Beyond Our Fate- part 2

After the Freshers’ Day inauguration, life started unfolding slowly. I made three new friends. At that time, it felt good — like I finally belonged somewhere. We spent time together, laughed, shared stories, and I thought this was the beginning of something real.

But some relationships are just lessons in disguise.

The friendship with one girl, especially, felt like a trial-and-error phase of my life. I spent most of my time with her, trusted her, and made her a part of my everyday routine. But slowly, I realised something painful — she never truly trusted me.

And I understood something important that day…

Trust isn’t only for lovers.

Every relationship — friendship, family, soul connections — is built on trust.

When that falls apart, everything feels hollow.

That phase wasn’t pleasant. It taught me silence, distance, and strength. I felt like I was losing myself while trying to hold onto people who never really held me back.

But fate was not done with me.

Later, I got a chance to interact with a new group of people. The vibe was different, Real, Comfortable, Way more Natural...

And that’s when I found my gang."To the people who walked into my life unexpectedly and stayed like they always belonged."

The days with my gang started feeling like home.

Morning lectures never felt boring because we had our own tiny world inside that classroom. Even the last benches felt like the safest place on earth. We shared everything — lunch boxes, secrets, dreams, silly fights, loud laughter. No filters, no judgments.

Nandhini slowly became the silent strength of my days. She wasn’t loud like the rest of us, but her presence was calming. The kind of friendship that didn’t need daily explanations. Just a look and we would understand each other.

Preethi, Nikitha — always the energy of the group. The ones who made even the dull days feel colourful. And then there was Subha — the soul of our madness. The one who carried her own storms quietly but still chose to be our sunshine. She never let her pain reach us, only her laughter. We never realised how strong she was until we sat quietly one day and thought about it.

Sowmiya, Parnika, Sherin — each of them held a piece of me without even trying. They didn’t try to change me. They accepted me as I was — moody, talkative, silent, broken, laughing.

That’s when I realised…

Friendship isn’t about how long you’ve known someone.

It’s about how safe you feel when you’re with them.

As every group — planning trips.

“Next month, pakka trip!”

“No cancel, internal exams.”

“Okay, sem holidays la!”

will think about it

Then… cancel.

The cycle repeated.

We never went on a proper trip together. No group photos in hills, no matching outfits, no long rides. But somehow, the classroom itself became our travel destination. The corridor became our beach walk. The canteen became our five-star hotel.

Maybe fate knew…

If we actually went on a trip, the memories would be too hard to forget later.

Now, slowly, days started moving faster.

Semesters passed like seconds. Laughter became louder. Bonds became deeper. And somewhere inside me, a small fear started growing…

“What if we drift apart?”

“What if this is temporary?”

But I kept quiet.

Because sometimes, living the moment matters more than fearing the ending.

And then came the day…

When silence slowly entered our laughter.

When responsibilities started replacing jokes.

When life started whispering…

“Nothing stays permanent.”

But none of us were ready to listen.

To be continued…