Days passed. Then weeks.And yet, no word from Ram.
Sita waited by the radio every evening, her fingers trembling as she turned the dial, hoping to hear even a whisper from the other end his name in a broadcast, his voice in a message, anything.
But the air stayed quiet. Still. Heavy.
She wrote letters every two days.Folded with care.Stamped with hope.Posted with prayers.
But none were returned.
Her eyes had memorized the edges of his last letter,
the one he wrote from the station before boarding that train.
In it, he said he would write once he reached.
That he would describe the skies at the border, the faces he met, and how much he missed her.
But no such letter came.
Her family grew worried.
Friends stopped asking.Only Jenny stayed by her side, bringing her meals she wouldn't eat and songs she wouldn't sing.
One evening, as the sun dipped behind the clouds,
casting long shadows across the veranda, a stranger arrived.
A girl, barely grown, her hair tied in two braids, her eyes swollen from travel.
"Are you… Sita?" she asked softly, holding out a yellowed envelope.
Sita's breath caught.
Her fingers shook as she took it, eyes darting across the familiar handwriting. Ram's name.
His seal.
"Where did you get this?" she whispered.
"I'm Afreen," the girl said.
"He saved me from a burning village. He gave this to me… before they took him."
Sita clutched the envelope tightly and collapsed into the nearest chair. She opened it with trembling fingers.
Inside was a single sheet, torn at the edge, smudged with dirt and blood.
"Sita... If this letter reaches you, I may not return."
"But I want you to know... I found you long before I knew your name."
"You were there… in dreams, in pain, in peace. And even if I don't get to live a life beside you in this world, I know we're meant to find each other in another."
"We always do."
Tears blurred the ink as she read it again and again, trying to feel his voice in every line.
That night, Sita had a dream.
Ram stood at the edge of a battlefield, arms outstretched, eyes filled with peace.
And beside him stood a man… Bheem.Both reaching toward her. Smiling.
She woke up screaming his name.
"Raaaam…"
The air felt heavy.Her chest ached.The world spun.And her heart…
…broke.
She stumbled to the floor, clutching the letter to her chest. Jenny rushed in, but before she could speak—
Sita's eyes closed.
Peaceful. Painful. Eternal.
Just like their love.