My birthday came again.
The same day my favorite character had once died in a story I held close —131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCHXnFGfJZX
and in a strange way, I always felt like a part of me dies a little on this day too.131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDZB0FaO9DB
But this time, I chose to go to college.
Alice wasn't there, though.131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPkupjEAYFr
She had gone to meet some friends — people she hadn’t seen in a long time.131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpZ49xAhZNG
I understood. I really did.
Still, I had the whole chocolate store in my bag.131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiyNsW5ZgwJ
Literally.131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZpVXrg1vxE
It was one of those small, sweet joys.131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ43HwxZwy3p
Enough to carry the weight of the day.
That evening, I decided to do something special.131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoPp0ePpLzH
Not for me.131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtrW36JBmU1
But for the ones I held dear.
I woke up early.131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz78RlaBsLY
Cooked with all my heart.131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbf1fYtop1W
Packed everything carefully — biryani and chicken curry.131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNN1ZYqhX6R
Each grain of rice, every spice measured not by recipes but by intent.
It was my second time cooking for my friends.131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcDqdmj32Yj
The first time… she didn’t eat.131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡheHtCb4RxH
Even though I had packed a box just for her.
But this time, I was determined.131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ2sak8lFPt
This time, she did.131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVVxLQnsfVM
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.131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7xGbbLRk2D
The same one where I met her.131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡahq0bHzhRy
Just five of us — Forevermore, Leona, Richard, Harry, and me.
We ate.131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqzFGgvM5Yb
We laughed.131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtyIcorJtkR
And for once, the world paused.
Later that evening, Richard gifted me a sleek clock —131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbvrwlPjKdb
and Seren handed me something else…131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgs6TudCgGk
a lamp.131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4vQoGIRfrO
Not just a lamp,131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtHBnYfjx7N
a galaxy trapped in glass —131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV7388snLeK
a swirl of stars and dreams I once saw only in the skies.
Those were the first real gifts I ever got.131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqwGGjcJ5u3
The kind that whisper of futures still unwritten.
Time passed.
Forevermore and I were learning together again — night calls, evening talks.131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyGVIY1rwiI
I met her bus mates, her senior friend who knew Ravikanth.131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRP9MOisqfA
It was all… steady.
Until one day.
A small moment. A misunderstanding.131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡezZQCU5dzj
And everything cracked like silence after thunder.
Ren doesn’t like chocolate.131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRidRPT7Vj1
Everyone knows that.131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4b6WKO0Yom
Including me.
And yet —131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbcsEK5QVsB
that day, when we all stood by the buses,131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlmmmqs4xXr
I jokingly asked him for a big one.
He brought a small chocolate anyway.
I didn’t take it.131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsvCyTvc8qM
He handed it to Alice.131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ07nGdSur1L
And then he left.
I watched it happen,131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE6W9pMMvzP
not as someone who was jealous,131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ46rfAKPaVD
but someone who noticed something off.
It wasn’t the chocolate.131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1wkRKniSt0
It was why it was given.
Not because it was meant for her.131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjIjnkr3vXk
But because it was just… there.131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8fe00j4ND5
Something to discard.131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtcDQfWsWNf
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,131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3REpFoHK4W
looked at her one last time, and said —
“Some things are never meant to be taken.”
I didn’t explain.131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOPh6LmMNZP
Didn’t say goodbye.
I hoped she’d understand.131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYsLXmGa0J4
That she deserved more than secondhand gestures.131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjDe39m4MK5
That she was not someone who should accept leftovers from anyone — even friends.
But she didn’t see it that way.
After that day…131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7xgFRsGLht
she stopped speaking to me.
No more messages.131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcZIxPP6YMU
No calls.131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfjZo3eyxiv
Not even eye contact.
It was as if nothing had ever happened between us.131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe3cuDbtdQ1
As if our late-night classes, shared songs, stories, dreams,131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPNMT89EsHn
as if I… never happened.
I tried to talk.131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3URumGPdN7
To explain.131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk4T3GeSNEw
To bridge the gap.
But how do you hold on to someone131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsG94LwauTR
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 for131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ86PIEw1gtf
to finally walk away.
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