“It’s been three months since I met Riya. Oh, I am so excited to meet her today. I have so much to share with her”, Raima told herself while traveling to the city where her sister works.

But it did not turn up as she expected it to be. Although Riya welcomed her with a wide smile, she was always busy talking to her friends and colleagues. She only interacted with her elder sister during the meals, asking about the menu.

Raima spent the days alone, doing the same thing she does at home – reading books, watching movies, and listening to music.

While returning home, she looked at the box of chocolates gifted to her by Riya. Keeping it on her lap, wiping her tear drops, she said, “I wanted your time, Riya, not your precious gifts. The quality time we spend together is the best gift for me, but you never understand this. I have always longed for your time, not your gifts; if only you could realize this.”

Looking beyond the bus window, watching the streets running with her, she told them everything she wanted to tell her younger sister.

(Postcard Fiction is a micro fiction genre where the stories are written based on a picture and the length of the story falls between the range of words a postcard can carry, i. e. between the range of 150-250. Read all my postcard fiction here.)