Arvian gazed at the evening sky as its colors began to change. A gentle breeze brushed his face, bringing back the many memories he had tried to bury deep in his mind.
It had been a long time since he had returned to that place. The place where so many stories had begun, where soft laughter and simple promises had once been part of his life.
"It's still the same as before," Arvian said softly.
He walked along the small road he used to pass by so often. Every corner of the place seemed to hold a sound from the past. The voice of someone who had once called his name, conversations that had never been finished, and feelings that had never truly gone away.
Arvian stopped in front of an old bench.
He slowly brushed his hand across its surface.
"Why do I still remember everything?" he asked himself.
All this time, Arvian had always tried to look like he was doing fine. He smiled in front of people, joking as if nothing was weighing on his mind. But deep in his heart, there was one name that always appeared when night fell.
Someone who had made him understand the meaning of loss.
Someone who had made longing feel so unbearably heavy.
"Arvian?"
The voice made him stop in his tracks.
He slowly turned around.
A woman stood not far away. Their eyes met, and for a few moments, neither of them said a word.
"You really did come back," the woman said softly.
Arvian fell silent.
There were so many things he wanted to say, but they all felt impossible to get out.
"I never expected to run into you here," Arvian replied.
The woman gave him a small smile.
"Me neither."
They sat on the same bench. There was no long conversation, only a silence that felt full of stories.
"I thought you had forgotten this place," she said.
Arvian looked toward the road in front of them.
"I tried to forget everything."
"And then?"
Arvian drew a long breath.
"It turns out some things can't be forgotten, no matter how hard we try."
The woman lowered her head.
"I used to think that too."
The silence returned.
But this time, it didn't feel unfamiliar.
Arvian felt as if he were reopening an old page he had never finished reading.
"I waited for you once," the woman suddenly said.
Arvian looked at her.
"Why did you never tell me?"
The woman smiled sadly.
"Because back then, I thought you had already chosen your own path."
Arvian fell silent.
He realized that he wasn't the only one who had been carrying a wound all this time. There was someone else carrying a story that had never had the chance to be told.
"I'm sorry," Arvian said.
The woman shook her head.
"Don't apologize for something that's already over."
"But I left without explaining anything."
"And I kept waiting without asking anything."
Her words left Arvian silent.
Sometimes what drives people apart isn't a lack of care, but the fact that they're both afraid to face the truth.
Night slowly descended. The streetlights came on one by one.
"Are you still carrying the same longing?" the woman asked.
Arvian gave a faint smile.
"I'm carrying the same longing, but I don't know who I'm supposed to give it to."
The woman looked at him.
"Maybe to the person who's still carrying it too."
Arvian didn't answer.
But for the first time in a long while, his heart felt a little lighter.
They walked away from the place together.
There were no grand promises.
No excessive words.
Just two people who had once lost their way, meeting again on the same road.
On the way home, Arvian looked up at the night sky.
He used to think longing was something that had to be erased.
But now he understood.
Longing isn't always about someone who has left.
Sometimes longing is the heart's way of remembering something that once made it happy.
And that night, Arvian finally dared to accept that there were parts of his past he didn't need to erase.
Because some memories don't come to hurt us.
Some just want to be found again.