Running dreams.

Not with a ring

That was the moment I fell in love with him. Or perhaps I had fallen long before and simply hadn’t known the name of it.

Three months later, he asked me to marry him.

Not with a ring. Not with flowers. He took me to the old bridge overlooking the river. The sun was going down. The water was carrying the orange sky away piece by piece.

“Meera.”

“Hmm?”

“If I asked you something serious, would you laugh?”

“Probably.”

He sighed. “Then I’ll ask anyway.”

He was nervous. For the first time since I’d known him, Aarav looked afraid.

“Will you marry me?”

I stared. He rushed on. “I know we’re young. I know people will say we don’t know what we’re doing. Maybe they’re right. But I know how I feel when I’m with you. I want to build a home with you. I want you to study. I want you to work. I want you to laugh loudly. I want you to fill every room you enter. And when life becomes difficult, I want us to stand on the same side.”

I cried.

He laughed nervously. “That’s not a yes.”

I wiped my face. “Yes.”

He closed his eyes and breathed. Then he pulled me into his arms.

And I held him.

That night, I came home carrying happiness like a secret beneath my skin.

Ma was washing dishes. I stood in the doorway. “Ma.”

She turned. “What?”

“I have something to tell you.”

She looked at my face. Then she smiled. “You’re getting married.”

I froze. “How did you know?”

“Mothers know.” She dried her hands. “Who?”

I whispered, “Aarav.”

She touched my cheek. “Does he love you?”

“Yes.”

“Are you sure?”

I nodded.

She pulled me into her arms. “Then may God give you the kind of marriage I should have had.”

I pulled away. “What does that mean?”

She smiled. “Nothing.”

“Ma.”

“Go and sleep.”

“But—”

“Meera.” Her voice was soft. Too soft.

I looked at her. She turned back to the dishes. I watched her for a moment, then went to my room.

And somewhere beyond our little town, beneath a sky heavy with rain, my future was already beginning to knock. Softly. Patiently. Like it had all the time in the world.