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.