The first time I met her, I was 26.
I wasn't looking for love or anything close to it. I was just out to buy some noodles.
Then it started raining — no warning, no thunder — just one of those soft, moody showers that feel more personal than weather. I ran under a tree for cover.
That's when I saw her.
Dancing in the rain.
Barefoot, spinning, smiling. Cheerful like a kid. Sweet like candy. It was as if the world had disappeared and only she remained.
She saw me watching her. Tilted her head to the side and smiled — like I was the strange one for not dancing.
She walked over to me.
"Hello, mister. What are you doing here?"
I said, "Not dancing in the rain like a lunatic." And smiled.
She laughed, just a little. "It's not kind to make fun of people."
Then she turned and started walking away.
Something made me stop her. Maybe the way she didn't fear the world or what others may think .
"Wait," I called out. "What's your name?"
She smiled looked back "bring me flowers and then I will tell you my name"
I called her out "where can i find you?"
She walked ahead without turning around and said, "Near the old shrine. Up the hill."
I replied calmly, "Didn't know they treated lunatics up there."
She smirked. "Well, if they did, I would tell them to treat you first, okay, mister"
Then she was gone.
Just like that
---
It took me a week to find her again.
I went to the shrine every day, sat on the stone steps, watched the wind pass through the trees like it carried her name. I waited. For hours. Every day.
But she never showed.
On the seventh day, I gave up. I walked down the hill, feeling stupid for chasing a stranger through silence and memory.
Then I saw her.
She was sitting on the beach, far from everyone. Calm as the waves. Beautiful in a way I couldn't describe, like she didn't belong to this world.
I never knew when I fell for her. But I knew that I did and I fell hard.
I approached her slowly. "May I sit beside you, my majesty?"
She smiled like she had been waiting for me. "Indeed you may."
---
We sat in silence for a while, the waves speaking for us.
Then I said, "I went to the shrine every day… but I didn't find you anywhere."
She looked down. "Sorry about that."
I looked at her. "So… what's your name?"
She smiled. "Did you bring me some white roses?"
I sighed, half annoyed. "First you ghost a man for a week, and then you don't even tell him your name?"
She laughed. Loud, carefree. "I'm really sorry about that. Okay, okay. I'll tell you. But only on one condition."
I smiled calmly. "What condition?"
She turned toward me. Her voice was soft but serious. "Promise me you won't leave me."
I leaned closer and whispered into her ear, "You have a poet's word. I'll never leave you."
She smiled again. Tilted her head. "My name is Sofia. What's yours?"
I grinned. "Well… bring me black roses, and I'll tell you."
---
She laughed again — that same beautiful kind of laugh which makes me think about her — then stood up.
"Aren't you funny," she said. "Wanna see something really interesting?"
I glanced at her. "And what's that interesting thing?"
"Follow me and find out, Mister Poet."
I smiled. "Lead me wherever you want, my majesty."
She took me behind the old shrine, through a path I hadn't noticed before. It led to an old pond tucked behind wild grass and quiet trees.
Her eyes lit up. "This place is amazing. And the best part — you can see swans."
I looked at her, and burst out into laughter. "You look like a little kid who just got candy."
She smiled. I walked toward the water, saw the swans gliding across the pond like flowers with wings.
"You must really love swans," I said.
She came closer. "Well… do you?"
I looked at her — carefree, full of joy dress swaying in the breeze, smiling soft as the evening light.
"Indeed I do."
We spent the whole evening sitting there beside each other, looking at the pond and all the swans.
We didn't say a word,
but still… we talked a lot right there.
Nothing needed to be said.
It was quiet, but it wasn't empty.
Just me, her, the swans, and the kind of silence that felt full.
After a while, Sofia stood up.
No warning. No goodbye.
She just walked away.
She disappeared like the wind —
nowhere to be found,
nowhere to be seen.
And once again,
she left me wondering
if I would ever find her again or not.
---