For most of his life, Akshay had only ever left places one way.
Quickly.Quietly.Without looking back.
Leaving had always meant survival.
It had never meant choice.
Until now.
The idea didn't arrive suddenly.It formed the way calm forms after a storm — slowly, almost unnoticed.
Akshay stood at the edge of the dock one morning, watching a bus pull away from the stop near the port road. A group of workers climbed aboard, laughing, carrying small bags, talking about jobs in another town.
For once, the sight didn't tighten his chest.
It made him think.
What would it feel like… to leave because I want to go?
Not because someone was chasing him.Not because danger was behind him.Not because he needed to disappear.
Just… because there was somewhere else he wanted to see.
He didn't tell Kannan immediately.
Not because he was afraid.Because he wanted to be sure it wasn't the old instinct wearing a new mask.
He watched himself for days.
Did he feel restless?Or curious?Did he feel trapped?Or simply ready?
The answer surprised him.
He felt steady.
And from steadiness, a new question emerged:
What do I want next?
The moment he chose to speak came quietly, as most brave moments do.
They were cooking dinner — rice simmering, vegetables chopped on the small counter, the room warm with simple life.
Akshay set the knife down.
"Kannan," he said.
Kannan looked up.
"Yes?"
"I've been thinking about leaving."
The sentence did not land like a blow.
Not anymore.
Kannan's chest tightened — but not with panic. With care.
"Tell me," he said softly.
Akshay wiped his hands on a towel.
"I don't mean disappearing," he added quickly."I don't mean running.""I mean… choosing to go somewhere."
Kannan nodded.
"That's different," he said. "Very different."
Akshay exhaled.
"I want to try working for a while in Kochi," he said. "Near the shipyards. A man I met said they're taking trainees. Real work. Regular hours."
Kannan listened fully before speaking.
"And you want to go," he said.
Akshay nodded.
"Yes. Not because I can't stay here. But because… I don't want fear to decide my limits anymore."
Kannan's eyes softened.
"That sounds like freedom," he said.
Akshay looked at him closely.
"You're not angry?""Not disappointed?""Not scared I won't come back?"
Kannan smiled gently.
"I used to be terrified of that," he said."But now I know something I didn't know before."
"What?" Akshay asked.
"That if you leave by choice," Kannan replied,"you'll always know how to return."
Akshay swallowed.
That sentence stayed with him.
They talked late into the night.
Not planning escape routes.Not hiding paths.
But normal things:
How long he might stay.What work might look like.Where he could sleep.How often he might come back.
Ordinary conversations.
For Akshay, they felt extraordinary.
Because no one had ever asked him to plan a life before.
Sara listened the next morning.
She didn't cry.
She didn't cling.
She smiled.
"This is how it's supposed to happen," she said."You don't grow by staying still forever."
Arun clapped Akshay lightly on the shoulder.
"Just promise you won't disappear," he said with a grin.
Akshay met his eyes.
"I won't," he said. "Not anymore."
Jeevan nodded from a distance.
"A boy who runs learns how to hide," he said."A man who chooses learns how to return."
Ravi simply said, "We'll be here."
That mattered most.
The night before Akshay planned to leave, he stood by the sea with Kannan.
The waves moved in steady patterns, unconcerned with human courage.
"I used to think leaving meant losing people," Akshay said quietly."Now I think it just means carrying them differently."
Kannan nodded.
"You carry me already," he said. "Not in your bag. In your choices."
Akshay smiled faintly.
"That's heavier," he said.
"But not unbearable," Kannan replied.
They stood together, not afraid of tomorrow.
When Akshay finally packed, it wasn't rushed.
Just a small bag.Two notebooks.A few clothes.The sketchbook.
And one thing new:
A return ticket.
Not because he doubted himself.
Because he no longer had to prove he would never come back.
On the morning he left for Kochi, he didn't slip away at dawn.
He stood in the doorway of Kannan's room.
Not trembling.Not apologizing.
He hugged Kannan.
Brief.Awkward.Real.
"I'll call," he said.
Kannan smiled.
"I know."
Akshay slung his bag over his shoulder.
And for the first time in his life, he walked toward a bus not as someone fleeing…
…but as someone stepping into the next chapter of his own choosing.