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.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJsx1MVEZcX
For us, it was an excuse to pretend like we had it all figured out,113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUBVI7qtxbK
to welcome them while barely holding our own chaos together.
I didn’t plan to involve myself.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnK8rjB1ctw
Not in organizing.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqsna3FUbtI
Not in performing.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcaEppIqujo
Just… present.
They needed money.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIS36EeL16Z
I gave it.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdFqrxr81vg
They needed support.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJg1RS4X0j2
I stood in the back, clapping quietly.
The first event was for our IT department, held in our own campus.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqtxM2pegjd
Forevermore decided to come — with her friends.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjOqFVBhuEf
I hadn’t expected that.
The event went on… music, dance, laughter that felt like echoes from someone else’s joy.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL7NCKRZ3pr
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.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvG4TWEYQKG
I did it.
But after that… I found myself looking for her again.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhDPmZmlB47
Like a habit. Like a whisper.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkyQ2gyDaAE
I wandered around, the traditional attire weighing heavier with each step —113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLW1y3en7FY
until I called.
“Where are you?”
“Heading to the buses.”
“Wait for me. Let’s go together.”
And we did.
We walked back together,113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9aVH1wwX6u
the usual banter about songs, anime, dramas dancing in the air between us.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp86amAudvA
Nothing grand.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhCMxtRlmDn
But it was enough.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmFe6ibfHSd
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.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOPU7wFKJkk
A sudden storm of words.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1ULGH7vd1d
She was furious, broken —113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBBtbnxpjST
and just like that, she didn’t want to be part of their CSP project anymore.
I saw it.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡciuzwoykW2
The quiet ache behind her decision.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiskbPB9Mhi
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.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA57ltBDctM
She hesitated.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZHAgU6rSKm
Asked around.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYAhj3zLZKy
Took her time.
And finally, she said yes.
October 8th, 2024.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr7012dKGhH
That was the day we began.
I picked up Forevermore that morning —113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLAnHc60o3q
just like I used to pick up my favorite songs for a journey.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUpzQgO2ijs
We met Bettie and the others.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOzNYEkYoSe
Our project was about farming and floriculture. 113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs2E3uPQ2Pa
Ironically fitting — for someone who called people flowers.
The day flowed like a page from a lighthearted slice-of-life anime.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhAkuDsCq3c
Laughter over muddy fields,113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtORag2nyO4
my untamed hair rebelling in the wind as I drove without a helmet,113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpmnYbe9SLU
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.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwL4oS9TT93
Hungry and half-sunburned, we ducked into a local restaurant —113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7zIryRFMg9
the same one from our first visit.
But this time…113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ80o69I3LQT
she was here.
And somehow that changed the flavor of everything.
We moved to the nurseries,113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIOH8pW1Haj
ran through rows of green and yellow,113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjBoYqOQ5Cj
clicked pictures and let the day melt into memory.
By evening, it was time to part.
But before it all ended,113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbnrKHXC4Ct
we all are heading back to the restaurant again — one last round of shared laughter.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1R6sW4bkOh
One last glimpse of what it meant to be in the same story.
Everyone left one by one.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLX4JcNi13U
Simon and Ramu were the last to go.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8LBnJROa7v
And then… it was just me and her.
I dropped her home.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeOdZlKjdSO
No grand goodbye.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOk4QDMI2Oz
Just that quiet warmth of knowing113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZFuntUtwtV
—I was the one to get her home safely.
And as I rode back, hair wild, heart fuller than before…113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2cDFPn03q9
I swear the clouds opened a road for me in the sky.
Because sometimes,113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9knh4q386G
even a single shared day113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO0cEypTsmD
can feel like flying.
