My birthday came again.
The same day my favorite character had once died in a story I held close —59Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeHM2wTAG24
and in a strange way, I always felt like a part of me dies a little on this day too.59Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAzXC3FlT1A
But this time, I chose to go to college.
Alice wasn't there, though.59Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJZReEOQzKZ
She had gone to meet some friends — people she hadn’t seen in a long time.59Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXOpQrcj9JT
I understood. I really did.
Still, I had the whole chocolate store in my bag.59Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7x2xkE9Bu4
Literally.59Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3EsDJupGVG
It was one of those small, sweet joys.59Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkeS4B9nwBk
Enough to carry the weight of the day.
That evening, I decided to do something special.59Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxpWjFj1Ljh
Not for me.59Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwkZzIiMwl7
But for the ones I held dear.
I woke up early.59Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG5qZul7VoM
Cooked with all my heart.59Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ13CPFcGCgN
Packed everything carefully — biryani and chicken curry.59Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsFEWlUMaSP
Each grain of rice, every spice measured not by recipes but by intent.
It was my second time cooking for my friends.59Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzaBLzTD4Hb
The first time… she didn’t eat.59Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmi7WH9VUhG
Even though I had packed a box just for her.
But this time, I was determined.59Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpptuJfr035
This time, she did.59Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj8bfZjVpa6
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.59Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlX8b7vlryx
The same one where I met her.59Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaLPRKaV5k5
Just five of us — Forevermore, Leona, Richard, Harry, and me.
We ate.59Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEVUB5dVY9L
We laughed.59Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7V56fU7MvC
And for once, the world paused.
Later that evening, Richard gifted me a sleek clock —59Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp2DIehRWNz
and Seren handed me something else…59Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBi5IixlMYL
a lamp.59Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu2Tjn1OLxg
Not just a lamp,59Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQKb8t1uY5A
a galaxy trapped in glass —59Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡriIxeeeHyE
a swirl of stars and dreams I once saw only in the skies.
Those were the first real gifts I ever got.59Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZUaOGcuDV8
The kind that whisper of futures still unwritten.
Time passed.
Forevermore and I were learning together again — night calls, evening talks.59Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyEIyoXX3Ui
I met her bus mates, her senior friend who knew Ravikanth.59Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb0EFFPIuNQ
It was all… steady.
Until one day.
A small moment. A misunderstanding.59Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ1CeU2MDoS
And everything cracked like silence after thunder.
Ren doesn’t like chocolate.59Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRlRnLGwDGa
Everyone knows that.59Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5aO5NDMN9I
Including me.
And yet —59Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfibnqKZPdr
that day, when we all stood by the buses,59Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBvU3YMtP2g
I jokingly asked him for a big one.
He brought a small chocolate anyway.
I didn’t take it.59Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu5A0SsHYSZ
He handed it to Alice.59Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaR1kx3I8Sh
And then he left.
I watched it happen,59Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWtGkEOJH0h
not as someone who was jealous,59Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmskWbiZaZ7
but someone who noticed something off.
It wasn’t the chocolate.59Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgRWLNLylWp
It was why it was given.
Not because it was meant for her.59Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXZASgUG7XJ
But because it was just… there.59Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqJN7z1G2DB
Something to discard.59Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSYC5NyHF9e
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,59Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsD6HeVgDiF
looked at her one last time, and said —
“Some things are never meant to be taken.”
I didn’t explain.59Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuGSi2avI2N
Didn’t say goodbye.
I hoped she’d understand.59Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTzVD9lr3kz
That she deserved more than secondhand gestures.59Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB5b2tb5MNT
That she was not someone who should accept leftovers from anyone — even friends.
But she didn’t see it that way.
After that day…59Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqLAATxa1Ym
she stopped speaking to me.
No more messages.59Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgxppYsP04V
No calls.59Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcRhPvAGB42
Not even eye contact.
It was as if nothing had ever happened between us.59Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE1huJQxe47
As if our late-night classes, shared songs, stories, dreams,59Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBcdntzWQWn
as if I… never happened.
I tried to talk.59Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbBWrJFe3v0
To explain.59Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡERh4Bfz7vp
To bridge the gap.
But how do you hold on to someone59Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzMjm7AqYSA
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 for59Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9w4eFloEiK
to finally walk away.
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