he first time Sakhi saw the face was when she made the decision to leave the bustling city andseek peace in the countryside. She was 19, and something had happened to her—something thatchanged her life completely. Overnight, she transformed from a young, vibrant girl into someone
composed, distant, and emotionless.
Her parents were concerned, but they said nothing, knowing that the day would come when she would need to make this choice.
It was on the coldest night of January when she arrived at the farmhouse, the wind howling
through the trees and the world blanketed in stillness.
When Sakhi opens the door and enters the house, a strange sense of familiarity washes over her.
It's as if she's been here before. Everything is just as she imagined—the flower vase, the
bookshelf, the wind chime. The house feels like it has been waiting for her, as if it knows her better than anyone else ever could.
Sakhi suddenly remembers being here once before—when she was 10. But the memory is faint, just out of reach.
Exhausted from the journey, she decides to rest.That night, in her dreams, she sees the face for the first time—a young man in his 20s, calling her name.
"Sakhi."
For a few months, she didn't see that face again. But during that time, she often dreamed about the summer holidays she had spent there as a child.One thing she could vaguely see was a boy—around the same age as she was back then.
Sakhi opened her eyes, finding herself back in her bed. She was confused, unable to tell if what she had experienced was a dream or reality. The dance, the light, the place she had been—none of it made sense. She sat up, her heart racing, trying to remember what had happened. Was shestill dreaming, or had something else occurred? Everything felt so real, yet so unclear. The onlything she knew for sure was that something had changed, but she couldn't grasp what it was.
Sakhi walked over to her bookshelf, her mind still in a fog. She pulled out a small, framed picturetucked between some books. It was a drawing she had made as a child—she remembered it now,though she hadn't thought about it in years.
In the picture, there was a house with a beautiful garden, and two couples standing together,smiling. She recognized herself, but the boy beside her... his face was unfamiliar
She stared at the drawing, trying to remember who he was, but the memory slipped away from her. A sentence suddenly came to her mind: "We'll live together, a happy life, as a family— as life partners."
The words felt important, like they were meant for her. She looked at the picture again, the peaceful house and garden, but she still couldn't place the boy. Something about it all felt so familiar, yet so distant.