My birthday came again.
The same day my favorite character had once died in a story I held close —117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdwfjUGsPlt
and in a strange way, I always felt like a part of me dies a little on this day too.117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡclBNqwAtX0
But this time, I chose to go to college.
Alice wasn't there, though.117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ33lMdBtmFa
She had gone to meet some friends — people she hadn’t seen in a long time.117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDk2GWeenMX
I understood. I really did.
Still, I had the whole chocolate store in my bag.117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4yyx5BVRto
Literally.117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpT5S0i6iXD
It was one of those small, sweet joys.117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoRCSUttj5g
Enough to carry the weight of the day.
That evening, I decided to do something special.117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU09I66wh5t
Not for me.117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbLYDvbDRrr
But for the ones I held dear.
I woke up early.117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHv8oh2NGbo
Cooked with all my heart.117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi0L5Oy8ap9
Packed everything carefully — biryani and chicken curry.117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfoDY03xhR5
Each grain of rice, every spice measured not by recipes but by intent.
It was my second time cooking for my friends.117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK794vKXeol
The first time… she didn’t eat.117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs1FRPwi3NO
Even though I had packed a box just for her.
But this time, I was determined.117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXgqOUcRp83
This time, she did.117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnMCq2jT8ts
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.117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcLqxEl3FL9
The same one where I met her.117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU5sMbHmRbr
Just five of us — Forevermore, Leona, Richard, Harry, and me.
We ate.117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡywDY6NpYkH
We laughed.117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGl8CxPZ3Gq
And for once, the world paused.
Later that evening, Richard gifted me a sleek clock —117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqAjfC2ZKoL
and Seren handed me something else…117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPm6Y3wIGAN
a lamp.117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsfFFIIpBY1
Not just a lamp,117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI2cUa5DnS4
a galaxy trapped in glass —117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfYlu4uvlnQ
a swirl of stars and dreams I once saw only in the skies.
Those were the first real gifts I ever got.117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyJ0UytNEyW
The kind that whisper of futures still unwritten.
Time passed.
Forevermore and I were learning together again — night calls, evening talks.117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuFbzGXp67J
I met her bus mates, her senior friend who knew Ravikanth.117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOmjawqpTlO
It was all… steady.
Until one day.
A small moment. A misunderstanding.117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ8ueiHpkfn
And everything cracked like silence after thunder.
Ren doesn’t like chocolate.117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2AdHeUL2JV
Everyone knows that.117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVib10jADLB
Including me.
And yet —117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaRoCZN5M35
that day, when we all stood by the buses,117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCL0lz7ZYTd
I jokingly asked him for a big one.
He brought a small chocolate anyway.
I didn’t take it.117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMy4e0GHeC4
He handed it to Alice.117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjvF8RYgksp
And then he left.
I watched it happen,117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKSUOPCBGu5
not as someone who was jealous,117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjjW8Y7Rs6S
but someone who noticed something off.
It wasn’t the chocolate.117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAJiBU0BSJA
It was why it was given.
Not because it was meant for her.117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzren7htjxo
But because it was just… there.117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz4PYvaFS7L
Something to discard.117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAu1HuZjtwE
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,117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIKIjvL0f98
looked at her one last time, and said —
“Some things are never meant to be taken.”
I didn’t explain.117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZKq7IVWOQF
Didn’t say goodbye.
I hoped she’d understand.117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfxqq9W6QZn
That she deserved more than secondhand gestures.117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6DTFXf7rQ1
That she was not someone who should accept leftovers from anyone — even friends.
But she didn’t see it that way.
After that day…117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO03JEpeuBj
she stopped speaking to me.
No more messages.117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRNny7A2UBJ
No calls.117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOldMtF34RQ
Not even eye contact.
It was as if nothing had ever happened between us.117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMimMemPxWR
As if our late-night classes, shared songs, stories, dreams,117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq5Biu2RnLa
as if I… never happened.
I tried to talk.117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxhDawRsZyI
To explain.117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQJsTj0rAS4
To bridge the gap.
But how do you hold on to someone117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2V3cxwWHv6
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 for117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6L4xLEHTC1
to finally walk away.
