My birthday came again.
The same day my favorite character had once died in a story I held close —401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJUryEGsUxX
and in a strange way, I always felt like a part of me dies a little on this day too.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAWKvjuaDrP
But this time, I chose to go to college.
Alice wasn't there, though.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3LOARFkZMg
She had gone to meet some friends — people she hadn’t seen in a long time.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsSpVl3flbG
I understood. I really did.
Still, I had the whole chocolate store in my bag.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuUItok598B
Literally.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbPqymAixfd
It was one of those small, sweet joys.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbRLGoUJbVM
Enough to carry the weight of the day.
That evening, I decided to do something special.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlim3QOvec9
Not for me.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkxhTatfPeU
But for the ones I held dear.
I woke up early.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHZ0I9UA6MT
Cooked with all my heart.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqz8D991tiH
Packed everything carefully — biryani and chicken curry.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtZmIAfd63V
Each grain of rice, every spice measured not by recipes but by intent.
It was my second time cooking for my friends.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNh1n5LDpL8
The first time… she didn’t eat.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ04P18asp4R
Even though I had packed a box just for her.
But this time, I was determined.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1PNv8ggmqz
This time, she did.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUQ5xGSGGvB
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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡevJZ817a8h
The same one where I met her.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoLby92P9M0
Just five of us — Forevermore, Leona, Richard, Harry, and me.
We ate.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVWozeURN5C
We laughed.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW0TPGgWHjd
And for once, the world paused.
Later that evening, Richard gifted me a sleek clock —401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoKIhTYLWFl
and Seren handed me something else…401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1bZKNhc6GU
a lamp.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnbpmmqOSZQ
Not just a lamp,401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5ClEz0taSH
a galaxy trapped in glass —401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQIbW26aIGx
a swirl of stars and dreams I once saw only in the skies.
Those were the first real gifts I ever got.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPuZJV3JsR0
The kind that whisper of futures still unwritten.
Time passed.
Forevermore and I were learning together again — night calls, evening talks.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNJMWiM5ykf
I met her bus mates, her senior friend who knew Ravikanth.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqyGMNPgwgq
It was all… steady.
Until one day.
A small moment. A misunderstanding.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF95NF01zsg
And everything cracked like silence after thunder.
Ren doesn’t like chocolate.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoyZD07m57k
Everyone knows that.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlxA3pvhCX2
Including me.
And yet —401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgkOrwCrIYI
that day, when we all stood by the buses,401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcUETyWPE8d
I jokingly asked him for a big one.
He brought a small chocolate anyway.
I didn’t take it.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3XUUk9zWjY
He handed it to Alice.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv4Qwa3bXAf
And then he left.
I watched it happen,401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNuAnlAokwU
not as someone who was jealous,401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAijJtntU53
but someone who noticed something off.
It wasn’t the chocolate.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD4DoTId8oe
It was why it was given.
Not because it was meant for her.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmOMLWg7ppl
But because it was just… there.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡArmcxxCGU9
Something to discard.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡThAWLIAyLr
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,401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhcVZc5brDP
looked at her one last time, and said —
“Some things are never meant to be taken.”
I didn’t explain.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbelMPvife9
Didn’t say goodbye.
I hoped she’d understand.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSkcHd1CDOE
That she deserved more than secondhand gestures.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzjm7cZCv4W
That she was not someone who should accept leftovers from anyone — even friends.
But she didn’t see it that way.
After that day…401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡECXtHIGh0k
she stopped speaking to me.
No more messages.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3xegg2L1IG
No calls.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwDVrR2eXYA
Not even eye contact.
It was as if nothing had ever happened between us.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkUsVtAnrVv
As if our late-night classes, shared songs, stories, dreams,401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm41JKedcd2
as if I… never happened.
I tried to talk.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaX6h3RF5a5
To explain.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuh42WASt2h
To bridge the gap.
But how do you hold on to someone401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjp0Sryhbob
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 for401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6xIfyf0zkk
to finally walk away.
and then Add to home screen.