Ravi watched Yuvika paint her vase while thin strands of sunlight slipped through the classroom windows and settled gently on her brown hair. His heart skipped a beat.
He had been infatuated with her for months. School itself meant very little to him now, it was merely the place where Yuvika existed.
Then April arrived.
The heat became unbearable. Fans pushed around hot air, roads shimmered, and within weeks the schools shut down. Classes moved online.
Ravi felt cheated.
Every afternoon he stared at the burning white sky outside his window and blamed the sun for taking away the only thing he looked forward to.
Soon, the frustration turned into obsession.
One evening, Ravi walked into a small neighbourhood temple and asked Pandit ji who controlled the sun.
“Surya Dev,” the old priest replied calmly.
“And where can I find him?”
Pandit ji chuckled. “Through tapasya.”
But Ravi had grown up in a world where every important person could be reached with enough money, influence, or persistence. Gods, he thought, could not be that different.
Over the next few days, he wandered from temple to temple asking strange questions to increasingly confused priests. Eventually, someone told him about an old Sun temple on the edge of the city.
Before going there, Ravi stopped at an ATM and withdrew the last 2000 rupees in his bank account.
It was everything he had saved.
The temple was nearly empty when he arrived. Inside stood a lone idol of Surya Dev, bathed in orange light from the setting sun.
Ravi placed the money before the idol.
“I want to meet him,” he said firmly.
Then he sat down cross-legged on the cold stone floor and waited.
An hour passed.
Then another.
The temple bells had long gone silent when a familiar voice echoed from the entrance.
“Ravi?”
His heart stumbled.
He turned around and saw Yuvika standing there with a small steel plate of flowers and oil lamps in her hands.
For a moment, Ravi forgot why he had come.
“What are you doing here?” he asked.
Yuvika smiled softly.
“I come here every evening,” she said. “Surya Dev helped my mother recover when she was sick. Since then, I’ve visited every day.”
Ravi looked back at the idol.
The same sun he had cursed for months had somehow led him here.
After that day, Ravi began visiting the temple regularly.
At first, he came only for Yuvika.
He learned the exact time she arrived. He memorised the sound of her footsteps against the stone stairs. He started bringing flowers, pretending it was for prayer.
But slowly, the temple itself began changing him.
He started noticing the quietness of early mornings, the warmth of sunlight on the marble floors, the way the priests sang during evening aarti while the sky turned gold outside.
The flower seller began greeting him by name.
The priests stopped looking suspicious and started smiling when he entered.
And somewhere between waiting for Yuvika and watching the sunrise every morning, Ravi realised something strange:
he no longer hated the sun.
In fact, it had become the only reason he could still see her.
