The autumn of 2017 brought with it my first great severing of roots. I had left behind the dusty lanes of the village for the alert and unknown rhythm of Chișinău, where my newly begun studies occupied my time but failed to fill my soul. Yet, on September 22nd, tradition called me back with an unyielding force; the Village Day was not merely a simple date on the calendar, but an anchor that kept me moored to who I truly was.
I traveled the road from the capital in a cramped minibus, alongside friends from the neighboring village. The air inside was saturated with jokes, bursts of laughter, and that electric impatience specific to young people returning home with pockets full of new stories. Everything around me was cheerful—a collective clamor that kept me afloat, shielding me from my own thoughts.
However, when my friends got off in their village, I found myself suddenly plunged into a dense, almost palpable loneliness. I still had the final four kilometers to go until I reached my home. In that stretch of road, traveled in the silence of a minibus that now seemed too large for a single man, I felt the weight of the contrast: as long as you are surrounded by people, worries seem to dissolve into the noise, but the second you are left alone, memories and regrets begin to press upon your shoulders like an invisible hand. I did not suspect then that those four kilometers of silence were a gift from the universe; it was the necessary space in which my senses were cleansed of the city's dust, so they could finally receive the light that awaited me.
I spent the rest of the day in a state of strange tranquility among relatives and acquaintances, but behind every handshake or "Happy Anniversary" wish, I felt an expectation I could not yet name. The sun had begun to dip toward the horizon, draping the Cultural Center building in a coppery light, thick as honey, when I caught sight of the folklore ensemble seated on the steps.
And then, the great revelation occurred. I saw her.
Natalia was an apparition that seemed to have been cut from a canvas of eternity and pasted into our mundane reality. She wore an emerald-green skirt, whose red decorative elements seemed to pulse with every movement, and a snow-white blouse where traditional ornaments intertwined in a perfect harmony of red and green. Her waist was cinched by a green sash, and her entire attire emphasized that fine, innocent, yet regal aura she carried with her.
Beside her, in the same ensemble, was Ana. But, surprisingly, Ana's presence no longer stirred any storm within me. Her image, which had once dictated my heartbeat, had faded completely after that long summer break. She was merely a familiar face, a classmate, while my gaze was now magnetized by something far deeper.
The moment our eyes met, a tear formed in the fabric of time. It wasn't just a simple look between Andrei and Natalia, but a magnetic connection that lasted, I believe, twenty minutes of inner stillness. Time dilated until it vanished. The ensemble's music became a faint echo, the crowd of people dissolved into an indistinct mist, and we remained alone in a parallel universe.
She was singing, but her eyes spoke directly to my soul. Natalia always had a warm smile on her lips—a smile that was no longer sarcastic at all, but infinitely welcoming. I tried to maintain my mask of the "serious man," the student from the capital, but the battle was already lost. My feelings had "blossomed" across my face, in my eyes, and in my smile. I felt her sending her aura toward me, knowing that now, at last, the path was clear.
We only broke our gaze when someone handed her the microphone so she could be heard more clearly through the speakers echoing across the village. But the spell had already been sealed. Later, when I approached her, I was overwhelmed by an enchantment of scents. Her fragrance, that of a refined young lady, mingled subtly with the bittersweet aroma of autumn and dried leaves. That combination was the fuel that made the fire in my chest explode.
Under that September sky, the blind Andrei had died for good. In his place, a man was born, a captive of Natalia's gaze, ready to discover the universe he had ignored for so long.