My birthday came again.
The same day my favorite character had once died in a story I held close —33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLTyIp4XzwZ
and in a strange way, I always felt like a part of me dies a little on this day too.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHI1hCnAsZE
But this time, I chose to go to college.
Alice wasn't there, though.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYsezZiCGy0
She had gone to meet some friends — people she hadn’t seen in a long time.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD6kVAny1j5
I understood. I really did.
Still, I had the whole chocolate store in my bag.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdKCw6cPk95
Literally.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrgzqGyywMw
It was one of those small, sweet joys.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzYpWAmaJMD
Enough to carry the weight of the day.
That evening, I decided to do something special.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCaYj6xPxFr
Not for me.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhu2BXReqy8
But for the ones I held dear.
I woke up early.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPorQVjHL0s
Cooked with all my heart.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRBsNS4ORwA
Packed everything carefully — biryani and chicken curry.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡADbv3reEhJ
Each grain of rice, every spice measured not by recipes but by intent.
It was my second time cooking for my friends.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZn97cfxbEj
The first time… she didn’t eat.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhPNfafgHRF
Even though I had packed a box just for her.
But this time, I was determined.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlGP4XgQR4u
This time, she did.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWZ8RlXkhmA
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.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCLJbUCfPy7
The same one where I met her.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuWN4GcfMXR
Just five of us — Forevermore, Leona, Richard, Harry, and me.
We ate.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeYBbRsnOsb
We laughed.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM3S8N9U3W7
And for once, the world paused.
Later that evening, Richard gifted me a sleek clock —33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcDWJCeaRSQ
and Seren handed me something else…33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQhLfXY5Qib
a lamp.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQLajPlVmqE
Not just a lamp,33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnny2W2knaD
a galaxy trapped in glass —33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMbj3PtV7GQ
a swirl of stars and dreams I once saw only in the skies.
Those were the first real gifts I ever got.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuxGLJVMIh8
The kind that whisper of futures still unwritten.
Time passed.
Forevermore and I were learning together again — night calls, evening talks.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpjVhrWc45O
I met her bus mates, her senior friend who knew Ravikanth.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYknDxakwFt
It was all… steady.
Until one day.
A small moment. A misunderstanding.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUDzabpFwD0
And everything cracked like silence after thunder.
Ren doesn’t like chocolate.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWnWYKMAW1o
Everyone knows that.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSVxHQKFCRX
Including me.
And yet —33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVjy6oFibwh
that day, when we all stood by the buses,33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfXBXNwRkQn
I jokingly asked him for a big one.
He brought a small chocolate anyway.
I didn’t take it.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkSgdvGbsiU
He handed it to Alice.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz7yY2vtJ4h
And then he left.
I watched it happen,33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrNOM1MGC8e
not as someone who was jealous,33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡphBM1cfmRV
but someone who noticed something off.
It wasn’t the chocolate.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOLrrSGE5K6
It was why it was given.
Not because it was meant for her.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY7d5DP6deJ
But because it was just… there.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMou3yox6xi
Something to discard.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGyytqhtioZ
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,33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7cOkA28WxU
looked at her one last time, and said —
“Some things are never meant to be taken.”
I didn’t explain.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRadtSsQJg2
Didn’t say goodbye.
I hoped she’d understand.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtcnwZf4G3i
That she deserved more than secondhand gestures.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlvEC3CdHLX
That she was not someone who should accept leftovers from anyone — even friends.
But she didn’t see it that way.
After that day…33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj3fEuRpIOZ
she stopped speaking to me.
No more messages.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgYJMjllBwG
No calls.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR6YgnZWQJT
Not even eye contact.
It was as if nothing had ever happened between us.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRXdIRzUDhi
As if our late-night classes, shared songs, stories, dreams,33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhWPIg5dsQW
as if I… never happened.
I tried to talk.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxVQle2BLR7
To explain.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuybZKoUfW7
To bridge the gap.
But how do you hold on to someone33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡme9lk0e0Mk
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 for33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8Q0idEHc5Q
to finally walk away.
