Everyone thought Meera had moved on.
She smiled. She worked. She lived.
But every Sunday evening at exactly 6:40 PM, she unlocked the old blue trunk under her bed.
Inside were seven letters.
All written by the same man.
All dated after his death.
1
Aarav had been diagnosed with a heart condition at twenty-four.
He didn’t tell Meera at first.
Instead, he did something strange.
He began writing letters.
Not love letters for anniversaries.
Not dramatic goodbyes.
Just… ordinary letters.
“If you’re reading this, it means I didn’t get to steal your fries today.”
Meera laughed when she first read that one.
She didn’t know why it felt like a punch to the chest.
2
They met in a public library.
Meera loved silence.
Aarav broke it—often, unintentionally.
“Do books ever feel lonely to you?” he asked one day.
She frowned.
“You’re the only lonely thing here.”
He smiled like he’d been waiting his whole life to hear that.
They fell in love quietly—no grand proposals, no dramatic confessions.
Just shared headphones, tea gone cold, fingers brushing accidentally on library tables.
3
The letters were numbered.
Seven.
One for each phase of grief.
Aarav had planned this.
Letter One – Shock
“You’ll think this is a joke. I wish it were.”
Letter Two – Denial
“You’ll look for me in crowds. I’ll be there—in habits you can’t unlearn.”
Meera hated him for this.
For knowing.
For preparing.
For loving her so much that he stayed even after leaving.
4
He finally told her the truth on a rainy night.
“I might not grow old,” he said softly.
Meera cried.
Not loudly. Not dramatically.
She just held his hand and said,
“Then we’ll love faster.”
And they did.
5
Letter Five – Anger
“You’ll be angry at me. Good. It means you cared.”
She tore that letter once.
Then taped it back together.
Because even in anger, he felt close.
6
Years later, Meera stood at a book launch.
Her book.
Seven Letters After Goodbye.
Someone asked, “Is this fiction?”
She smiled through tears.
“No. This is proof that love doesn’t end when people do.”
7
The final letter was different.
Short. Handwriting shaky.
Letter Seven – Acceptance
“If you ever love again, don’t feel guilty.
I’ll be proud.
I was lucky—I was loved by you once.”
That night, Meera locked the trunk.
For the first time, she didn’t feel like she was leaving him behind.
She felt like he was walking with her—
quietly, lovingly—
into whatever came next.
