Have you ever felt like life became a little easier?
During the early days of university, wherever I went, whenever I was on campus, Joice was almost always there with me. My one and only best friend. We were so inseparable that people started associating us with each other. Sometimes, whenever I showed up without her, someone would inevitably ask, “Mana Joice?” As if seeing one of us without the other was some kind of unusual occurrence.
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And honestly, I think the same thing happened with the other duos, too. There was Aicy and Dalipoy, and then there was Wangi, our class representative, with Nela, her secretary. We each had our own little pairs, our own familiar people to look for in a room full of classmates.
Back then, the six of us were nothing more than people who knew each other. We greeted each other, talked when necessary, and existed in the same classroom, just like any other classmates would. We weren't particularly close. If someone had told me that these five people would eventually become such a big part of my university life, I probably wouldn't have thought much of it.
But then came that one day in our second semester.
As far as I can remember, the six of us were the last people to leave the classroom that day. Somehow, after that, we ended up going out to find something to eat together. It wasn't some grand moment. There was no big conversation, no dramatic realization that we were about to become best friends. We just went to get food.
Funny how some of the most important things in life begin with something so ordinary, isn't it?
Because after that day, we started spending more time together. And then more. And then somehow, more and more and more.
Eventually, we made a group chat with the six of us in it. And just like that, CEO came to be.
I don't think any of us knew what we were getting ourselves into. One day, we were just classmates who happened to leave the classroom at the same time. The next thing we knew, we were figuring out projectors together, having lunch together, taking little detours to Aisy's place between classes, and taking afternoon naps together as if we had somehow turned university into our own little home.
We had sleepovers, too. A few little acts of mischief here and there. Inside jokes that probably made absolutely no sense to anyone outside our circle. We made plans for a better vacation in Japan, debated whether we should just buy Momoyo instead, and came up with all sorts of other ridiculous things that, for some reason, were always funnier when we were together.
And then there was our soulmate phenomenon.
Sometimes, without planning anything at all, we'd show up wearing similar outfits. The same colors, the same kind of clothes, or something that made us look suspiciously coordinated. And, naturally, we called it soulmates. Because apparently, even our wardrobes had decided that we belonged together.
And, of course, we had this one particularly questionable habit: wandering around on our motorcycles during lunchtime with absolutely no destination in mind.
Not because we had somewhere important to be, not because we were looking for anything in particular, but simply because none of us could decide what to eat or where to eat it. So we'd ride around, going from one place to another, hoping that somewhere along the way, someone would finally have an idea.
Sometimes I wonder how six people can be so good at spending time together and yet so incredibly bad at deciding where to have lunch.
But I suppose that's part of the fun, too. The destination was never really the point. It was the company, the pointless detours, the endless “Where should we eat, guys?”, and the fact that even our indecisiveness somehow became a shared experience.
Looking back, I think that's one of the things I love most about us. We don't always need a plan to spend time together. Sometimes, all we need is a little free time, a few motorcycles, and absolutely no idea where we're going.
And somewhere between all those ordinary days, I began to notice how each of you had your own little place in our group.
There was Joice, with her princess side, being her own kind of royalty. My one and only best friend, the person people had grown accustomed to seeing beside me. Sometimes, I wonder if she realizes just how naturally she became part of my university experience, to the point where her absence was something people noticed.
There was Wangi, our keti, constantly caught up in the never-ending responsibilities of being our class representative, as if her schedule had a life of its own. But beyond all those responsibilities, Wangi has such a kind heart and a strong sense of responsibility. She's someone who takes her role seriously, someone who tries to carry the things entrusted to her with care. And I think there's something admirable about a person who can be both kind and dependable, someone who doesn't just show up for the fun parts but also takes responsibility when things need to be done.
Then there's Aisy, who seems to know how to enjoy herself in almost any situation. She's easygoing, easy to get along with, and never seems to make things more complicated than they need to be. I admire that about her. There's something lovely about having someone around who can make life feel a little less serious, someone who reminds you that not every situation needs to be overthought. Sometimes, being around a person like that makes you realize that life doesn't always have to be so complicated.
And then there's Dalipoy, our very own engineer. Though, honestly, calling her just an engineer hardly does her justice. She's multitalented, the kind of person who can do so many different things and seems capable of learning even more. I admire her not only for her abilities but also for her kind nature. It's fascinating to see someone with so many talents, someone who reminds you that there's always more to a person than the one thing everyone happens to know them for.
And then there's Nela.
Our class secretary, our other half, and someone I think could have been a balancing presence in our little circle. Every group has its own dynamics, its own different personalities, and its own moments when everyone seems to be going in a different direction. I can imagine Nela being someone who could bring us back to the middle, someone who might help things feel a little more balanced when we needed it.
These days, only five of us are attending university together because Nela has taken two semester off. And somehow, her absence has made me think more about the place she holds in our group.
I don't want to define her only by the role she could have played, or by the fact that she isn't here this semester. She is still one of us. Still part of the six people who found their way into this friendship, even if our everyday routines look a little different for now.
I hope she knows that being away for a semester doesn't mean being left behind in our story.
Five of us may be sharing the same classrooms and lunch breaks right now, but CEO has always been six.
And maybe that's the thing about friendship. It isn't always about being together every single day. Sometimes, it's about the place someone has already made in your life, a place that doesn't simply disappear because your routines have changed.
Looking back, I don't think it was one particular event that made us close. It was all the little things. The lunches that turned into longer conversations. The naps between classes. The unnecessary detours. The sleepovers. The jokes we kept repeating until they became part of our vocabulary. The unplanned matching outfits. The ridiculous plans we made. The way we could turn an ordinary day on campus into something worth remembering without even trying.
Maybe that's what makes a friendship so special. It doesn't always arrive with a grand entrance. Sometimes, it slips into your life quietly, disguised as a random lunch with five people you used to know only as classmates.
And before you even realize it, these people have become part of the reason you look forward to showing up the next day.
So, have you ever felt like life became a little easier?
Not because university suddenly became less demanding. Not because assignments disappeared, deadlines became kinder, or we magically learned how to make decisions about lunch.
But because, somewhere along the way, I found people who made the days feel lighter.
People who made the ordinary worth remembering.
People who turned a classroom into a place where I had something to look forward to, a lunch break into a little adventure, and a random afternoon into a memory I would one day want to write about.
I think, sometimes, we underestimate the little things while we're busy living them. We don't realize that one day, we might look back and miss the very things we barely paid attention to at the time. The familiar faces, the endless conversations, the unplanned rides, the silly jokes, and the simple comfort of knowing that there are people around who make an ordinary day feel a little less ordinary.
Maybe one day, we'll all be too busy with our own lives. Maybe our schedules won't always match. Maybe finding time to sit together for lunch will become harder than it is now. Perhaps we'll even look back at our university days and laugh at how we could spend so much time deciding where to eat.
But for now, we're here. Still figuring things out, still growing, still making memories without always realizing that we're making them.
And I'm glad that, in this particular chapter of my life, I get to know you all beyond the people I first met in a classroom.
I'm glad that an ordinary day in our second semester led to lunches, inside jokes, sleepovers, matching outfits, and a group chat that somehow became part of my everyday life.
I'm glad that I get to know the princess, the responsible one with a kind heart, the girl who knows how to keep things light, the multitalented engineer, and the person whose presence I hope we'll get to share in our daily routines again soon.
I'm glad that we became CEO.
And perhaps the sweetest part is that none of us had to plan for any of this. We were just six people who happened to leave a classroom together one day.
We didn't know what that ordinary afternoon would turn into. We didn't know that we'd eventually have so many little stories to tell, so many inside jokes that no one else would understand, or so many memories hidden inside the most uneventful days.
We were just six people, living our university lives, figuring things out as we went.
And somehow, along the way, we found each other.
So, if you ever ask me whether life can become a little easier, I think I know what my answer would be.
Sometimes, life becomes easier because you find people who make it feel that way. Not by fixing everything for you, not by making every difficult day disappear, but simply by being there, making you laugh, keeping you company, and giving you little reasons to look forward to tomorrow.
And right now, you are some of those people for me.
Maybe we don't know what the future holds for CEO. Maybe we don't know how much our lives will change, where we'll end up, or how often we'll get to see one another when this chapter of university is over.
But I hope that, somewhere down the line, when we look back at this time in our lives, we'll remember more than just the classes we attended or the assignments we submitted.
I hope we'll remember the people we were when we were together.
The six of us.
The pointless rides, the lunch dilemmas, the naps, the sleepovers, the matching outfits, the inside jokes, the ridiculous plans, and all the little things that made our days feel like ours.
And I hope we'll remember that, once upon a time, in the middle of figuring out our own lives, we made each other's a little easier.
To CEO,
Thank you for being a little piece of my university days.
We may have started as nothing more than classmates, but I'm glad we didn't stay that way.
And if one day I find myself missing this chapter of my life, I know there will be a part of it that leads me back to you.
Because maybe that's what this letter is really about.
Not just missing people, not just collecting memories, and not just trying to put ordinary days into words.
But recognizing, while I'm still living them, that these days are worth remembering.
And that you are, too.
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