"Anurak." The name clung to me, wrapping itself around the space where silence used to live.
I whispered it inside, again and again, as if the syllables themselves were fragile and might vanish if I did not hold them carefully… "Anurak… Anurak…"
He inclined his head politely, a faint smile at the corner of his lips, but his eyes were not so easy to read. They were steady, calm, as if they had witnessed too much of the world already. They brushed mine only briefly, yet the weight of that gaze settled deep, stirring something in me I could neither name nor escape.
I wanted to say his name aloud. I wanted to hear him speak mine, to know what my name would sound like carried in his voice…
But the wishes tangled in silence. I could not move; my body betrayed me, holding me back when every part of me longed to run toward him, to press my face against his shoulder as though I had known him forever.
So I stayed where I was, my lips shaping his name in secret. Anurak…
It echoed in my chest, a low thrum that followed me even as Granny began walking, even as Sorren tugged at my hands with a small bark, urging me along. Still, I lingered in the place where his presence had struck me, wishing I could leave myself there beside him, for just a little longer.
The river carried its lanterns forward, but my thoughts carried only his name.
And though he had given me nothing more than a bow and silence, it was enough. Enough to haunt me. Enough to hold me. Because sometimes a name is not just a name—sometimes it is the beginning of a longing that refuses to end.