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.