Sagar was drifting across Facebook aimlessly. The day had been long, the room felt stale, and the blue glow of his laptop was the only living thing around him. He scrolled through the usual mix of posts until a single name jolted him upright.

Leena.

For a moment he thought he had misread it. Then he clicked the profile, and the familiar face returned like a half-forgotten tune.

Leena.

This name alone pulled him ten years back to the sunlit corridors of school, to benches scribbled with formulas, to stolen glances between textbooks. She had been his academic rival, his quiet inspiration, and the girl he carried a silent crush for from the 7th to the 12th standard.

Everyone knew them as a pair, always competing for the top rank, always neck-to-neck. Leena was disciplined, meticulous. Sagar was brilliant but scattered, shining equally on the sports field, debate stage, and exam sheet. She admired his range; he admired her focus. Their competition was less of a battle and more of a connection—an unspoken affection disguised as ambition.

During national festivals, when students roamed freely after the ceremony, the two somehow ended up together—under the banyan tree, near the flagpole, by the cycle stand—sharing dreams in half sentences and shy smiles. There had been tenderness in those meetings, though neither admitted it.

Their H.S.C. results exceeded expectations—both scoring above 90%. But dreams separated them. Sagar moved to an engineering hostel; Leena to a medical one. Slowly their calls dwindled, messages faded, and the sweetness of their school bond dissolved into the routines of adulthood.

He hesitated only a moment before dialling the number on her profile.
“Hello?” The voice was older, steadier, but undeniably hers.
“Leena,” he whispered, “this is… Sagar. From Gokhale Highschool.”

A sharp gasp, followed by a bubbling laugh. “Sagar! Oh my God! After so many years?” Her happiness was so genuine. It stunned him. They fell into conversation effortlessly, as if the decade had only been a moment.

She told him she had completed her M.D., and was now the Director of a new   hospital in Mhow, in Madhya Pradesh. When she spoke about their school days, her voice softened.

“You know,” she said, “those were my happiest years. You were my comfort zone… even though we pretended everything was about marks.” She laughed. “I always wanted to tell you—I loved how you could do everything. I admired that.”
Sagar’s heart tightened. “I admired you too.

”There was a small pause. A delicate one.

Leena exhaled. “I always wondered what would have happened if we hadn’t drifted apart.”

The words hung between them like a door gently opening. They spoke for hours that evening. What began as nostalgia slipped naturally into something deeper—affection layered with curiosity, echoes of old feelings wrapped in the maturity of adulthood.

She told him about her patients, her night shifts. Then getting her M.D.  That opening her wider field of opportunities. Climbing up the career ladder. Accepting the challenging tasks at the top position of the organizations and at the same time experiencing the loneliness of leadership.

Then Leena stopped. She waited for Sagar to open out his experiences, his achievements, his moments of glory.

But….  Sagar could not gather the instances of recognitions. He had no laurels to speak about, no occasions of honours to boast about. He just kept quiet looking down. Abashed, he was watching movement of his toes.

Leena realized Sagar’s embarrassment.

“So what if your path wasn’t perfect?” she said, “Do you know how many people lose themselves forever?

You found your way back. That is not insignificant.”

Her belief in him felt like a soft miracle.

Sagar had a forced smile. Silence. Warm, fluttering silence.

“Sagar…” she whispered, “you haven’t changed. You are still self-effacing.”

Something bloomed in the quiet.

Sagar could not bear the embarrassment any longer. He hung.

Leena repeatedly called him. Sagar did not pick up.

The next day, Sagar received an unexpected message early morning.

'Come to Mhow. I want to see you.'

He stared at the screen for a full minute. His heart throbbing.

That afternoon, he applied for leave. Following day, in the morning, after checking in a small lodge in Mhow and getting refreshed, he was outside the gleaming white building of her hospital, hands trembling.

She walked out of the entrance wearing a pale blue kurti, hair tied loosely. When she saw him, her smile widened slowly, beautifully, like dawn spreading across the sky.

“Sagar…” she breathed.

The years fell away. Leena kept glancing at him as if confirming he was real.

“You look the same,” she said, laughing. “Just… more serious.”

“You look the same too,” he replied. “Just… more extraordinary.”

She blushed—an expression he remembered from school.

They went to a lakeside restaurant.

“Sagar,” she said softly, “why does this feel like we started something years ago and left it unfinished?”

He looked at her, really looked. The woman she had become had the same steady fire he had loved in the girl she once was. And something unlocked inside him.

“Leena, do you know, this is not the same Sagar you were competing with in school days. Engineering hit me harder than I expected. Activism swept me away; leadership roles swallowed my career.  I lost track, lost discipline, and eventually lost an entire year due to suspension. It left a scar, a blank space on my CV and a deeper one in my heart. I recovered later, but not enough to catch the eye of prestigious companies. Startups became my world —honest work, modest pay, and dreams that had shrunk quietly over the years. This Sagar is a defeated person. He is rejected by the society. All the doors for progress are closed for me. I am absolutely worthless.”

Leena was shocked to hear these words from him. Tears started flowing down her eyes.

Sagar took a pause.

Leena took a deep breath. She said, “Why do you think that brilliant, a winner in so many fronts in school days, can be a miserable loser in his youth? No. That fighter, successful Sagar is still courageous and ready to accept any challenge in life. He is strong enough to win over any type of odds.”

“No Leena. No one is ready to believe my competence. That blob of one year is haunting me and it is obscuring my capabilities. I am a useless person and cannot conquer any peak in the trekking of my life. My life is confined to a very small circle and cannot go beyond. I am a completely defeated person. “

“Sagar, I have a project which is certainly beyond your capacity.  Otherwise, I would have offered that project to you. But a loser like you can not be entrusted with this very important task.”

“Ok then Sagar. Let us go on our separate paths. But I am extremely sorry to note that my childhood mate has given up his fighting spirit and has turned into defeated person.”

“No Leena. I am confident of my expertise in AI. But no one is prepared to trust me. Even you have labelled me unfit to handle your project without knowing my competence. “

“Sagar, since you are repeatedly saying, you can not get out of the small circle, I presumed that.

But if you think you can study the project and discuss the execution of it with our consultant expert, you can look into it and let me know.”

The intentional disparaging remarks by Leena hit the right place - Sagar’s sensitive heart. He did not want to take it lying low.

This challenge, a brilliant person like Sagar could not ignore. He went close to Leena and said,

“Give me the specifications. I want to look into it.”

Leena was delighted to note this reaction from Sagar. With a smile, she handed over the project papers to Sagar.

Sagar got involved in the details of the project.

“Give me a day and I will present my plan to you. I will be here tomorrow at 11a.m.” saying this Sagar quickly left Leena’s hospital.

Leena was extremely happy that totally dejected a minute before, Sagar had sprung up to highly spirited mood.

She did not even stop him and let him loose on his own. She was sure that Sagar will be back with his wonderful plan.

The next day, Sagar was at Leena’s hospital at 11.

The initial presentation by Sagar was well accepted by the consultant and after a thorough discussion, Sagar was awarded the entire project. Brilliant that he was, Sagar completed the project in stipulated time.

After the project was commissioned and implemented in the routine management of the hospital, Sagar was handed over the cheque for the complete amount.

In the evening, at the lakeside restaurant, Sagar and Leena took a table facing the reservoir.

“Sagar, I don’t have words to express my happiness. I am with the same Sagar as in the school days, fully confident, looking  for a new, demanding task. The looser Sagar has vanished from the scene. Great!  

Sagar, you have done a miraculous job. Now, can we talk about some other matters?”

“It is nearly three weeks that I am here. But we haven’t spent even a few minutes speaking to each other. I am sorry for this misbehaviour. I hope you will understand.”

“Sagar, are we going to spend time exchanging the not so important?”

“Not at all. Ok. Tell me about your younger brother. How is he? What is he doing? “

“Vikas finished his M.S. in robotics recently and he has joined D.R.D.O. “

“And your parents? I had met them only once during school prize distribution function. How are they?”

“They are fine. Can you make it to my house tomorrow evening?”

“Actually, I am leaving tomorrow morning. It will be better if we meet today evening.”

“I have an online international meeting at 7:30. I will be free only after 10:30 pm.”

“OK then. Sometime later.” Sagar said disappointedly.

“Come on Sagar. Can you not cancel your booking tomorrow? You leave the day after tomorrow.”

“Hmmm.”

“Ok then. That is done,” Leena said.

Sagar had a meeting with Leena’s parents. On a pleasant note, Sagar left Mhow.

With the reputation of the successful project in Mhow, Sagar started getting more and more projects.

He had come out of the shell of a failed IT Engineer. Within a couple of years, Sagar acquired the recognition and established himself.

One evening, Leena visited Sagar. She was received by Sagar outside his small compact office.

A young smart receptionist welcomed her with a small, fragrant, vibrant bouquet.

Leena was led inside a moderate sized office, accommodating 7-8 smart Engineers sitting in front of their lap-tops.

Overwhelmed by Sagar’s progress, Leena was eager to talk to him on personal matters.

After a quick meeting with his parents, they went to a hill-top restaurant.

Taking a table that offered a panoramic view of the town,

“What do you think of my position as a life partner for you?”, Leena asked Sagar.

“Why are you embarrassing me by such a question?”

“Maybe because we did leave something unfinished,” she replied.

He took a slow breath. “Now I don’t want to leave it again.”

Her eyes glistened. “I don’t either.”

A zypher drifted her soft hair. Somewhere behind them, the town lights flickered on. She reached for his hand—hesitant, trembling—and he held it, as naturally as if he had been waiting his whole life.

For a long moment, they sat quietly, two reunited lines converging again.

“I always thought you’d forget me,” she whispered.

“I never did,” he said. “Not even once.”

She rested her head on his shoulder.  “We are soulmates,” she whispered.

The next morning, Leena got ready to leave in her car. Sagar was heavy hearted.

“I don’t know where this is going,” she admitted. “But I know I want it to go somewhere.”

“Then it will,” Sagar said.

She smiled.

“Call me when you reach.” Sagar said.

She nodded, then added softly, “Sagar… I’m glad you found me on Facebook.”

“And I’m glad I called you on the contact number and you answered” Sagar replied.

Leena slowly pressed the accelerator. Her heart full in a way it hadn’t been for years. 

Sagar stood there watching until she disappeared around the corner.

He turned back. The wind tugging at his hair, he murmured the words he had once scribbled in his school notebook:

Logic will get you from A to Z but imagination will get you everywhere.

Albert Einstein.