My birthday came again.
The same day my favorite character had once died in a story I held close —61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaejkpnj515
and in a strange way, I always felt like a part of me dies a little on this day too.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtMXrEV91kQ
But this time, I chose to go to college.
Alice wasn't there, though.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBST8dReDxA
She had gone to meet some friends — people she hadn’t seen in a long time.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPEWyAMXLJD
I understood. I really did.
Still, I had the whole chocolate store in my bag.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsJKEow8YQk
Literally.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXcq6TkWCoT
It was one of those small, sweet joys.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbkanxPXcEL
Enough to carry the weight of the day.
That evening, I decided to do something special.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6yYpXvpQ7P
Not for me.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZAUSbCJkAU
But for the ones I held dear.
I woke up early.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqvSBpSPKGv
Cooked with all my heart.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡftllmEWzl0
Packed everything carefully — biryani and chicken curry.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbxrN71wdBK
Each grain of rice, every spice measured not by recipes but by intent.
It was my second time cooking for my friends.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9kKTXNPJsM
The first time… she didn’t eat.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3NKidVtHYH
Even though I had packed a box just for her.
But this time, I was determined.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgbNenFfHjx
This time, she did.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ12nLUeoROK
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.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqRe4OQraA5
The same one where I met her.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKJcrCH6FDd
Just five of us — Forevermore, Leona, Richard, Harry, and me.
We ate.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy1Jis7AVzc
We laughed.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ97jQntbqJ6
And for once, the world paused.
Later that evening, Richard gifted me a sleek clock —61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE4GS26jEU4
and Seren handed me something else…61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfWPZXtnuxb
a lamp.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgb74ByBDwi
Not just a lamp,61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRGJxtBEjBr
a galaxy trapped in glass —61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhUhOfqy3dz
a swirl of stars and dreams I once saw only in the skies.
Those were the first real gifts I ever got.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4cNijOjRHm
The kind that whisper of futures still unwritten.
Time passed.
Forevermore and I were learning together again — night calls, evening talks.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXgVBlqkN95
I met her bus mates, her senior friend who knew Ravikanth.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVPjFAyFefO
It was all… steady.
Until one day.
A small moment. A misunderstanding.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn3PijKrCNN
And everything cracked like silence after thunder.
Ren doesn’t like chocolate.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM6pun1cqjV
Everyone knows that.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtnI6V1djtM
Including me.
And yet —61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡki1IPVbaSi
that day, when we all stood by the buses,61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRvupw9LH6X
I jokingly asked him for a big one.
He brought a small chocolate anyway.
I didn’t take it.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdNUBaaZdfR
He handed it to Alice.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2vz5cLBPFg
And then he left.
I watched it happen,61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjGVmrqH31F
not as someone who was jealous,61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcoe9e8vWap
but someone who noticed something off.
It wasn’t the chocolate.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJJGmKXtgUr
It was why it was given.
Not because it was meant for her.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCzEl9N2YIs
But because it was just… there.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyMFDn12Oyo
Something to discard.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPyI3bKCNMO
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,61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGsyC6IyT73
looked at her one last time, and said —
“Some things are never meant to be taken.”
I didn’t explain.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZpxQkpyw9v
Didn’t say goodbye.
I hoped she’d understand.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsGRI0gL3fC
That she deserved more than secondhand gestures.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW0MaBICdty
That she was not someone who should accept leftovers from anyone — even friends.
But she didn’t see it that way.
After that day…61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP9EIJrjDDQ
she stopped speaking to me.
No more messages.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOPn1RILcGn
No calls.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJGMgfIccdb
Not even eye contact.
It was as if nothing had ever happened between us.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg4Ncb1u0bn
As if our late-night classes, shared songs, stories, dreams,61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7ESjONBn7x
as if I… never happened.
I tried to talk.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBh5zjKCl3F
To explain.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkd6x8OjJ4B
To bridge the gap.
But how do you hold on to someone61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIcNUxXUMma
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 for61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGPNVaMUrqG
to finally walk away.
and then Add to home screen.