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.