My birthday came again.
The same day my favorite character had once died in a story I held close —85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDEDL4ZG8Nf
and in a strange way, I always felt like a part of me dies a little on this day too.85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfalTFe6U0h
But this time, I chose to go to college.
Alice wasn't there, though.85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLo0hw0GLZf
She had gone to meet some friends — people she hadn’t seen in a long time.85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxHCWlesfG5
I understood. I really did.
Still, I had the whole chocolate store in my bag.85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh2GQFII5Cd
Literally.85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMjRUEQr5UY
It was one of those small, sweet joys.85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI9QDMeFB7l
Enough to carry the weight of the day.
That evening, I decided to do something special.85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX4YDwmZyQT
Not for me.85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFQhIfeyivD
But for the ones I held dear.
I woke up early.85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjJF1jdQEsz
Cooked with all my heart.85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD6Vy6sWNX6
Packed everything carefully — biryani and chicken curry.85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLsusfaMbkf
Each grain of rice, every spice measured not by recipes but by intent.
It was my second time cooking for my friends.85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf35NYd8dnL
The first time… she didn’t eat.85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkXvpKA0R7D
Even though I had packed a box just for her.
But this time, I was determined.85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2BbyVFB4Vm
This time, she did.85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBltFHPlJgv
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.85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7okyC2NHmC
The same one where I met her.85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3LDs2cCS9H
Just five of us — Forevermore, Leona, Richard, Harry, and me.
We ate.85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFKhKVBsq5X
We laughed.85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2bolC9qGtN
And for once, the world paused.
Later that evening, Richard gifted me a sleek clock —85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCTE33R87cW
and Seren handed me something else…85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF1WiqTbi2C
a lamp.85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOqQeXYyPQF
Not just a lamp,85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeTnWjIz6UF
a galaxy trapped in glass —85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpsW5zdhXyW
a swirl of stars and dreams I once saw only in the skies.
Those were the first real gifts I ever got.85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsL2q9liuzy
The kind that whisper of futures still unwritten.
Time passed.
Forevermore and I were learning together again — night calls, evening talks.85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwQ5wl47IZQ
I met her bus mates, her senior friend who knew Ravikanth.85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡda9eMe39gM
It was all… steady.
Until one day.
A small moment. A misunderstanding.85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVESKofeIjj
And everything cracked like silence after thunder.
Ren doesn’t like chocolate.85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ3Kn4Kefko
Everyone knows that.85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzdmyduDbUf
Including me.
And yet —85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZhDuEeZu8Q
that day, when we all stood by the buses,85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5B23NAiZrb
I jokingly asked him for a big one.
He brought a small chocolate anyway.
I didn’t take it.85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDn0a5lV79d
He handed it to Alice.85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvETPsqsHi8
And then he left.
I watched it happen,85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgRX6OJPHeV
not as someone who was jealous,85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNbPKD5AvWe
but someone who noticed something off.
It wasn’t the chocolate.85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjCxv8H2Xqf
It was why it was given.
Not because it was meant for her.85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgpPnM4DtXD
But because it was just… there.85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfNJFXVp30k
Something to discard.85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvLQ9Pjusfv
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,85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLfZMqI6RCx
looked at her one last time, and said —
“Some things are never meant to be taken.”
I didn’t explain.85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRMSIqqmvKF
Didn’t say goodbye.
I hoped she’d understand.85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJF7v3ViXPD
That she deserved more than secondhand gestures.85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFSza3g7Ie6
That she was not someone who should accept leftovers from anyone — even friends.
But she didn’t see it that way.
After that day…85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG0cj2nNhrU
she stopped speaking to me.
No more messages.85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlD5th7J3wX
No calls.85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxOjatLr92e
Not even eye contact.
It was as if nothing had ever happened between us.85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6cgru406g2
As if our late-night classes, shared songs, stories, dreams,85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFjOlAt88NX
as if I… never happened.
I tried to talk.85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkSybxDgj2N
To explain.85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMKBq8dflVW
To bridge the gap.
But how do you hold on to someone85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaOczFajOVW
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 for85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA9vGaL1SlT
to finally walk away.
