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.100Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBHmI1vvd05
For us, it was an excuse to pretend like we had it all figured out,100Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFrqTCsCBxy
to welcome them while barely holding our own chaos together.
I didn’t plan to involve myself.100Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLCspiNfnQI
Not in organizing.100Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡguoxadRMN2
Not in performing.100Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNWqjT8W6ex
Just… present.
They needed money.100Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9tPZb03bsy
I gave it.100Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUAld38bjuE
They needed support.100Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVZ7udJeO0d
I stood in the back, clapping quietly.
The first event was for our IT department, held in our own campus.100Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0tb00QEKYQ
Forevermore decided to come — with her friends.100Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡitk6NhpM3e
I hadn’t expected that.
The event went on… music, dance, laughter that felt like echoes from someone else’s joy.100Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuTednm5eom
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.100Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvoiVvbsngp
I did it.
But after that… I found myself looking for her again.100Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVnd51JpqlW
Like a habit. Like a whisper.100Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNUU6J2yhZH
I wandered around, the traditional attire weighing heavier with each step —100Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOZRWNmPOD0
until I called.
“Where are you?”
“Heading to the buses.”
“Wait for me. Let’s go together.”
And we did.
We walked back together,100Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnzkfhYWXCh
the usual banter about songs, anime, dramas dancing in the air between us.100Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWs86B1lKQA
Nothing grand.100Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWM93j12k6Z
But it was enough.100Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMmrFXTL92v
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.100Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd7ISrW1bvG
A sudden storm of words.100Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG8dbYFILJa
She was furious, broken —100Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAFIqZuEukP
and just like that, she didn’t want to be part of their CSP project anymore.
I saw it.100Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHahrdWfzZy
The quiet ache behind her decision.100Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpgrPYEzfNs
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.100Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYVTebSzsWc
She hesitated.100Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8gTykQLhhX
Asked around.100Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUGIfzUhGxg
Took her time.
And finally, she said yes.
October 8th, 2024.100Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiPY5HecqGg
That was the day we began.
I picked up Forevermore that morning —100Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIOjWNSvqmr
just like I used to pick up my favorite songs for a journey.100Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8x57p5jzW2
We met Bettie and the others.100Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc3xUVtQ1gN
Our project was about farming and floriculture. 100Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFcIKnWafxs
Ironically fitting — for someone who called people flowers.
The day flowed like a page from a lighthearted slice-of-life anime.100Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrWndN6nOgE
Laughter over muddy fields,100Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ57cLizZu0Y
my untamed hair rebelling in the wind as I drove without a helmet,100Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoVQXEPdL0S
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.100Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO09LYF1cCU
Hungry and half-sunburned, we ducked into a local restaurant —100Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCKu3RVrmao
the same one from our first visit.
But this time…100Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqf7UANg1Jf
she was here.
And somehow that changed the flavor of everything.
We moved to the nurseries,100Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLYDQIXlBfD
ran through rows of green and yellow,100Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSTz1XOxyUl
clicked pictures and let the day melt into memory.
By evening, it was time to part.
But before it all ended,100Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtuGGaPhTya
we all are heading back to the restaurant again — one last round of shared laughter.100Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqvjpIqz1Q2
One last glimpse of what it meant to be in the same story.
Everyone left one by one.100Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR2C9wWe8Z1
Simon and Ramu were the last to go.100Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGRf2gBee6h
And then… it was just me and her.
I dropped her home.100Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDPVrYulq7K
No grand goodbye.100Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUvcPX0qtaE
Just that quiet warmth of knowing100Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCSrmj9FBY6
—I was the one to get her home safely.
And as I rode back, hair wild, heart fuller than before…100Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0KoQ61l6VG
I swear the clouds opened a road for me in the sky.
Because sometimes,100Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzKBTMexBA7
even a single shared day100Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCZXJkY9txi
can feel like flying.
