My birthday came again.
The same day my favorite character had once died in a story I held close —355Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIwUKzZqCUJ
and in a strange way, I always felt like a part of me dies a little on this day too.355Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIsXR5EkzI7
But this time, I chose to go to college.
Alice wasn't there, though.355Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXOAumQQxNT
She had gone to meet some friends — people she hadn’t seen in a long time.355Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp2bE0O3mKX
I understood. I really did.
Still, I had the whole chocolate store in my bag.355Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyHyU9Gfmck
Literally.355Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCckFSGxlCo
It was one of those small, sweet joys.355Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyREnnCUFPk
Enough to carry the weight of the day.
That evening, I decided to do something special.355Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWWsDga81yQ
Not for me.355Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRlgF72716f
But for the ones I held dear.
I woke up early.355Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ670AQHgXYj
Cooked with all my heart.355Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmrYA9eR7iD
Packed everything carefully — biryani and chicken curry.355Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4ijqnTRZly
Each grain of rice, every spice measured not by recipes but by intent.
It was my second time cooking for my friends.355Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ42nzBKoyvb
The first time… she didn’t eat.355Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIyfk2DqVPQ
Even though I had packed a box just for her.
But this time, I was determined.355Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzJoBXcfgkL
This time, she did.355Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWmQTP0QSJP
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.355Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgo8jMmV9HQ
The same one where I met her.355Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiEqEd97Fb2
Just five of us — Forevermore, Leona, Richard, Harry, and me.
We ate.355Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLSKoi45GFW
We laughed.355Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHfuqo6GMcj
And for once, the world paused.
Later that evening, Richard gifted me a sleek clock —355Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvmanhp3NtX
and Seren handed me something else…355Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGn1eCnRBLt
a lamp.355Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqhv65zPUK7
Not just a lamp,355Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxevbBDyoLp
a galaxy trapped in glass —355Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdgc9Szl2TW
a swirl of stars and dreams I once saw only in the skies.
Those were the first real gifts I ever got.355Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2AtxNbDlNP
The kind that whisper of futures still unwritten.
Time passed.
Forevermore and I were learning together again — night calls, evening talks.355Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5vj9aKkjDN
I met her bus mates, her senior friend who knew Ravikanth.355Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3XxjoxrX7D
It was all… steady.
Until one day.
A small moment. A misunderstanding.355Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFockZDJD2m
And everything cracked like silence after thunder.
Ren doesn’t like chocolate.355Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLGh12JNgIe
Everyone knows that.355Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9ue40CHhl9
Including me.
And yet —355Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhjE0xa4NS0
that day, when we all stood by the buses,355Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtMLuFIs0LW
I jokingly asked him for a big one.
He brought a small chocolate anyway.
I didn’t take it.355Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqfL75nBHhO
He handed it to Alice.355Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGoGq15pMRZ
And then he left.
I watched it happen,355Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw3Xe0rezD1
not as someone who was jealous,355Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa8JGDjo64V
but someone who noticed something off.
It wasn’t the chocolate.355Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRxZWMIJMXu
It was why it was given.
Not because it was meant for her.355Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2XmfeI94J7
But because it was just… there.355Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY9ArwtwpLq
Something to discard.355Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMuprAdAHuA
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,355Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQlEBjFhIVE
looked at her one last time, and said —
“Some things are never meant to be taken.”
I didn’t explain.355Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXBGRPFcs7n
Didn’t say goodbye.
I hoped she’d understand.355Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9HzEqZVfnj
That she deserved more than secondhand gestures.355Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2jOI1PZBMQ
That she was not someone who should accept leftovers from anyone — even friends.
But she didn’t see it that way.
After that day…355Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtCXFz2hf7G
she stopped speaking to me.
No more messages.355Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ879tLR8XZ
No calls.355Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZfkJLqn4G2
Not even eye contact.
It was as if nothing had ever happened between us.355Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoLCHw0iHr9
As if our late-night classes, shared songs, stories, dreams,355Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsgF3xhVeYL
as if I… never happened.
I tried to talk.355Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdPRbG4RiHp
To explain.355Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJB3OW93C3R
To bridge the gap.
But how do you hold on to someone355Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMZX23w4evB
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 for355Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFnlr80bJLV
to finally walk away.
and then Add to home screen.