My birthday came again.
The same day my favorite character had once died in a story I held close —118Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFWxYkBmVC5
and in a strange way, I always felt like a part of me dies a little on this day too.118Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc5NkHAeqw9
But this time, I chose to go to college.
Alice wasn't there, though.118Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY4Zabj2YBs
She had gone to meet some friends — people she hadn’t seen in a long time.118Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh9jwDfeV4O
I understood. I really did.
Still, I had the whole chocolate store in my bag.118Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaX94sg5JH6
Literally.118Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpJ5O712Cmj
It was one of those small, sweet joys.118Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlWUke6uLGy
Enough to carry the weight of the day.
That evening, I decided to do something special.118Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUabJ1KeWFE
Not for me.118Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4ni3KtakIw
But for the ones I held dear.
I woke up early.118Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡitaUHh12rd
Cooked with all my heart.118Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPGcKG3IDv6
Packed everything carefully — biryani and chicken curry.118Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjT1Nt4DK5u
Each grain of rice, every spice measured not by recipes but by intent.
It was my second time cooking for my friends.118Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh9Ko46YDrZ
The first time… she didn’t eat.118Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYyjOOctIV6
Even though I had packed a box just for her.
But this time, I was determined.118Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsiTCrry8If
This time, she did.118Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHf6l2YKlUA
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.118Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ58hY9mVxYr
The same one where I met her.118Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡddLyUShE0p
Just five of us — Forevermore, Leona, Richard, Harry, and me.
We ate.118Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJmaU0ioW4U
We laughed.118Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr3LGx6cZW7
And for once, the world paused.
Later that evening, Richard gifted me a sleek clock —118Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXcL6Mbo8wl
and Seren handed me something else…118Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCkICougap5
a lamp.118Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUq0VMnV89c
Not just a lamp,118Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwCdw56WQYE
a galaxy trapped in glass —118Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCMfmnXOUYg
a swirl of stars and dreams I once saw only in the skies.
Those were the first real gifts I ever got.118Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt4cGQIckCU
The kind that whisper of futures still unwritten.
Time passed.
Forevermore and I were learning together again — night calls, evening talks.118Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzr5IxqsXeN
I met her bus mates, her senior friend who knew Ravikanth.118Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdkjRSny9ea
It was all… steady.
Until one day.
A small moment. A misunderstanding.118Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeOjfenqolk
And everything cracked like silence after thunder.
Ren doesn’t like chocolate.118Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgRRyAkbLgM
Everyone knows that.118Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBq6hgvqKoI
Including me.
And yet —118Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo3Kmz801KE
that day, when we all stood by the buses,118Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1RiJUvF9cI
I jokingly asked him for a big one.
He brought a small chocolate anyway.
I didn’t take it.118Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmWbISLOew2
He handed it to Alice.118Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvoYi52V2Zm
And then he left.
I watched it happen,118Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU9wuCpwhKB
not as someone who was jealous,118Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZIlozs2Kdg
but someone who noticed something off.
It wasn’t the chocolate.118Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTBx5arSg3C
It was why it was given.
Not because it was meant for her.118Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGMY1w55lnb
But because it was just… there.118Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS2bRItXWph
Something to discard.118Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLFEWYEmRVs
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,118Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMsfwQkQzZ1
looked at her one last time, and said —
“Some things are never meant to be taken.”
I didn’t explain.118Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6baRGEmhpu
Didn’t say goodbye.
I hoped she’d understand.118Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWpo5ayGqga
That she deserved more than secondhand gestures.118Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeMBVgJttQ6
That she was not someone who should accept leftovers from anyone — even friends.
But she didn’t see it that way.
After that day…118Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1eeXdL1wU5
she stopped speaking to me.
No more messages.118Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzNhunTvXxI
No calls.118Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqHa80d9QB1
Not even eye contact.
It was as if nothing had ever happened between us.118Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4j6XbW58pB
As if our late-night classes, shared songs, stories, dreams,118Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNPtAOwuZ2o
as if I… never happened.
I tried to talk.118Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIv4AZhId4f
To explain.118Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVK4O6Hw13A
To bridge the gap.
But how do you hold on to someone118Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsBLZwmGNV2
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 for118Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnhnx2AShXK
to finally walk away.
