My birthday came again.
The same day my favorite character had once died in a story I held close —156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZkcQpPc5sU
and in a strange way, I always felt like a part of me dies a little on this day too.156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyEGrv3qu5U
But this time, I chose to go to college.
Alice wasn't there, though.156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAfA6pEKzGY
She had gone to meet some friends — people she hadn’t seen in a long time.156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡshtxDSN6B2
I understood. I really did.
Still, I had the whole chocolate store in my bag.156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCZMVDyEH4R
Literally.156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWgal1q7stH
It was one of those small, sweet joys.156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXXhCse45gX
Enough to carry the weight of the day.
That evening, I decided to do something special.156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFeke3eIpqt
Not for me.156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaKSIyfmOf5
But for the ones I held dear.
I woke up early.156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV3FZ3W1cpN
Cooked with all my heart.156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCWQSyqgkZ4
Packed everything carefully — biryani and chicken curry.156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuBPRxHBXUR
Each grain of rice, every spice measured not by recipes but by intent.
It was my second time cooking for my friends.156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiUXpFx1zNZ
The first time… she didn’t eat.156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK8WC1RoKvG
Even though I had packed a box just for her.
But this time, I was determined.156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfRG4bu76b7
This time, she did.156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhtXzeakRCc
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.156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTtVtcwFcUA
The same one where I met her.156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRsOMsZCg96
Just five of us — Forevermore, Leona, Richard, Harry, and me.
We ate.156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLtu0pJS73o
We laughed.156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH6NVndexXr
And for once, the world paused.
Later that evening, Richard gifted me a sleek clock —156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYcLZXOEbDy
and Seren handed me something else…156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ58OmW4Izg9
a lamp.156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv9UBIEJWwO
Not just a lamp,156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdpZHNKYhEc
a galaxy trapped in glass —156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU2ayd8jpC2
a swirl of stars and dreams I once saw only in the skies.
Those were the first real gifts I ever got.156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQdd3VmxTSn
The kind that whisper of futures still unwritten.
Time passed.
Forevermore and I were learning together again — night calls, evening talks.156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaCzor28Ggn
I met her bus mates, her senior friend who knew Ravikanth.156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU2QnNwmTIz
It was all… steady.
Until one day.
A small moment. A misunderstanding.156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHVhfjF6MDq
And everything cracked like silence after thunder.
Ren doesn’t like chocolate.156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBLKyZsPDB0
Everyone knows that.156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9we95RqFJO
Including me.
And yet —156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcCjMI0JldN
that day, when we all stood by the buses,156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHZeHVXD3MG
I jokingly asked him for a big one.
He brought a small chocolate anyway.
I didn’t take it.156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8r8PRCQfSm
He handed it to Alice.156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1FOMhdK0ys
And then he left.
I watched it happen,156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSLWfUOgmuc
not as someone who was jealous,156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNwmwKTXpZL
but someone who noticed something off.
It wasn’t the chocolate.156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCF670gWLA7
It was why it was given.
Not because it was meant for her.156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBG1DglTRM7
But because it was just… there.156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4WXrYLSPpE
Something to discard.156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpBfTnbjJaa
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,156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV7RZnSsU8X
looked at her one last time, and said —
“Some things are never meant to be taken.”
I didn’t explain.156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkly7emcTGP
Didn’t say goodbye.
I hoped she’d understand.156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1CqfNWOUvA
That she deserved more than secondhand gestures.156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuFg5fDbV4s
That she was not someone who should accept leftovers from anyone — even friends.
But she didn’t see it that way.
After that day…156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq7A2YoG3L4
she stopped speaking to me.
No more messages.156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9krezcezsi
No calls.156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuHv20UKPfx
Not even eye contact.
It was as if nothing had ever happened between us.156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ64x3y0fNdZ
As if our late-night classes, shared songs, stories, dreams,156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWvsuBBR8al
as if I… never happened.
I tried to talk.156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7UkQgAFkXj
To explain.156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsMsW3DM3Sm
To bridge the gap.
But how do you hold on to someone156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS8TmZH8UOj
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 for156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDpDHfWHVtP
to finally walk away.
