My birthday came again.
The same day my favorite character had once died in a story I held close —138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtB827EFDaC
and in a strange way, I always felt like a part of me dies a little on this day too.138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2apdbhxZCA
But this time, I chose to go to college.
Alice wasn't there, though.138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLRkfyNfsWL
She had gone to meet some friends — people she hadn’t seen in a long time.138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0rxlRbPeoD
I understood. I really did.
Still, I had the whole chocolate store in my bag.138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJrQ7NgK7mu
Literally.138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzTVXlWdIIj
It was one of those small, sweet joys.138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRavTAlrmnq
Enough to carry the weight of the day.
That evening, I decided to do something special.138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6csYONIqSn
Not for me.138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDU77tZj6cD
But for the ones I held dear.
I woke up early.138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ84Z5jDB7ef
Cooked with all my heart.138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡROv6qSUBCP
Packed everything carefully — biryani and chicken curry.138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXZExYDNVd9
Each grain of rice, every spice measured not by recipes but by intent.
It was my second time cooking for my friends.138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKU0z8cpxvZ
The first time… she didn’t eat.138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbJSbc1EOyM
Even though I had packed a box just for her.
But this time, I was determined.138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQeRqK1nCAV
This time, she did.138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBB2SdM318c
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.138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR7HHrdzC5y
The same one where I met her.138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWE1kqzrKKy
Just five of us — Forevermore, Leona, Richard, Harry, and me.
We ate.138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDUzj55Ztkx
We laughed.138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbioQIYWABs
And for once, the world paused.
Later that evening, Richard gifted me a sleek clock —138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcqhQLJMLqA
and Seren handed me something else…138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzBoXZ7w8aA
a lamp.138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSrrYfT2MNp
Not just a lamp,138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTmAv9IHjYX
a galaxy trapped in glass —138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkjYRbNdDx9
a swirl of stars and dreams I once saw only in the skies.
Those were the first real gifts I ever got.138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIvi78x2AaQ
The kind that whisper of futures still unwritten.
Time passed.
Forevermore and I were learning together again — night calls, evening talks.138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiyS904wZiX
I met her bus mates, her senior friend who knew Ravikanth.138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2uQBfiz7pp
It was all… steady.
Until one day.
A small moment. A misunderstanding.138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjQsaagq2OO
And everything cracked like silence after thunder.
Ren doesn’t like chocolate.138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrVrsjftHf9
Everyone knows that.138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZTCr8USv3q
Including me.
And yet —138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt2LsWybHu1
that day, when we all stood by the buses,138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEgYCUqNjVP
I jokingly asked him for a big one.
He brought a small chocolate anyway.
I didn’t take it.138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdCQPc2HLWg
He handed it to Alice.138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT3IEaGFEOR
And then he left.
I watched it happen,138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZjqMqDS5C0
not as someone who was jealous,138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnwxqLWJCAM
but someone who noticed something off.
It wasn’t the chocolate.138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsBcf3FBXZr
It was why it was given.
Not because it was meant for her.138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZC6E06CYFm
But because it was just… there.138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs3sExOrzr6
Something to discard.138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTtcdBI1pus
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,138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5WxkQkAUSK
looked at her one last time, and said —
“Some things are never meant to be taken.”
I didn’t explain.138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9qCgxoDvMS
Didn’t say goodbye.
I hoped she’d understand.138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcU4dRuDEKX
That she deserved more than secondhand gestures.138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvOoQ2m66vc
That she was not someone who should accept leftovers from anyone — even friends.
But she didn’t see it that way.
After that day…138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXvzaF4QHYp
she stopped speaking to me.
No more messages.138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWDNiNWzz78
No calls.138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQRn9msyLDl
Not even eye contact.
It was as if nothing had ever happened between us.138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhaOpTLg0OM
As if our late-night classes, shared songs, stories, dreams,138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCj6B3Hd638
as if I… never happened.
I tried to talk.138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoD7rO4hqp8
To explain.138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbTWSDrRZvq
To bridge the gap.
But how do you hold on to someone138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAPuymo5VIG
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 for138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdNLeBe7JDo
to finally walk away.
and then Add to home screen.