My birthday came again.
The same day my favorite character had once died in a story I held close —54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuOcb3rvU3b
and in a strange way, I always felt like a part of me dies a little on this day too.54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGMXcna90UB
But this time, I chose to go to college.
Alice wasn't there, though.54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKwZaj8CdxQ
She had gone to meet some friends — people she hadn’t seen in a long time.54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt5dPjHiIAn
I understood. I really did.
Still, I had the whole chocolate store in my bag.54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOwCfvI7wKV
Literally.54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy2WIpUsIhF
It was one of those small, sweet joys.54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQbd222zaeB
Enough to carry the weight of the day.
That evening, I decided to do something special.54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN3eXKZ5Clq
Not for me.54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb33xQ1zRoQ
But for the ones I held dear.
I woke up early.54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy3dthDXUfp
Cooked with all my heart.54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSMqop4LKPd
Packed everything carefully — biryani and chicken curry.54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmNDHYZKUxW
Each grain of rice, every spice measured not by recipes but by intent.
It was my second time cooking for my friends.54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMLKSFtSuWy
The first time… she didn’t eat.54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3jd4Xw9dWJ
Even though I had packed a box just for her.
But this time, I was determined.54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWTB81iOgIt
This time, she did.54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡabGPiPACaI
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.54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJo2bmqr5Uw
The same one where I met her.54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX2HiMm5Xlx
Just five of us — Forevermore, Leona, Richard, Harry, and me.
We ate.54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtydYbGKhoC
We laughed.54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVxBFxdqmaM
And for once, the world paused.
Later that evening, Richard gifted me a sleek clock —54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ97VQtSgMBU
and Seren handed me something else…54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd4Ub5jIF0r
a lamp.54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ20hRP2sG71
Not just a lamp,54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKDARx3S2pt
a galaxy trapped in glass —54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKNw1Fot7uT
a swirl of stars and dreams I once saw only in the skies.
Those were the first real gifts I ever got.54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy9Cc3kzzpr
The kind that whisper of futures still unwritten.
Time passed.
Forevermore and I were learning together again — night calls, evening talks.54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5LOXDiw2Dg
I met her bus mates, her senior friend who knew Ravikanth.54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPrx8sfP4vl
It was all… steady.
Until one day.
A small moment. A misunderstanding.54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdWFzn2DY9x
And everything cracked like silence after thunder.
Ren doesn’t like chocolate.54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7MJVZSxTSL
Everyone knows that.54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd0dRFWUx6v
Including me.
And yet —54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNQ5tBRZeNe
that day, when we all stood by the buses,54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfNlv6IzmVo
I jokingly asked him for a big one.
He brought a small chocolate anyway.
I didn’t take it.54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5oaPrSEQDp
He handed it to Alice.54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡugksZ7ocSb
And then he left.
I watched it happen,54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlckYVnYbZs
not as someone who was jealous,54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1gPhUtMpEu
but someone who noticed something off.
It wasn’t the chocolate.54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzfH9axukDT
It was why it was given.
Not because it was meant for her.54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrQNWD0Fc6h
But because it was just… there.54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq4RgkM2Xx0
Something to discard.54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgWPMoq7Yuy
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,54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP8mXJ6yX5J
looked at her one last time, and said —
“Some things are never meant to be taken.”
I didn’t explain.54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeh4FVmsRuT
Didn’t say goodbye.
I hoped she’d understand.54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZRYLRRRElP
That she deserved more than secondhand gestures.54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2mEPDyqcyk
That she was not someone who should accept leftovers from anyone — even friends.
But she didn’t see it that way.
After that day…54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq7A9QhlUEq
she stopped speaking to me.
No more messages.54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy0DmNNtZ4T
No calls.54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOrXFt85eqB
Not even eye contact.
It was as if nothing had ever happened between us.54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5SwsoLzpwa
As if our late-night classes, shared songs, stories, dreams,54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLE3UeoSFBB
as if I… never happened.
I tried to talk.54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6yug1dkPlC
To explain.54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbio0q4e6Ih
To bridge the gap.
But how do you hold on to someone54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡawTpsb96Ug
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 for54Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8qj6HnTiau
to finally walk away.
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