I knew I loved him. But it was only when he was gone from my life that I realized what it meant to have him in it. Even if we never got a chance to speak or to be together. Just seeing him in college. Watching him from across a room. Walking down a corridor and hearing his voice talking to someone. Just knowing that he was alive and well and somewhere close.

I told myself he loved me. I told myself he would return. His father had taken him away too. But I had this bad feeling. This sensation of falling down that stayed in my stomach, filled my days, and even my dreams.

He was gone and I had nothing left to hold on to to get from one day to another.

So, I sang. I sang all the songs that we had sung together. I closed my eyes and imagined his voice joining mine. My father locked me in a cage, and I sang like a bird.

The stars you named,

Became ours forever,

They watch in a still dark sky.

The love you named,

Can leave me never,

It can never die.

I will count the stars as I wait for you,

And make the whole sky ours.

This world is not enough to hold

Our love, so we reach for stars.

Diya