didn’t eat.119Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVEvURREgDt
Even though I had packed a box just for her.
But this time, I was determined.119Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp489zN4gwE
This time, she did.119Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTY5dwIhwXi
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.119Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZhOld7p59F
The same one where I met her.119Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7peUM6zQqx
Just five of us — Forevermore, Leona, Richard, Harry, and me.
We ate.119Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBeZGWS7W4k
We laughed.119Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd7zZX3JpWz
And for once, the world paused.
Later that evening, Richard gifted me a sleek clock —119Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiXj6Go14KU
and Seren handed me something else…119Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoNqXTDy0bA
a lamp.119Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡswB14FY76o
Not just a lamp,119Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaZWeDUGfXE
a galaxy trapped in glass —119Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ94kmuPzqp6
a swirl of stars and dreams I once saw only in the skies.
Those were the first real gifts I ever got.119Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdtYwE5N7il
The kind that whisper of futures still unwritten.
Time passed.
Forevermore and I were learning together again — night calls, evening talks.119Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuQpl6XSMWs
I met her bus mates, her senior friend who knew Ravikanth.119Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuuJiVjKzCn
It was all… steady.
Until one day.
A small moment. A misunderstanding.119Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3CWhoBJNW8
And everything cracked like silence after thunder.
Ren doesn’t like chocolate.119Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzJjnOfEbyC
Everyone knows that.119Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLP9oanb90I
Including me.
And yet —119Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOyxqAwa15S
that day, when we all stood by the buses,119Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIeamKzCtCU
I jokingly asked him for a big one.
He brought a small chocolate anyway.
I didn’t take it.119Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnGXKizSh7s
He handed it to Alice.119Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6OVcJmIGoF
And then he left.
I watched it happen,119Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfibP8LBVlV
not as someone who was jealous,119Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf3bM8pls5w
but someone who noticed something off.
It wasn’t the chocolate.119Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuOFR0aNqhT
It was why it was given.
Not because it was meant for her.119Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwXjMNg4zO7
But because it was just… there.119Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡilghgoyu6I
Something to discard.119Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡga4HBxxvOJ
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,119Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPDIG0DevSp
looked at her one last time, and said —
“Some things are never meant to be taken.”
I didn’t explain.119Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNAkpuQNm4E
Didn’t say goodbye.
I hoped she’d understand.119Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6gos0bpWqT
That she deserved more than secondhand gestures.119Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFai2tb7Cuy
That she was not someone who should accept leftovers from anyone — even friends.
But she didn’t see it that way.
After that day…119Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8YdyNyLSIS
she stopped speaking to me.
No more messages.119Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjsg2ZQsJVM
No calls.119Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy4fgLPeKIf
Not even eye contact.
It was as if nothing had ever happened between us.119Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlVsGZVcqMd
As if our late-night classes, shared songs, stories, dreams,119Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrlUukO1oxv
as if I… never happened.
I tried to talk.119Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvVrwYLc0n7
To explain.119Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY1eAA7haNZ
To bridge the gap.
But how do you hold on to someone119Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgnhB3mIQCo
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 for119Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaiquLQWN2b
to finally walk away.
