My birthday came again.
The same day my favorite character had once died in a story I held close —107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfDhZK7B95o
and in a strange way, I always felt like a part of me dies a little on this day too.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ50UkhahIHJ
But this time, I chose to go to college.
Alice wasn't there, though.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5fLsDowjw7
She had gone to meet some friends — people she hadn’t seen in a long time.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyknMzSaN8V
I understood. I really did.
Still, I had the whole chocolate store in my bag.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyhT8qAIL7u
Literally.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡltwmZpmiL6
It was one of those small, sweet joys.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR5XvuHTE8h
Enough to carry the weight of the day.
That evening, I decided to do something special.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEndnNeVAGv
Not for me.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS3XpZPhCcp
But for the ones I held dear.
I woke up early.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTfMkJn3Di2
Cooked with all my heart.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhnbp2jz4Os
Packed everything carefully — biryani and chicken curry.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVWYMABZQYf
Each grain of rice, every spice measured not by recipes but by intent.
It was my second time cooking for my friends.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiEie4PO1XS
The first time… she didn’t eat.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd9IGUSYCFh
Even though I had packed a box just for her.
But this time, I was determined.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsTiGxoaxMP
This time, she did.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjVePyFLVAw
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.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnJSLohG8kv
The same one where I met her.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkxf9SjTKOq
Just five of us — Forevermore, Leona, Richard, Harry, and me.
We ate.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuPZ9hIOCrZ
We laughed.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡacnQLKb9yS
And for once, the world paused.
Later that evening, Richard gifted me a sleek clock —107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGOieBNXTUk
and Seren handed me something else…107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJjPoTh5ghb
a lamp.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNiC6t0V9vB
Not just a lamp,107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8HiNBlDZIj
a galaxy trapped in glass —107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWCvRxTq19C
a swirl of stars and dreams I once saw only in the skies.
Those were the first real gifts I ever got.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEJJh04NwDA
The kind that whisper of futures still unwritten.
Time passed.
Forevermore and I were learning together again — night calls, evening talks.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8SPpKUHmV1
I met her bus mates, her senior friend who knew Ravikanth.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeHMSOLPhgi
It was all… steady.
Until one day.
A small moment. A misunderstanding.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY5Wk2lVbHF
And everything cracked like silence after thunder.
Ren doesn’t like chocolate.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6JJEGy7wUo
Everyone knows that.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ255vewlK9G
Including me.
And yet —107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡap65mabeq3
that day, when we all stood by the buses,107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY9Mo7lsgRC
I jokingly asked him for a big one.
He brought a small chocolate anyway.
I didn’t take it.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7jXuaZGDix
He handed it to Alice.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ8ET01xWTd
And then he left.
I watched it happen,107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu1cXaUsRI7
not as someone who was jealous,107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRkPQwGaHWc
but someone who noticed something off.
It wasn’t the chocolate.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtjVpWDyCEF
It was why it was given.
Not because it was meant for her.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYwzzMHhCyY
But because it was just… there.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiU8UnH6G63
Something to discard.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡggipBPcEdv
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,107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZjUqDbut2B
looked at her one last time, and said —
“Some things are never meant to be taken.”
I didn’t explain.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG0goxfbCJH
Didn’t say goodbye.
I hoped she’d understand.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLF1lrakqmS
That she deserved more than secondhand gestures.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyR1NuIDps6
That she was not someone who should accept leftovers from anyone — even friends.
But she didn’t see it that way.
After that day…107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAVRmnyflBz
she stopped speaking to me.
No more messages.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZGklDpOPJ7
No calls.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsX1SxRoyB6
Not even eye contact.
It was as if nothing had ever happened between us.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5q91dIh8so
As if our late-night classes, shared songs, stories, dreams,107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA8pxdx0HsX
as if I… never happened.
I tried to talk.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKpJqATjeh4
To explain.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0cXj7pmRGn
To bridge the gap.
But how do you hold on to someone107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQpA5iZzh8D
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 for107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc1SH1FGVPI
to finally walk away.
