My birthday came again.
The same day my favorite character had once died in a story I held close —133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDDqC50xhYj
and in a strange way, I always felt like a part of me dies a little on this day too.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhJIh35nC05
But this time, I chose to go to college.
Alice wasn't there, though.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeiBFWnEdpm
She had gone to meet some friends — people she hadn’t seen in a long time.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4Q5PbGMPZy
I understood. I really did.
Still, I had the whole chocolate store in my bag.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcEDa8gIuxA
Literally.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY7GOvvW72o
It was one of those small, sweet joys.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCp5Os9UxLy
Enough to carry the weight of the day.
That evening, I decided to do something special.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlrS1rMMIht
Not for me.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAgU7j3sWZj
But for the ones I held dear.
I woke up early.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX8Zt0YM5Z6
Cooked with all my heart.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmQ86Q6uCUV
Packed everything carefully — biryani and chicken curry.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXlPJHVHLL2
Each grain of rice, every spice measured not by recipes but by intent.
It was my second time cooking for my friends.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGSwTfeBbH5
The first time… she didn’t eat.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwpF3Y08mHQ
Even though I had packed a box just for her.
But this time, I was determined.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡITvDOnbYFp
This time, she did.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP3sMKrw5Xh
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.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl4Erg4WJxC
The same one where I met her.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDB02j5es2Y
Just five of us — Forevermore, Leona, Richard, Harry, and me.
We ate.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWRFvE9DcCQ
We laughed.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡswCxbVXNoA
And for once, the world paused.
Later that evening, Richard gifted me a sleek clock —133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVtPTI3i80z
and Seren handed me something else…133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0BtNditkfT
a lamp.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgISHgUQJ08
Not just a lamp,133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzCXj6DC4yk
a galaxy trapped in glass —133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdSnrr2ymRJ
a swirl of stars and dreams I once saw only in the skies.
Those were the first real gifts I ever got.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡipYjlMdRUO
The kind that whisper of futures still unwritten.
Time passed.
Forevermore and I were learning together again — night calls, evening talks.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrR9mWyDBS5
I met her bus mates, her senior friend who knew Ravikanth.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqGo1EirBwZ
It was all… steady.
Until one day.
A small moment. A misunderstanding.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBLyxzgvzJj
And everything cracked like silence after thunder.
Ren doesn’t like chocolate.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVFoYTj8OLZ
Everyone knows that.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtC0NSX0ghS
Including me.
And yet —133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiMHmjQZVVz
that day, when we all stood by the buses,133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqEEAQhFWnG
I jokingly asked him for a big one.
He brought a small chocolate anyway.
I didn’t take it.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjibqqatehv
He handed it to Alice.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWKpmUzwB5b
And then he left.
I watched it happen,133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgAyQizSRBB
not as someone who was jealous,133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPpDfaxJdzS
but someone who noticed something off.
It wasn’t the chocolate.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ26q3EmRKIJ
It was why it was given.
Not because it was meant for her.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr6jCWNB9vc
But because it was just… there.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPxxKwtqavc
Something to discard.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuAlP4s7bu1
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,133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiwtYZ32AK6
looked at her one last time, and said —
“Some things are never meant to be taken.”
I didn’t explain.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxHzerlNQYx
Didn’t say goodbye.
I hoped she’d understand.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr7x65Qs4N4
That she deserved more than secondhand gestures.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVXF891VS1n
That she was not someone who should accept leftovers from anyone — even friends.
But she didn’t see it that way.
After that day…133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvGb7Beudq4
she stopped speaking to me.
No more messages.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv1ewszbcDn
No calls.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu1rKeClEsD
Not even eye contact.
It was as if nothing had ever happened between us.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxRwn2s6Uqd
As if our late-night classes, shared songs, stories, dreams,133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv74mvnRlDR
as if I… never happened.
I tried to talk.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6oqEi4g6wE
To explain.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVZVzldSs6F
To bridge the gap.
But how do you hold on to someone133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡev6YSWDnhW
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 for133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTpTWYmpj7W
to finally walk away.
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