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.57Please respect copyright.PENANAONj2JgwZcy
For us, it was an excuse to pretend like we had it all figured out,57Please respect copyright.PENANAGEcEQxF0Am
to welcome them while barely holding our own chaos together.
I didn’t plan to involve myself.57Please respect copyright.PENANAKPNimTOWcS
Not in organizing.57Please respect copyright.PENANAaKSOh08Kf7
Not in performing.57Please respect copyright.PENANAjHlruuMcJC
Just… present.
They needed money.57Please respect copyright.PENANAZHXYFl7xqu
I gave it.57Please respect copyright.PENANAlTV2fBH66b
They needed support.57Please respect copyright.PENANA5KflqzlBpr
I stood in the back, clapping quietly.
The first event was for our IT department, held in our own campus.57Please respect copyright.PENANA8m4BZ8ooOf
Forevermore decided to come — with her friends.57Please respect copyright.PENANAQUxKn2B3Do
I hadn’t expected that.
The event went on… music, dance, laughter that felt like echoes from someone else’s joy.57Please respect copyright.PENANAnKjW1s2r1s
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.57Please respect copyright.PENANAOu9nbI1SLW
I did it.
But after that… I found myself looking for her again.57Please respect copyright.PENANAsunY8xigTl
Like a habit. Like a whisper.57Please respect copyright.PENANAcgavAWDCrP
I wandered around, the traditional attire weighing heavier with each step —57Please respect copyright.PENANADEoee29GyC
until I called.
“Where are you?”
“Heading to the buses.”
“Wait for me. Let’s go together.”
And we did.
We walked back together,57Please respect copyright.PENANASB3ro63Qhy
the usual banter about songs, anime, dramas dancing in the air between us.57Please respect copyright.PENANAvs5M6Kkssg
Nothing grand.57Please respect copyright.PENANA4nmv08y9fh
But it was enough.57Please respect copyright.PENANAIf4Zgoh9XT
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.57Please respect copyright.PENANAv2Y7LY6nmd
A sudden storm of words.57Please respect copyright.PENANAbwoHpv3J5Y
She was furious, broken —57Please respect copyright.PENANAOiJGATXEx5
and just like that, she didn’t want to be part of their CSP project anymore.
I saw it.57Please respect copyright.PENANADBSg7RziZI
The quiet ache behind her decision.57Please respect copyright.PENANAnBFKe3Fb5m
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.57Please respect copyright.PENANAJf61zEEL28
She hesitated.57Please respect copyright.PENANAeXrpebMLCr
Asked around.57Please respect copyright.PENANAdXp0y0XEOm
Took her time.
And finally, she said yes.
October 8th, 2024.57Please respect copyright.PENANAwfU2GjdfSM
That was the day we began.
I picked up Forevermore that morning —57Please respect copyright.PENANAQ3E9fO8Hl9
just like I used to pick up my favorite songs for a journey.57Please respect copyright.PENANABTEqpRkIfa
We met Bettie and the others.57Please respect copyright.PENANAZQDAO8n4yT
Our project was about farming and floriculture. 57Please respect copyright.PENANAzxCPe4DpUj
Ironically fitting — for someone who called people flowers.
The day flowed like a page from a lighthearted slice-of-life anime.57Please respect copyright.PENANAHFOJXiPEZw
Laughter over muddy fields,57Please respect copyright.PENANAJInl3mV0wx
my untamed hair rebelling in the wind as I drove without a helmet,57Please respect copyright.PENANAbsont2WyeB
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.57Please respect copyright.PENANANcq3Nc8Bbs
Hungry and half-sunburned, we ducked into a local restaurant —57Please respect copyright.PENANASmIM64uK7D
the same one from our first visit.
But this time…57Please respect copyright.PENANA3Iq646bRWh
she was here.
And somehow that changed the flavor of everything.
We moved to the nurseries,57Please respect copyright.PENANAGG4GyHRk03
ran through rows of green and yellow,57Please respect copyright.PENANAXcYkIsnYDq
clicked pictures and let the day melt into memory.
By evening, it was time to part.
But before it all ended,57Please respect copyright.PENANAMthI9t2XTf
we all are heading back to the restaurant again — one last round of shared laughter.57Please respect copyright.PENANAt94Gjj6jox
One last glimpse of what it meant to be in the same story.
Everyone left one by one.57Please respect copyright.PENANAeWBGzapDri
Simon and Ramu were the last to go.57Please respect copyright.PENANA6xVhzguYeK
And then… it was just me and her.
I dropped her home.57Please respect copyright.PENANABHv7gjSmXr
No grand goodbye.57Please respect copyright.PENANAqr4DL1Zm0A
Just that quiet warmth of knowing57Please respect copyright.PENANArlTBxJb6Cq
—I was the one to get her home safely.
And as I rode back, hair wild, heart fuller than before…57Please respect copyright.PENANAzFJQv2gAkd
I swear the clouds opened a road for me in the sky.
Because sometimes,57Please respect copyright.PENANAU1HWlfcsrc
even a single shared day57Please respect copyright.PENANAKjyk5GPUOQ
can feel like flying.