My birthday came again.
The same day my favorite character had once died in a story I held close —136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCNqqWJknzm
and in a strange way, I always felt like a part of me dies a little on this day too.136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ90cfP1DJbB
But this time, I chose to go to college.
Alice wasn't there, though.136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYvXuGtlmCB
She had gone to meet some friends — people she hadn’t seen in a long time.136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDagpIUr1zN
I understood. I really did.
Still, I had the whole chocolate store in my bag.136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2b1c5y29Y2
Literally.136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ13bRkEU14c
It was one of those small, sweet joys.136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzTa7zSZU1T
Enough to carry the weight of the day.
That evening, I decided to do something special.136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFnSa0Cx3B4
Not for me.136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXHTJIOxCEp
But for the ones I held dear.
I woke up early.136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOnOvJOeoVm
Cooked with all my heart.136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJwJo9OQUsR
Packed everything carefully — biryani and chicken curry.136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjowX4NuJKY
Each grain of rice, every spice measured not by recipes but by intent.
It was my second time cooking for my friends.136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSyzl79E1ae
The first time… she didn’t eat.136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbUD3C5qRRU
Even though I had packed a box just for her.
But this time, I was determined.136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeBacdgQuKH
This time, she did.136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEB9EUglOYG
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.136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8xRPwHB2Vf
The same one where I met her.136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCWku28mIpK
Just five of us — Forevermore, Leona, Richard, Harry, and me.
We ate.136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmM76tmZJhu
We laughed.136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiGR2hUyRik
And for once, the world paused.
Later that evening, Richard gifted me a sleek clock —136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeabTB0jaFH
and Seren handed me something else…136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi8Rew5xVkv
a lamp.136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfobS9qGXD3
Not just a lamp,136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEjvi6we9ub
a galaxy trapped in glass —136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOmQXAeou7d
a swirl of stars and dreams I once saw only in the skies.
Those were the first real gifts I ever got.136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUOx1eDkHpw
The kind that whisper of futures still unwritten.
Time passed.
Forevermore and I were learning together again — night calls, evening talks.136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgoDqiTJ7ei
I met her bus mates, her senior friend who knew Ravikanth.136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn0qO7zOmlA
It was all… steady.
Until one day.
A small moment. A misunderstanding.136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0MSaeDGsB3
And everything cracked like silence after thunder.
Ren doesn’t like chocolate.136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRhF5i0tBYh
Everyone knows that.136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCgDoEEXDaf
Including me.
And yet —136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdAL4KIn1vy
that day, when we all stood by the buses,136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuisYvXx52H
I jokingly asked him for a big one.
He brought a small chocolate anyway.
I didn’t take it.136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡshT1Bs1RWq
He handed it to Alice.136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdFf8ib7VfD
And then he left.
I watched it happen,136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhgjxhuDTBk
not as someone who was jealous,136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWO0lCDHkJ7
but someone who noticed something off.
It wasn’t the chocolate.136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwHIvzgkd70
It was why it was given.
Not because it was meant for her.136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0BR9BsBlsu
But because it was just… there.136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeeasLNUSng
Something to discard.136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMisN9Qw1dy
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,136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUSxMQovgYV
looked at her one last time, and said —
“Some things are never meant to be taken.”
I didn’t explain.136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡncMSGCIbOY
Didn’t say goodbye.
I hoped she’d understand.136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmndkQjCI1w
That she deserved more than secondhand gestures.136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwlZjqojjEr
That she was not someone who should accept leftovers from anyone — even friends.
But she didn’t see it that way.
After that day…136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQSIh9DYJyZ
she stopped speaking to me.
No more messages.136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDjGDS6C9MJ
No calls.136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzhGrMYqB7F
Not even eye contact.
It was as if nothing had ever happened between us.136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjILk2xR2a0
As if our late-night classes, shared songs, stories, dreams,136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0SGJJ48Mby
as if I… never happened.
I tried to talk.136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcGw3liuwjR
To explain.136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOVkU8iMUQt
To bridge the gap.
But how do you hold on to someone136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvKNOMSmP8F
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 for136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9oa8485isJ
to finally walk away.
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