Second year had barely begun when the word “freshers” echoed through the corridors.
A celebration for the new batch — new faces, new stories, a new chapter.369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrYj5mPrn1L
For us, it was an excuse to pretend like we had it all figured out,369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8mBtfHEAuG
to welcome them while barely holding our own chaos together.
I didn’t plan to involve myself.369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzor9LnmsE7
Not in organizing.369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHlmEiPSxw2
Not in performing.369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtmMdhoNXno
Just… present.
They needed money.369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeIXFWtY49o
I gave it.369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2tRH9y9F4O
They needed support.369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSkZflepmfB
I stood in the back, clapping quietly.
The first event was for our IT department, held in our own campus.369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ074ITMXNz7
Forevermore decided to come — with her friends.369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhGNF2P4QL7
I hadn’t expected that.
The event went on… music, dance, laughter that felt like echoes from someone else’s joy.369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9pLA3N0tR8
I stayed in the shadows, a spectator in my own celebration.
Then she handed me her phone.
“Can you shoot my friends’ dance on stage?”
Simple.369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlyYmKvnNzP
I did it.
But after that… I found myself looking for her again.369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFAJF2WRh2x
Like a habit. Like a whisper.369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6PnKX3JgEm
I wandered around, the traditional attire weighing heavier with each step —369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDYHd29YIeZ
until I called.
“Where are you?”
“Heading to the buses.”
“Wait for me. Let’s go together.”
And we did.
We walked back together,369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVdtZXzZOf3
the usual banter about songs, anime, dramas dancing in the air between us.369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfUr2BhPV1L
Nothing grand.369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQWKULMrifr
But it was enough.369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡINnzZ5FyiA
Sometimes enough is everything.
Then came her department's freshers’ event.
But before that — something happened.
She had a falling out with one of her friends, the same one I first met at the college fest.369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDVYi0pm1FU
A sudden storm of words.369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0Bnew00CQY
She was furious, broken —369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX3G6qhQUl8
and just like that, she didn’t want to be part of their CSP project anymore.
I saw it.369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0m0liVXyLY
The quiet ache behind her decision.369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY2HBupTceo
And without thinking much, I asked:
“Would you like to do it with us instead?”
By us, I meant Simon, Ramu, and a few from her own department.369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5Ad5qiBfMR
She hesitated.369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSYcvN1vNzg
Asked around.369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJCJgnAAbAs
Took her time.
And finally, she said yes.
October 8th, 2024.369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGSY9sf0iRX
That was the day we began.
I picked up Forevermore that morning —369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtZiDhYlcMf
just like I used to pick up my favorite songs for a journey.369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKttpBGrF0M
We met Bettie and the others.369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTYSaOsoEs4
Our project was about farming and floriculture. 369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8TOSzcQnwA
Ironically fitting — for someone who called people flowers.
The day flowed like a page from a lighthearted slice-of-life anime.369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUIl3A3ngOP
Laughter over muddy fields,369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZJ9tlw6nx3
my untamed hair rebelling in the wind as I drove without a helmet,369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmp5870GW4L
moments I knew I’d want to rewind again someday.
By noon, Simon and I wandered around the area for an auto to help the others.369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKSj65la6wo
Hungry and half-sunburned, we ducked into a local restaurant —369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSDaWbStjlf
the same one from our first visit.
But this time…369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVpstMnc71d
she was here.
And somehow that changed the flavor of everything.
We moved to the nurseries,369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5PMdvIWkVd
ran through rows of green and yellow,369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrvxTw71s6K
clicked pictures and let the day melt into memory.
By evening, it was time to part.
But before it all ended,369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRc6zYt9p2t
we all are heading back to the restaurant again — one last round of shared laughter.369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlgFSdR7jEb
One last glimpse of what it meant to be in the same story.
Everyone left one by one.369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkWP0ST0uKX
Simon and Ramu were the last to go.369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN4pzfwHv5a
And then… it was just me and her.
I dropped her home.369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTIfJqf6VLU
No grand goodbye.369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVxPONEdoOp
Just that quiet warmth of knowing369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡazkjG0bSgE
—I was the one to get her home safely.
And as I rode back, hair wild, heart fuller than before…369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡESyO092dzh
I swear the clouds opened a road for me in the sky.
Because sometimes,369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0xYkkmOg4G
even a single shared day369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnDFekY3JL4
can feel like flying.
and then Add to home screen.