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.
然後按「加至主畫面」