My birthday came again.
The same day my favorite character had once died in a story I held close —63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfNZeHVaDcF
and in a strange way, I always felt like a part of me dies a little on this day too.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp6wl4OdT55
But this time, I chose to go to college.
Alice wasn't there, though.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMzRlf8gfbf
She had gone to meet some friends — people she hadn’t seen in a long time.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeuUnXTbv67
I understood. I really did.
Still, I had the whole chocolate store in my bag.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZzqNnLf3u3
Literally.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZPkUkeHY7B
It was one of those small, sweet joys.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbzYpiXVbpz
Enough to carry the weight of the day.
That evening, I decided to do something special.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbUN2srMn9P
Not for me.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMQLN1rUzzq
But for the ones I held dear.
I woke up early.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF8qwEkYjoD
Cooked with all my heart.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY5iD5aslU1
Packed everything carefully — biryani and chicken curry.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡap0IPQGJ3C
Each grain of rice, every spice measured not by recipes but by intent.
It was my second time cooking for my friends.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3LRC1M2ABr
The first time… she didn’t eat.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7an7MyY9i6
Even though I had packed a box just for her.
But this time, I was determined.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqBqpUPLif1
This time, she did.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZYLffrABly
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.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJHEfKpNYsc
The same one where I met her.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ22B4WKJMdo
Just five of us — Forevermore, Leona, Richard, Harry, and me.
We ate.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi6r62DMqr6
We laughed.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNA3Q2xx1R6
And for once, the world paused.
Later that evening, Richard gifted me a sleek clock —63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHZTCX22V7G
and Seren handed me something else…63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5ydKagAoH3
a lamp.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjvekYe3dS4
Not just a lamp,63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3L4zRTW5Pc
a galaxy trapped in glass —63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmqnL1Xnsv8
a swirl of stars and dreams I once saw only in the skies.
Those were the first real gifts I ever got.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSoZgUb2IiS
The kind that whisper of futures still unwritten.
Time passed.
Forevermore and I were learning together again — night calls, evening talks.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOKR2q1mWJa
I met her bus mates, her senior friend who knew Ravikanth.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUxUMTvvD2O
It was all… steady.
Until one day.
A small moment. A misunderstanding.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV6ZILw55aR
And everything cracked like silence after thunder.
Ren doesn’t like chocolate.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkm0hewVluX
Everyone knows that.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOTSijf1ksG
Including me.
And yet —63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1Zf9RvGH1D
that day, when we all stood by the buses,63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZvEGMbnL5w
I jokingly asked him for a big one.
He brought a small chocolate anyway.
I didn’t take it.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡygGVFYnZjS
He handed it to Alice.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeHOAaFxL73
And then he left.
I watched it happen,63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp1raGfp86r
not as someone who was jealous,63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcPCALHc74o
but someone who noticed something off.
It wasn’t the chocolate.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyPq8dkyap8
It was why it was given.
Not because it was meant for her.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7RyuTwDfJf
But because it was just… there.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFOdqP4F8wL
Something to discard.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN5wXTw5ivR
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,63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdZ2pw77qyp
looked at her one last time, and said —
“Some things are never meant to be taken.”
I didn’t explain.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKpxhHw6y3k
Didn’t say goodbye.
I hoped she’d understand.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbB49unyr72
That she deserved more than secondhand gestures.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGJjByQ9nas
That she was not someone who should accept leftovers from anyone — even friends.
But she didn’t see it that way.
After that day…63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlybXXVSiZ8
she stopped speaking to me.
No more messages.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7aNuCxnsuw
No calls.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5c5QTkpdrY
Not even eye contact.
It was as if nothing had ever happened between us.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcoInDhQRhh
As if our late-night classes, shared songs, stories, dreams,63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ5BQM1aMJS
as if I… never happened.
I tried to talk.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbb39oyHa1o
To explain.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkleMCE1RRw
To bridge the gap.
But how do you hold on to someone63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRGgk0OElxV
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 for63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCHl16ws3kr
to finally walk away.
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