The sky was so dark and deep. It was more fierce than any other day. Stars started blinking here and there. It was so realistic. I even believed for a moment that the sky was imparting something to me.

"I am sorry." His hoarse voice interrupted my communication with the sky. "It wasn't you," Henry whispered. His eyes were drenched in guilt.

"I couldn't get it," I said, hoping he wouldn't say anything I feared.

"Those letters. They were not meant for you."

It was so clear and loud that there was no chance I misheard it. I felt something heavy in my chest that made my breathing hard. Suddenly, I couldn't bear the weight of myself. I didn't care to tuck my hair, which kept falling over my face. I didn't care to hold that letter in my hand more grippingly. I couldn't move. It was like I was paralyzed. I gasped for air.

"It was meant for El." He glanced at me.

"Wait, is this any kind of sick prank?" Deep down, I wanted it to be.

"No. It was for El." He repeated, "Elisa."

"Elisa?" I looked at him with my eyes wide open.

"Yeah!" he said. He struggled, not knowing where to start.

"Elisa. She lived with her family in the same house as you do right now. They actually left the very day you came here." He paused to make sure I wasn't breaking down. It was hard for me to acknowledge anything he was saying. My head started spinning. I couldn't bear the inflicted pain. My heart felt as though every single nerve was being pulled. Those sudden streaks of pain were unbearable. I was afraid that if at least one tear escaped my eyes, I wouldn't be able to control the rest. But I didn't want to cry in front of him. So I tried to pull myself back together.

"Are you alright, Elena?" He asked me out of concern. I simply nodded. Even moving my head up and down seemed heavy and painful.

The way he called me Elena kept resonating in my ears. He never called me El. He always called me Elena. How stupid I was to not see it before.

One by one, I began to sense every little detail as he spoke. I couldn't take it anymore. For the first time in my life, I didn't want to realize anything. I didn't want to think or feel anything. I wished I was dumb enough to not understand anything he was saying.

"I know it will be hard for you. I can feel you. Believe me, I stood in that position." He said this as he scribbled something on the wet sand. He then erased it before I could see it.

"Have you?" I asked, trying not to let the pain reflect in my tone.

"Yeah. Even now, I'm in the same position as yours." He stopped scribbling on the sand.

I took a deep breath. I didn't say anything back. I wanted to hear his side of the story, but I wasn't sure if I dared to take it all in. So I chose to remain silent. He started telling me everything as if he understood from the silence that a part of me wanted to hear it.

"They only stayed here for three months. But those were the most beautiful three months of my life." He continued, "They came here for her mother's medical treatment. They planned to stay here until her mother was cured. So she continued her senior year at the same high school I was going to. She also used to visit the library where I worked part-time. She's a reading enthusiast too, like you." He smiled.

"As her mother's health condition improved, they vacated the house sooner than they planned. All these things happened in those three months. And the worst part was, I didn't know that they would leave this sooner." He sighed.

"And the letters?" I asked morosely.

"As she loved reading books, I thought of this stupid idea of writing letters and placing them in random places, hoping she would find them and read them someday. I could have said it in person. I should've talked to her about it." He regretted it.

"She didn't have many friends either. She found it difficult to befriend new people. I know it is hard to join in the middle of your senior year at some other high school and to adapt to it. It took her some time to accept the change." He paused.

"We have talked only a few times while crossing the hallway, and that's it. She didn't speak much to anyone either. She would just greet people and smile at them, and that was it."

"She was going through so much at that time, you know. She was worried about her mother. It was difficult for her to find a balance between adapting to the new place and taking care of her mother. Of course, she hasn't talked about it with me, as we weren't close. But I saw that in her eyes."

I was paying attention to him, but at the same time, I wasn't. It was like someone speaking to me from a faraway land. Though his voice was not loud and clear, I heard it enough to know what he was saying. But I was barely ready to grasp it.

Everything flashed in front of my eyes as if I were a part of it. I could see Henry and Elisa walking in a hallway with dull-colored walls, exchanging smiles as they crossed. I could picture Elisa with all the things he was saying. I could see her walking in the library, searching for a book recommended by Henry in one of his letters. I could see how bright her face was as she figured out the book and opened it. I could see the wide grin on her face as she flipped through the pages and found a letter in it. I could see her laughing and roaming in her room with his letters in her hand. I could simply visualize her instead of me in all those situations that have happened until now.

It was distressing to realize that all those moments were supposed to be someone else's. I felt mortified for intruding on someone's personal things.

I couldn't accept that all these letters were never meant for me. It was intolerable. I felt pathetic for believing it was all for me. I felt agonized to think that the man for whom I had waited all this time was never meant to be with me. All those excitements, butterflies, smiles, dreams, and love were nothing but mistakes.

"She's beautiful inside out. With her curly hair, brown skin, and black eyes, she looked so beautiful. That smile of hers has no boundaries. Every time I think of her, she never fails to put a smile on my face. I still couldn't figure out why I was so into her. Perhaps that's what love is. It never leaves us a reason."

"It is weird, right? How we dump all of our emotions and energy into that one person with no assurance at all. Perhaps the most beautiful things in life come without a tag of assurance. It just clings to hope." He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. I saw that joy in his eyes when he talked about her. It gave me goosebumps. The absolute pinnacle of happiness is to have someone whose eyes shine when they think about us or talk about us. I realized how lucky Elisa is to have someone like that.

"I still remember the first time I saw her. She was wearing a lavender crop top and black jeans. She was taking her dog for a walk. Her dog's name was Emma. That picture of hers is still frozen in my mind. I watched her a couple of times at the same time in the following days. I started waiting there every day simply to see her. And even I thought that she somehow might have noticed me." Henry smiled naively.

And now, I could even picture Emma with her.

"When she joined the same high school I was going to, I was exhilarated. I felt peaceful the instant I saw her. It was magical, you know. During those moments, I couldn't resist the impulse to speak with her. But she was engaged with all the extra classes she needed to attend in order to compensate for her grades."

"A month had gone by. And she was so occupied with visiting her mom at the hospital and taking extra classes. So I decided to do something that would make her excited. And that's when I came up with the idea of writing her an anonymous letter. I dropped it in the front yard of her house, hoping she would find it. A few days later, when I looked for that letter, it was gone. And I believed that she took it." He said.

"Which eventually got into my hands," I said miserably.

"Did it?" He was surprised. Perhaps until this time, he believed that Elisa had gotten that letter. But no, it was me who got it buried partially in the mud under a pile of dry leaves.

"Yeah," I mumbled.

"But how come, Elena?" He still didn't believe it. I took a letter from the bag and handed it to him. The letter wasn't in good condition. It was crushed and damaged by the rain. It was brown in the shade as it lay buried in the muddy lawn for, God knows, more than a few months.

"Careful, it's already torn." I handed him the letter.

He took a minute to read it. He was startled when he found that Elisa never took the letter. I saw that disappointment in his eyes.

"Now I can see how you were pulled into all this." He said. I smiled feebly. I didn't know what to say.

I couldn't control my range of emotions. It was all visible on my forlorn face. I have been trying to conceal it for a long time now. But I gave up wondering what the purpose of hiding it was.

"It was one fine evening, and she was leaving the class. I felt an immediate urge to talk to her. And the next moment I realized, I stood in front of her. She was shocked to see someone jump suddenly in front of her.

'Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to scare you.' I said. It was breathtaking to finally talk to her. I was shaking, and I tried to remain calm. I could hear my heart racing louder than usual.

'No, It's okay.' She said.

'Are you leaving already?'

'Yeah, I have some work to catch up.' She took her bag.

'Well, I'm Henry.'

'And I'm Elisa.'

'I know. Do you mind if I call you El?' I asked.

'No, well, everyone calls me by that.' She smiled. It was a little affirmative smile, and I was already blown away.

Then, out of the blue, she appeared at the library the following day. She was searching for some books. And since I saw an opportunity, I penned something while she was borrowing the book, 'Message in a Bottle.' On the final page of that book, I wrote another novel's name, recommending her to read it next. I did it quickly, as I didn't want to raise any suspicions. Later, in the hope that she would heed my advice and grab the book, I wrote a letter and placed it inside."

"And that book was It Ends With Us, right?" I asked in distress.

He was taken aback. "You got that letter too? I know that El didn't get it, but I never thought that you would've got that too."

"Well, she never returned the book Message in a Bottle," I remembered him. "She might have never finished that book."

"I know that, as you returned that book on behalf of her. That was the first time I saw you. And it wasn't until you brought it up that I knew she had left the city. It was shocking to me, as I never thought they would leave this soon. If I had known that earlier, I would've conveyed my love to her or at least got her number. I was so stupid to play with letters in this era of Instagram and WhatsApp." He exhaled intensely.

"And I'm sorry. She never got the book you gave at the cafe, instructing them to give it to the girl named El. I got it. I got all the books and the letters following that in a sequence."

He was perturbed. It was evident on his face. He might not have thought that Elisa wouldn't have received any of the letters. His hope that she might have at least read one of the letters was shattered, just like my hope of finding the man I loved. We were both sailing on the same boat without us realizing it.

"If that's the case, she won't have the faintest idea about me and my love for her. I know that she didn't get the book It Ends With Us or the letter inside it, as she never came to the library after that. But I genuinely thought that she might have obtained the letter from the cafe before leaving the city. I thought she would have followed up on the clues in that letter leading her to the beach. In fact, I had been anticipating her email all along in the hope that she would have received the letter from the beach that had my email address. And that's why I kept wondering why she hadn't gotten back to me despite having my mail I'd. I began to think that she might already be dating someone, or worse yet, that she didn't like me and didn't want to talk to me at all. " He was shaken up by this revelation. He was worried about how he was going to find her.

"And when I finally got the email, I really believed that it was her. I was sailing in seventh heaven. It really felt different to smile genuinely after such a long time, you know. You should've seen how happy I was." He said.

"Yeah, I saw you, Henry. You grinned ear to ear as you walked past me in the hallway."

"Yeah, you did." He gave a weak smile.

"I still couldn't believe how it all ended up. It is inconceivable. Nothing favored me. I mean us." His tone expressed his feelings of despair.

"I'm sorry, Elena. I never knew that this playful act would lead somewhere like this. The guilt is eating me away. I didn't know how I never saw this coming. I should've been more cautious."

"It's not your fault. How come you could have known that there would come a girl named El to the same house and things would go south ever since?" I said, pathetically.

"Things would've been better if you didn't fall in love with Enrytt."

"How could you say that, Henry? Wasn't the purpose of those letters to impress Elisa-I mean, the recipient, whoever it might be?" I was agitated. I couldn't bear hearing it from him. It made me feel like it was my fault to have felt anything.

"I didn't mean to sound rude, Elena. I'm sorry. It's all on me." He apologized.

"It was no one's fault," I said.

He didn't say a word. He was immersed in his thoughts for a while.

"Well, I didn't know what to say. I'm still trying to gasp for air. I can feel the destructive pain in my chest. If it was never meant to be, then why the hell did it have to happen this way? I can't take it anymore, Henry. It is too much for anyone to take at a time." I groaned. Tears welled up. I felt a sudden choke in my throat, the initial stage of breaking down.

"No, you shouldn't. Not here. At least not in front of him." I convinced myself.

In my whole life, I have never imagined a situation like this. Though the love of my life was in sight of my eyes, I couldn't feel him. I couldn't hold him.

"You should know this at least. You deserve to know how much I love you. My whole life, I dreamed of having someone like you. While I thought I was reliving my dreams, fate had my wings cut off." I said, putting up every last bit of my strength.

"You know, love has this wondrous habit of knocking us down at the least expected time." Somehow, he was able to get it out.

At the time, we were both shaken. All that was left was excruciating pain.

******

Hey guys!

I know it's heartbreaking. But not all things end up as we want, right? After all, it's life. It has its own shortcomings.

And if you have made it this far, I would like to thank you for sticking with this story till now.

See you all at the next chapter!

******