My birthday came again.
The same day my favorite character had once died in a story I held close —143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0Y3lyGVVbZ
and in a strange way, I always felt like a part of me dies a little on this day too.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlrT6ZjmYQH
But this time, I chose to go to college.
Alice wasn't there, though.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQQEKa2RjO8
She had gone to meet some friends — people she hadn’t seen in a long time.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL6pWaFFy41
I understood. I really did.
Still, I had the whole chocolate store in my bag.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRKQiXYQhoz
Literally.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwj0osPeEw4
It was one of those small, sweet joys.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAaKa4vDSO7
Enough to carry the weight of the day.
That evening, I decided to do something special.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeFL1djIu1q
Not for me.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4ZpLS87u6y
But for the ones I held dear.
I woke up early.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9eDcP50OYw
Cooked with all my heart.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi5leHKYqWJ
Packed everything carefully — biryani and chicken curry.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm29K1ZpemX
Each grain of rice, every spice measured not by recipes but by intent.
It was my second time cooking for my friends.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN8cX4bfX94
The first time… she didn’t eat.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSvAdNdSX7p
Even though I had packed a box just for her.
But this time, I was determined.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7yHz9iuTio
This time, she did.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyfoZlg3pSV
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.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw2bMi1T3s7
The same one where I met her.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqCy2GLkme4
Just five of us — Forevermore, Leona, Richard, Harry, and me.
We ate.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVjpnv5oNDm
We laughed.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj5wTyoQOLm
And for once, the world paused.
Later that evening, Richard gifted me a sleek clock —143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoggBaYJpW8
and Seren handed me something else…143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpEp4JsKloS
a lamp.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWbU6HdMYZJ
Not just a lamp,143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMiDGRXU9Wm
a galaxy trapped in glass —143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIZQWdauj5l
a swirl of stars and dreams I once saw only in the skies.
Those were the first real gifts I ever got.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEjNJUJ2Hnq
The kind that whisper of futures still unwritten.
Time passed.
Forevermore and I were learning together again — night calls, evening talks.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8aN2p8yun6
I met her bus mates, her senior friend who knew Ravikanth.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiQ5T2BYnl8
It was all… steady.
Until one day.
A small moment. A misunderstanding.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5pg7RVNvX4
And everything cracked like silence after thunder.
Ren doesn’t like chocolate.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5xRS4oKyty
Everyone knows that.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3WXx4IdiEw
Including me.
And yet —143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPhvQ9vh9nD
that day, when we all stood by the buses,143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjZek3TLy8u
I jokingly asked him for a big one.
He brought a small chocolate anyway.
I didn’t take it.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcHDROjnyFQ
He handed it to Alice.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDOKbOr0urh
And then he left.
I watched it happen,143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrH7kAC440K
not as someone who was jealous,143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ49ClVGfbiK
but someone who noticed something off.
It wasn’t the chocolate.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYQn6RzRk6i
It was why it was given.
Not because it was meant for her.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡluO5BNiKz9
But because it was just… there.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoxKh0OmWYx
Something to discard.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhc5SLfQU45
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,143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8GWI9939jv
looked at her one last time, and said —
“Some things are never meant to be taken.”
I didn’t explain.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1bwcB8btlR
Didn’t say goodbye.
I hoped she’d understand.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxz2NoiSyKT
That she deserved more than secondhand gestures.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRIkERrLP15
That she was not someone who should accept leftovers from anyone — even friends.
But she didn’t see it that way.
After that day…143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFInBFe2jlo
she stopped speaking to me.
No more messages.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp2NdmQOixF
No calls.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ66UGmKWPaH
Not even eye contact.
It was as if nothing had ever happened between us.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeSzAgBFTy8
As if our late-night classes, shared songs, stories, dreams,143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ69ExCPYWSW
as if I… never happened.
I tried to talk.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4Dgn34pJHZ
To explain.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxgd1cuYvnX
To bridge the gap.
But how do you hold on to someone143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA6TLD7TLGF
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 for143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGpI1FwC6P1
to finally walk away.
然後按「加至主畫面」