After that day, the externals began. Then the semester-end exams arrived like an avalanche.403Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvGtczJ7UTH
January became a blur of tension and ticking clocks — PDFs flooding WhatsApp, people panicking over units they hadn’t touched, doubt circling like vultures.403Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz89K1i9wWV
It was the busiest I’d ever seen our campus.
And in that chaos, I tried. I gave it what I could.403Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9EVucrdM0n
Some nights I stared blankly at notes, hoping something would stick. Some days, I simply trusted intuition, muscle memory, or fate.403Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcGZvpYWal2
I did what I could — the rest, I left to whatever force governs unfair results and late realizations.
Then February breezed in, bringing a short, scattered week of holidays. A blink. A breath. And just like that, the second semester began.
Five months.403Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvY6nvkGIKj
That’s how long the first semester lasted.403Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡej7Gy0iV29
Five months — that's what the calendar says. But to me, it didn’t feel like months.403Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWdLih15eca
It felt like moments — raw, unfinished, incomplete. Like scribbles in a notebook I never meant to show anyone.
And then… something shifted.403Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdWXXPlM7VS
Something in the air.403Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEDBF7MLwKh
Something in her.
Seren.
I don’t remember the exact moment I realized it. Maybe it wasn’t a moment — maybe it was a slow unraveling.403Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsqJaFGJ2BG
Our evening talks behind the buses — stopped.403Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQIe4kDbC88
Her presence, once familiar like a hum at the back of my mind — faded.403Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKfenfqDACi
I kept telling myself it was nothing. Just timing. Just routine.403Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgyabdxfD9F
But the truth has a way of finding you… when you least want it.
One day, I was with Simon. Just a regular day.403Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpW8tO7efmS
And that’s when I saw them.
Her.403Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFHZ362BJeZ
Smiling. Laughing. Walking.403Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ64u8xE9TWu
And Ren.
He walked beside her — like he belonged there.
Time slowed.
She approached like everything was normal. Like my world hadn’t cracked open a little.403Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsWay1slPpF
I smiled, because what else could I do?403Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOkUzukGfOK
But deep inside, I was quiet. Frozen. Trying to act okay, because that’s what we do, right?
Later that day, I asked her.403Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3il9XJM1tZ
“How do you know Ren?”
She said — that,403Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC2qCIet0Qe
“Oh… we met online,”.
Simple. Innocent. Coincidence.
That word hit harder than I expected.403Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy7gsbIthjx
Coincidence.
It echoed in my mind, looping like a cruel joke.403Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAsxxtxZC9G
Because that’s how she and I started too.403Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDKQQKaUKxx
A coincidence.
Only this time, it wasn’t mine.
And in that moment, I realized something no one prepares you for —403Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOw7IjKbY7D
Sometimes, people slip away. Not because they mean to. Not because of a fight. But because fate hands them a different coincidence.403Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8t49i3swlr
A different thread.403Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKyXGssj1C2
And you’re left holding the memory of what could’ve been.
and then Add to home screen.