My birthday came again.
The same day my favorite character had once died in a story I held close —81Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4zwt8uUS0d
and in a strange way, I always felt like a part of me dies a little on this day too.81Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5nsViOm8yB
But this time, I chose to go to college.
Alice wasn't there, though.81Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ86rJExQF7g
She had gone to meet some friends — people she hadn’t seen in a long time.81Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFa6dGlj6Dk
I understood. I really did.
Still, I had the whole chocolate store in my bag.81Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOES6mtlj0m
Literally.81Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvcsEFs9QKS
It was one of those small, sweet joys.81Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjzcgxVQzKQ
Enough to carry the weight of the day.
That evening, I decided to do something special.81Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6sr7YlDgKV
Not for me.81Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2JuDJhrEPI
But for the ones I held dear.
I woke up early.81Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN5x33mXQui
Cooked with all my heart.81Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaS1clrNaH2
Packed everything carefully — biryani and chicken curry.81Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoYcSTIKeHq
Each grain of rice, every spice measured not by recipes but by intent.
It was my second time cooking for my friends.81Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD5OPTTDZ8k
The first time… she didn’t eat.81Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1JpeD08i0N
Even though I had packed a box just for her.
But this time, I was determined.81Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwYkoj1OEbO
This time, she did.81Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQaMF6ID8rR
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.81Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7pQVfGxYCD
The same one where I met her.81Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIjnqIwtMxP
Just five of us — Forevermore, Leona, Richard, Harry, and me.
We ate.81Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ28EFYFVbBQ
We laughed.81Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEEsS1TdcOV
And for once, the world paused.
Later that evening, Richard gifted me a sleek clock —81Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxoQ3CS1uSG
and Seren handed me something else…81Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1fnUdPlUgc
a lamp.81Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgk68GxTpan
Not just a lamp,81Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTUkdzopYDK
a galaxy trapped in glass —81Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOVGvj63wcp
a swirl of stars and dreams I once saw only in the skies.
Those were the first real gifts I ever got.81Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcr5pwClhMZ
The kind that whisper of futures still unwritten.
Time passed.
Forevermore and I were learning together again — night calls, evening talks.81Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRyzpinYmTn
I met her bus mates, her senior friend who knew Ravikanth.81Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJnU6SwtoJ7
It was all… steady.
Until one day.
A small moment. A misunderstanding.81Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcEkU5V14EC
And everything cracked like silence after thunder.
Ren doesn’t like chocolate.81Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdxsrOvYQ1W
Everyone knows that.81Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKLl1GWcvvU
Including me.
And yet —81Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR9H5eFyXIR
that day, when we all stood by the buses,81Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKPbyVl2xqh
I jokingly asked him for a big one.
He brought a small chocolate anyway.
I didn’t take it.81Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZxlHxyCwWR
He handed it to Alice.81Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbXKwd6YPYg
And then he left.
I watched it happen,81Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDwiTPNG1b9
not as someone who was jealous,81Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxY4IkbFMWZ
but someone who noticed something off.
It wasn’t the chocolate.81Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0dbejgrT2u
It was why it was given.
Not because it was meant for her.81Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzUUwD4p6K1
But because it was just… there.81Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRIPIrUp6u5
Something to discard.81Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5R3MlNPBre
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,81Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzPalsjxGlW
looked at her one last time, and said —
“Some things are never meant to be taken.”
I didn’t explain.81Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ6PSKI5VQS
Didn’t say goodbye.
I hoped she’d understand.81Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡigtzuJjfe1
That she deserved more than secondhand gestures.81Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOJ67vLqpYi
That she was not someone who should accept leftovers from anyone — even friends.
But she didn’t see it that way.
After that day…81Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxfV7hRstQg
she stopped speaking to me.
No more messages.81Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ11PKzj2FJw
No calls.81Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJbtCUvrDvI
Not even eye contact.
It was as if nothing had ever happened between us.81Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhpmnil8Fqu
As if our late-night classes, shared songs, stories, dreams,81Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrrnERA3p5f
as if I… never happened.
I tried to talk.81Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy36lENSzor
To explain.81Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5PTk2YPiEo
To bridge the gap.
But how do you hold on to someone81Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaqsdzzhiAB
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 for81Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpFOj2pVaZp
to finally walk away.
and then Add to home screen.