2018 – A Chapter of That Summer
“That’s not even Fitzgerald’s best.”
Aanya froze, mid-motion after knocking over a stack of books. She turned to see a boy watching her with quiet exasperation, The Great Gatsby in his hands.
“You have better taste?” she challenged, grinning.
Sagar sighed, turning the book over before handing it back. “Try ‘Tender is the Night’ instead. It’s less overrated.”
That was how it began. Not with stolen glances or sweet words, but with endless literary debates.
Sagar never believed in love stories, but he read them anyway. Books were predictable. People weren’t. That’s why he spent most of his time in the town library, hiding between pages instead of people.
Then, Aanya happened.
She noticed the way his fingers lingered on old book spines, how his eyes softened at tragic endings. She saw the hurt in him, buried between words he never spoke – yet, without realizing it, she was already turning pages toward him.
“I don’t get why you love sad stories,” she had asked one evening.
“Because they don’t lie,” he had replied.
It struck her then, Sagar didn’t just read heartbreak; he searched for pieces of himself within it.
By summer’s end, he had unknowingly traced her favorite authors into memory, while she had memorized the way he loved – without ever meaning to.
And then, she left.
2019 – 2023: Words That Bridged the Distance
They stayed connected. Not through calls or texts, but through books.
Aanya mailed him copies of her latest reads, margins filled with scribbles. Sagar replied with honest, sometimes brutal critiques.
“You’re too dramatic,” he had once written in response to her short story.
“You’re too closed off,” she had scribbled back.
Every underlined quote, every note in the margins; they were all pieces of her heart.
She wasn’t sure if he ever noticed.
2024 – The Final Chapter
The aisles stretched endlessly, but Sagar wasn’t searching for a book – he was searching for something more.
His fingers brushed over familiar titles until they found Pride and Prejudice. He flipped to the page she had marked – Chapter 58. His breath caught. Of course, she had chosen the moment Darcy laid his heart bare.
A note slipped free – \”Turn around.\”
His heart pounded. Slowly, he did.
And there she was – Aanya. Standing by the shelves, watching him with an unreadable expression.
For the first time, words failed him.
“Surprised?” she asked, a soft curve on her lips.
Sagar exhaled a shaky breath. “Surprise is underrated.”
Her smile deepened. Without a word, she pulled another note from her pocket and pressed it into his hand.
\”You’ve always been reading between the lines, Sagar. Now read what’s right in front of you.\”
Something shifted, like an unwritten story finding its final line. Aanya had been a fleeting summer, but now she was his next chapter.
Sagar realized – Some stories don’t end. They come full circle.
Image Courtesy : Rahul Pandit (pexels.com)