Last part
Riya’s knees weakened, and she sank to the floor, the phone still pressed to her ear.
"Killed himself?"
The words echoed in her mind like thunder in an empty room.
“I... I never even knew him,” she whispered. “We never met. How could he have loved me?”
The woman on the other end wept softly.
“My son… Raj saw you once—outside a temple. You were feeding poor children, smiling so kindly. That moment… it changed something inside him.”
Riya’s breath caught in her throat.
“He fell in love with you right there, without a word exchanged,” the woman continued. “But before he could speak to you, you left.”
Riya closed her eyes. She vaguely remembered that day. She had no idea someone was watching her so closely.
The woman’s voice grew softer, as if trying to protect something fragile.
“The next day, as fate would have it, he saw you again. In the college canteen. That’s when he learned your name... who you were. But he never had the courage to come talk to you.”
Tears welled in Riya’s eyes.
The woman paused before adding,
“He kept everything to himself. He wrote about you, thought about you… loved you silently. And the day he finally decided to confess, he saw you with someone else. He misunderstood, thought you were already with that person.”
Her voice cracked painfully.
“He didn’t know how to handle losing someone he never even had. That night... he ended his life.”
Riya felt her heart shatter.
She could barely breathe as she whispered,
“Aunty... where is his grave?”
Riya went to the graveyard with Raj’s mother, each step heavier than the last. The moment she saw his name carved in stone, her legs gave out, and she collapsed beside it, tears streaming endlessly.
She cried like a child—broken, confused, angry, and aching for answers from someone who was no longer there.
And then... she felt something.
A soft breeze brushed her skin. She looked up.
Standing just a few feet away, bathed in a soft, golden light—was Raj.
Smiling gently. The same warm smile that once stopped her on the bridge.
“Riya...” he said, his voice like a whisper only her heart could hear.
“Please don’t cry. I can’t bear to see tears in your eyes.”
Riya stared at him, breathless, unable to believe it.
“You’re really here…” she sobbed.
He nodded slowly, still smiling.
“It’s okay,” he said softly. “If not in this life, we’ll meet in another world. And I know... the way I fell in love with you — you’ll fall for me too, in that world.”
A tear rolled down her cheek, and she whispered,
“But I didn’t even know you, Raj… Why didn’t you ever ask me about myself? Meet me once? Why did you end your life without giving us a chance?”
Her voice broke as she cried even harder.
Raj knelt down, lowering himself to her level. His eyes shimmered with regret.
“Do you remember... what you said that day on the bridge?” he asked gently.
“You said, ‘You're talking like you’re already dead and regretting it.’
Riya... my love... I do regret it. Not because you loved someone else — I regret that I gave up too early. I gave up on my love. On you.”
He reached out, but his fingers passed through hers like mist.
“Promise me, Riya,” he whispered. “You’ll never try something stupid again. Live. Breathe. Laugh. Love. For me. For the version of us that might meet again — in another time, another world.”
Riya looked into his eyes, tears falling silently.
She nodded. “I promise.”
He smiled one last time.
“Goodbye, Riya... my forever.”
And just like before—he vanished.
But this time, Riya didn’t feel empty.
She stood up slowly, holding her heart like a precious gem, and whispered to the sky,
“Next time, Raj... I’ll recognize you first.”
Days turned into weeks, but something in Riya had changed.
She began to live—not just exist. She joined charity groups, helped children, spoke kindly to strangers, and started writing letters to herself every time she felt low. Letters Raj would have written.
Each morning, she looked at the sky and whispered,
"I hope you're smiling today, Raj."
But she never returned to that bridge. She didn’t need to.
One evening, she was sitting by a lake, writing in her journal. A little boy ran up to her, holding a paper airplane. It hit her notebook.
“I’m sorry, Didi,” he said shyly.
She smiled and handed it back.
“What’s your name?” she asked.
He grinned. “Raj.”
Riya froze. Her eyes widened. She looked up at the sky.
And for a brief second—just a second—she felt someone brush her hair behind her ear.
A breeze whispered through the trees.
“I told you... we’ll meet again.”
She closed her journal, a soft smile blooming on her lips.
Not everything needs to be understood. Some things are just felt.
And somewhere, in some world,
Riya and Raj walked together... finally at peace.
