Saira waited. Every night, she lit the lantern. Days turned into months, months into years. People told her Veer wouldn't return, but she never stopped believing."
I felt a pang in my heart. 'She waited without expectations, just like a devotee waits for their god.'
Nani's voice softened as she continued. "One night, after many years, a storm hit the village. The winds were fierce, and Saira's lantern finally went out. She took it as a sign—it was time to let go."
I exhaled quietly. 'So she finally gave up…'
Nani's voice carried a hint of mystery. "The next morning, a traveler arrived at her door. His clothes were worn, his face covered in dust, but his eyes—his eyes were the same as before. It was Veer."
She paused again, letting the weight of her words settle.
"Nani, but why? Why did he come back after all these years?" I asked, a frown forming on my face.
She smiled, her eyes filled with wisdom. "Because when the storm covered the lantern, Veer panicked. He had been following its light every night from afar, believing he still had time. But the moment it disappeared, he realized he might have lost Saira forever."
My breath hitched as she spoke the final words of the tale.
"Saira smiled, tears in her eyes. 'You were lost long before the storm. But I am glad you found your way home.'"
Silence filled the air. The night felt heavier, the story lingering like an unfinished melody.
I turned slightly, gazing at Nani. "Did Saira forgive him?"
She sighed, brushing a strand of hair from my face. "Some questions don't have simple answers, Aira"
As I lay there, the story refused to leave my mind. Was love meant to be painful? Or was it people who made it so?
Before I could find an answer, my eyes slowly closed, the wind carrying me into dreams woven with lanterns, storms, and the light that always finds its way home.
As i drifted into slumber, my dreams pulled me into the very tale that had consumed my thoughts.I found herself standing within its world, not as an outsider, but as a part of its essence—walking the same paths, breathing the same air, and living the moments as if they were my own.
Every detail was vivid—the scent of damp earth after the rain, the distant echoes of whispered conversations, the weight of emotions pressing against her chest. I spoke, I fought, I felt—completely immersed, as if the boundaries between fiction and reality had blurred into nothingness.
Time lost its meaning in this realm, and before Iknew it, the soft golden glow of dawn seeped through my window. The dream clung to me like an unspoken truth, and she awoke with a lingering sense of displacement, as though a part of her still belonged to that world.