My birthday came again.
The same day my favorite character had once died in a story I held close —105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjEvjsgPIez
and in a strange way, I always felt like a part of me dies a little on this day too.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAYJ7ptVzAQ
But this time, I chose to go to college.
Alice wasn't there, though.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzjU6H78YID
She had gone to meet some friends — people she hadn’t seen in a long time.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaZM0qbGdG3
I understood. I really did.
Still, I had the whole chocolate store in my bag.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhL1V2egIgw
Literally.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ71zqFKXxEr
It was one of those small, sweet joys.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM1SPsC7hLY
Enough to carry the weight of the day.
That evening, I decided to do something special.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ09lEVcxrlC
Not for me.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfj7zEeOQ3d
But for the ones I held dear.
I woke up early.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVzWKbG3bcE
Cooked with all my heart.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUVICaL3EIC
Packed everything carefully — biryani and chicken curry.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv2NfitEtbs
Each grain of rice, every spice measured not by recipes but by intent.
It was my second time cooking for my friends.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo1d6GcBg7r
The first time… she didn’t eat.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwGnvxFsvk8
Even though I had packed a box just for her.
But this time, I was determined.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzsBDdY0UWm
This time, she did.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBR5pAMAHUq
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.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYJC53hpM3Y
The same one where I met her.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5G98KS3W8u
Just five of us — Forevermore, Leona, Richard, Harry, and me.
We ate.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSFyNSv3a0j
We laughed.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQZJNjGSFBx
And for once, the world paused.
Later that evening, Richard gifted me a sleek clock —105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ11P311bFHr
and Seren handed me something else…105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZwsq1fe0UR
a lamp.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOnTnES9K5F
Not just a lamp,105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1r95YJtq90
a galaxy trapped in glass —105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnFZKQSj4BY
a swirl of stars and dreams I once saw only in the skies.
Those were the first real gifts I ever got.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEo4Qu6q5RU
The kind that whisper of futures still unwritten.
Time passed.
Forevermore and I were learning together again — night calls, evening talks.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVBswnY4twB
I met her bus mates, her senior friend who knew Ravikanth.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU1lSj2xGV8
It was all… steady.
Until one day.
A small moment. A misunderstanding.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5GjhLPz1by
And everything cracked like silence after thunder.
Ren doesn’t like chocolate.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhjQH8oEUTC
Everyone knows that.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKzoogeAo3v
Including me.
And yet —105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ05ZTpXymo0
that day, when we all stood by the buses,105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZa9TJZhZi8
I jokingly asked him for a big one.
He brought a small chocolate anyway.
I didn’t take it.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbglm9aHABf
He handed it to Alice.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqWLL89nnaT
And then he left.
I watched it happen,105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnqQQxD9Izs
not as someone who was jealous,105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKe8RPpuuWO
but someone who noticed something off.
It wasn’t the chocolate.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡULRR9aoiey
It was why it was given.
Not because it was meant for her.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQnOqO2RIj4
But because it was just… there.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡURmJE0cQJX
Something to discard.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYHrppi47Uo
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,105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMQzraqtXte
looked at her one last time, and said —
“Some things are never meant to be taken.”
I didn’t explain.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNQ5AWhDGXF
Didn’t say goodbye.
I hoped she’d understand.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfUGtLkELoN
That she deserved more than secondhand gestures.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdc8lfxtVgx
That she was not someone who should accept leftovers from anyone — even friends.
But she didn’t see it that way.
After that day…105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3VUWsLHtoX
she stopped speaking to me.
No more messages.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOK1F2xz4hU
No calls.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzdQSpZhJ0q
Not even eye contact.
It was as if nothing had ever happened between us.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLTm8PRW3Xv
As if our late-night classes, shared songs, stories, dreams,105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ86nmUnqzaK
as if I… never happened.
I tried to talk.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWFYALqFJtP
To explain.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8UgXtdIK16
To bridge the gap.
But how do you hold on to someone105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQW58UkIGxy
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 for105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1SJG4vd0H4
to finally walk away.
