My birthday came again.
The same day my favorite character had once died in a story I held close —50Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyf3Q8cbJYg
and in a strange way, I always felt like a part of me dies a little on this day too.50Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAWxxCi3xA5
But this time, I chose to go to college.
Alice wasn't there, though.50Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLflw8F3jwu
She had gone to meet some friends — people she hadn’t seen in a long time.50Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgF8DMYRjJt
I understood. I really did.
Still, I had the whole chocolate store in my bag.50Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP3mcUJ87SJ
Literally.50Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh7poFyMZ25
It was one of those small, sweet joys.50Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqbGCXA3ujL
Enough to carry the weight of the day.
That evening, I decided to do something special.50Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC4bLJJDugS
Not for me.50Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTFN921KN9a
But for the ones I held dear.
I woke up early.50Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK94JiVZVOV
Cooked with all my heart.50Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxfELWO3qSt
Packed everything carefully — biryani and chicken curry.50Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9UEklFxpwN
Each grain of rice, every spice measured not by recipes but by intent.
It was my second time cooking for my friends.50Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXHLE3aWwZ0
The first time… she didn’t eat.50Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwxvs6iOp8o
Even though I had packed a box just for her.
But this time, I was determined.50Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQgUMzwb5iD
This time, she did.50Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRDHCB7zHfl
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.50Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5XMXmHigsb
The same one where I met her.50Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv4pvvxMJhh
Just five of us — Forevermore, Leona, Richard, Harry, and me.
We ate.50Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb9m10o9KVs
We laughed.50Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzjaefX2wRj
And for once, the world paused.
Later that evening, Richard gifted me a sleek clock —50Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0Wl63RTkVQ
and Seren handed me something else…50Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCtSJzh4uPb
a lamp.50Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq4s73tUxs1
Not just a lamp,50Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGeIuZBrdyc
a galaxy trapped in glass —50Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP4sN2VdQK5
a swirl of stars and dreams I once saw only in the skies.
Those were the first real gifts I ever got.50Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtS4zamstsm
The kind that whisper of futures still unwritten.
Time passed.
Forevermore and I were learning together again — night calls, evening talks.50Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡduYuPiWnoq
I met her bus mates, her senior friend who knew Ravikanth.50Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrbfizrJUEY
It was all… steady.
Until one day.
A small moment. A misunderstanding.50Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH2dafyuGbQ
And everything cracked like silence after thunder.
Ren doesn’t like chocolate.50Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3syFPoLC5y
Everyone knows that.50Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFgsGVP0IpJ
Including me.
And yet —50Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcINsM4Mpaf
that day, when we all stood by the buses,50Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKbLUhf1JBI
I jokingly asked him for a big one.
He brought a small chocolate anyway.
I didn’t take it.50Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbhKCWuViAJ
He handed it to Alice.50Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9QbR1Zq5FI
And then he left.
I watched it happen,50Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmWwNugJeZY
not as someone who was jealous,50Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKPe5SItF6c
but someone who noticed something off.
It wasn’t the chocolate.50Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJqLKMW5cZi
It was why it was given.
Not because it was meant for her.50Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3QaCTGfNeB
But because it was just… there.50Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGbHvrR4FY5
Something to discard.50Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhLeKiswIt7
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,50Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYETgW5m1CF
looked at her one last time, and said —
“Some things are never meant to be taken.”
I didn’t explain.50Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVRKEsAHX5t
Didn’t say goodbye.
I hoped she’d understand.50Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwLNGCNiUS7
That she deserved more than secondhand gestures.50Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn4BTSDZCIQ
That she was not someone who should accept leftovers from anyone — even friends.
But she didn’t see it that way.
After that day…50Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg2U0Dk8He6
she stopped speaking to me.
No more messages.50Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNzgarMe8OL
No calls.50Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGHexHCLOox
Not even eye contact.
It was as if nothing had ever happened between us.50Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqLnGLLBUHk
As if our late-night classes, shared songs, stories, dreams,50Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnUD0KkSToQ
as if I… never happened.
I tried to talk.50Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ89Y4EYC3AY
To explain.50Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPzUjbUwlfI
To bridge the gap.
But how do you hold on to someone50Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7C8nknxb40
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 for50Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLc51MoTYzz
to finally walk away.
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