The night was tender, wrapped in velvet shadows and silver dreams. The sea hummed softly to the moon, waves brushing the shore like the world was exhaling slowly. A breeze wandered through the air, cool and salty, twining with the scent of jasmine, roses and flickering candlelight. It was the kind of night that didn't ask for words. It just asked you to feel.
The wedding arch stood quietly by the sea, almost too delicate to be real, like dressed in pale ivory blooms, golden vines curled like crescent moons, and feathers that moved ever so slightly in the wind. Transparent chairs shimmered under the stars, set in perfect rows. Lanterns lined the aisle like floating fireflies, glowing softly in the sand. It felt like a dream, like someone had taken a piece of the sky and planted it here on the beach.
Everything was quiet.
Calm...
Beautiful...
"But my heart... my heart is too loud." the girl murmured to herself.
The girl in white stood at the edge of the moonlight, her veil fluttering with the sea breeze. Maybe she was the bride.
She continued to whisper herself, "for me, this wasn't just a wedding. This was the start of something I never believed I would have in this life. It is a love story that had begun quietly, in the most unexpected way. Like a story born in silence, under the glow of a screen, during a time in my life when I didn't even believe in love. And now I'm already here to be a soulmate in his entire life."
She continued, "the people who arrived at my wedding today... They once asked me, "When did you fall in love with him?""
"I just leave a smile. Because, the truth was too quiet for words."
She continued to whisper herself, "I didn't fall all at once. And there was no thunder, no rain, and it wasn't some dramatic moment like the ones we see in dramas. But somehow... it still was."
"It began like a whisper. A presence. A soft shift inside me."
"And long before he knew my name, long before we met. I had already chosen to love him."
---
The bride smiled softly, the memories cascading like the ocean's tide.
She murmured herself, "it wasn't a single moment, but a series of quiet realizations. Back then, I was just a university student. A quiet girl in a noisy world. I often felt like an outsider watching life through a window. People laughed in corridors, talked fast, made plans, chased dreams."
"But I? I was different."
she continued, "autism wasn't something I ever explained out loud. I just let people think I was shy or strange or too quiet. I was used to that. The truth was, I simply saw the world differently like more deeply, more cautiously. I noticed patterns in sounds, colors in silence, and emotions in spaces where others didn't look."
"My days were predictable. I liked it that way. My morning walk to class, the same seat in the library, the same lunch from the same cafeteria corner. The rhythm of routine kept me safe. its just make me feel like unite with those things that I do."
"I didn't talk much. I didn't have many friends. And I didn't think love was something meant for me."
She paused, her voice is a soft echo of her thoughts. Then, she continued,
"Love seemed loud. Messy. Bright and overwhelming."
There was a heaviness in her gaze, a shadow of something long carried her. She started again, "because... it felt like love could be more dangerous than dark. like stepping into a place where I couldn't protect myself anymore. so, I avoided it. I kept my heart tucked away, safe behind the walls I built."
A wistful smile ghosted across her lips. she whispered, "I told myself that I don't want to fall in love. and always thinks like that it wasn't for someone like me."
"its just that, the love... it could never be my cup of coffee," she said with a quiet chuckle, as if laughing at herself.
she glanced away, her eyes are distant. she said, "everyone around me talked about butterflies, about racing hearts and sleepless nights. but for me, love is just a emotion that never want to gain."
The bride, as she looked down, her fingers gently tracing the fabric of her dress.
"But fate doesn't ask for permission." she whispered
"it comes in like a breeze through a half-open window. unexpected, uninvited, and yet, suddenly, everything smells different.
she inhaled, as if still recalling the moment vividly.
she whispered, "yeah,... it was the time when K-dramas and C-dramas were blooming like wildflowers on every teenager's phone in India. those are arrived as they wrapped in subtitles and soundtracks. stories that drifted between palace walls and modern campuses, offering a kind of escape from our own world that we never did, even in our dreams."
she continued, "I wasn't into everything. I prefer university stories, where friendships formed in libraries and love grew in silence. those stories can bring me some emotions that what I crave to get from my friends but doesn't. And historical fantasy dramas, these are my favorite, those background settings, music, those themes, I just like to watch."
she continued, " after finishing my exams, I just want relax for sometime. at evening, as I scrolled through YouTube, those thumbnails are crowded on my screen. posters of smiling leads in uniforms, and those titles I couldn't read, yet recognized in subtitles."
"And there he was.."
"not in a scene. not in a moment.."
"oh, he is just a boy in a white shirt, maybe his school uniform. standing on a bus, holding the railing with one hand. the light fell just right. his expression is unreadable. it is a still frame from a drama that I never watch.."
"It was just a thumbnail." she murmured.
I scrolled past it without clicking.
she continued, "but the next day, there he was again..."
"And again..."
she continued, "at first, I thought it was an algorithm glitch. just a random face caught in the loop of endless scrolling. I skipped him, again and again. but, the boy in the school uniform, gripping the overhead rod on a bus, staring at me from somewhere far beyond the screen."
"But the universe, it seemed, was persistent."
she continued, "for weeks, his face kept showing up. I began to remember the shape of his smile, even though I hadn't clicked a single video. His expression was always soft like he was thinking about something just beyond the screen. And even though I didn't know his name, even though he was just an actor in a thumbnail… I started to feel something."
she continued, "oh, its already Feb... the month of love.."
"The days were growing warmer, and loneliness felt heavier. My classmates had boyfriends, girlfriends, and people to text whenever they feel lone. My phone was silent, my weekends are longer than a week. I didn't mind being alone but sometimes, I wished I had someone who saw me. Not just with their eyes, but with their heart. I wished I had someone to tell about my things. not just with their ears, but with their heart."
"One night, it's just that I'm unable to sleep, then I clicked the thumbnail of his.."
"I didn't expect anything."
she whispered, "But the moment the drama began, I felt a strange tug inside me."
she continued, "he was laughing in the scene. Running with his friends, carefree, his uniform shirt slightly wrinkled, hair bouncing with each step. There was something boyish, pure about him. Something that felt safe."
"I watched an episode. Then another."
"And soon, his world became part of mine."
she muttered, "he was just a character. A boy playing pretend. But through the screen, he became real to me. I listened to his voice every night. His words filled the silence in my room. His smile made my chest ache, in a way I didn't know was possible."
she continued, "I began to wait for the next episode like it was something sacred. I would lie in bed afterward, imagining what it would be like to talk to him. To walk beside him. To have someone like that notice someone like me."
"And slowly, without even realizing it…"
"then, I fell in love." she chuckled.
she continued, "not the kind of love they wrote poems about. Not loud or wild."
"But quiet..."
"Steady...."
"A love born in stillness with silence."
she continued, "I never told anyone. except the pillow that is resting underneath my head, which is silently hearing all of secrets about him. but, how could I? it's not because people would laugh. or are they'd say it was silly to fall for someone you'd never met. But what they didn't understand was that this love wasn't about him being famous, or handsome, or unreachable."
"It was about how he made me feel..."
"Seen. Safe. Soft..."
she whispered with a soft chuckle, "nope, it wasn't the beginning. and this... this is not the full truth."
she continued, "I know you're waiting for the story, the part where I say, "that's when it all started."
"but love doesn't begin the way, what people expect it to..."
"And mine..."
"mine needed time. silence. a quiet place to bloom. a chance to choose."
"because that moment, the real one deserves its own time to show up. and you'll know when the time comes.."
She whispered, "but its true. some nights, I whispered his name to the moon. Not because I thought he'd hear me. But because saying it made me feel less alone."
"And now, here I am." she whispered.
"Standing on a beach in a white dress, under the same moon that once listened to my whispers."
She whispered, "I find myself here between yesterday's dreams and tonight's promises."
"The sea hums softly behind me,
the stars are holding their breath.
Everything feels like a memory I've yet to live."
"And you…
Yes, you the one who is reading this..
what are you doing there, hiding in the quiet?"
"Come.."
"Come and give us your blessings.
Take your seat by the shore, where the lanterns flicker like fireflies.
This isn't just a wedding —
It's my journey towards him, It has taken longer than you think.. for me to reach."
She continued, "before I take that first step down the moonlit aisle,
before I walk toward him ...
the boy I once loved from afar,
the man who now waits with stars in his eyes.."
She whispered, "and now...
I'm standing here, wrapped in ocean breeze and moonlight,
Waiting for him, to take my hand and make a vow."