Stuck Voyage of 20's

The weather had softened. Summer's edge was fading into a gentler warmth. Ujjain's sky was brushed with shades of gold and dusky lavender, like an old sari aired out after a long monsoon.

Avantika was walking alone on Ram Ghat after her presentation weekend — no pressure, no big thoughts. Just air, water, and a sense of peace she wasn't used to… but was finally starting to welcome.

And then — as always — the universe placed him there again.

Dhruv.

Leaning casually against the railing, dressed in a faded blue shirt and black joggers. His eyes met hers before she even fully noticed him. He didn't smile right away. He just… looked.

"You always appear when the sky looks like a painting," she said.

"I could say the same about you," he replied, walking slowly toward her.

They stopped a few feet apart.

"So," he began, "Miss Keynote Speaker. That was some serious fire you dropped on that stage."

She laughed. "You weren't even there."

"No, but your voice was. Everyone in college's been quoting you like you're some TED Talk drop-in."

Avantika rolled her eyes but smiled. "Well… at least it's better than being known as the girl who talks to the sky."

He looked at her for a second longer than necessary. "You've changed."

She nodded. "Yeah… I think I've finally started meeting myself."

"I missed this version of you."

"You never met this version of me," she said quietly.

He nodded, accepting that truth.

They walked along the ghat slowly, without needing to fill every silence. That was the difference now — there was no desperation in being heard. Just comfort in being.

"I've been thinking," he said after a while, "about what you said. About how I didn't come back for the right reasons."

She didn't interrupt.

"And maybe you were right. Maybe at first, I came back because I wasn't ready to lose a feeling. But now… I think I stayed because I wanted to watch you become who you're becoming."

She looked up at him — surprised by the softness in his tone.

"Not to save you," he added. "Not to fix you. Just to witness you."

That caught her off guard. Her fingers tightened slightly on the edge of her dupatta.

"You don't need to say that," she said, voice gentler now.

"I know. But I want to."

They stopped walking, just as the evening aarti began — fire circling through the temple, echoing across the water. The same chant that once made Avantika feel small now felt… grounding.

Dhruv glanced at her. "So where do we go from here?"

She didn't answer immediately.

Instead, she took a step closer, not touching him, but letting her presence answer.

"We don't rush it," she said. "We walk — slow. A little awkward. A little unsure. But honest."

He smiled — not the charming, flirty one.

This one was quieter.

Grateful.

Grown.

"Sounds like a beginning."

"Maybe it is."

As the lamps floated again on the river, two people stood together — not trying to complete each other.

Just learning to walk together, as two complete stories, choosing to share a chapter.