The ride back to Jay's house was almost completely silent.
Priya sat in the back seat beside Mina, staring through the window.
No one spoke.
No one knew what to say.
The question from the hospital followed them home.
**If Jay was in a coma, who had Priya met at the shore?**
When they entered Jay's house, Rohan immediately went into the room filled with sketches.
They stood there together.
Surrounded by drawings of Priya.
But even now, none of them had an answer.
Finally, Rohan broke the silence.
"I know someone."
Priya looked at him.
"Who?"
"A professor. He studies unusual cases. Strange events. Things that most people refuse to believe."
Mina frowned.
"You mean paranormal stuff?"
Rohan nodded.
"Something like that."
Priya looked toward Jay's sketches.
"Then take us to him."
---
The professor lived in a quiet house away from the city.
His name was Professor Arvind Rao.
He listened without interrupting as Rohan explained everything.
Jay's accident.
His coma.
The drawings.
The meeting at the shore.
And the impossible timeline.
When Rohan finished, the professor remained silent for several seconds.
Then he looked directly at Priya.
"That night at the shore... did he touch you?"
Priya thought carefully.
"No."
"Are you certain?"
"Yes. We sat on the same bench, but he never touched me."
The professor leaned back.
"And you never touched him?"
"No."
He exchanged a glance with Rohan.
Then he said something that made the room fall completely silent.
"Then the man you met was not Jay's body."
Priya stared at him.
"What?"
"Jay's body was already unconscious."
The professor spoke calmly.
"His soul had separated from his body."
Mina swallowed.
"You mean... a ghost?"
"Not exactly."
He looked toward Priya.
"His consciousness. His soul. Whatever name you choose to give it."
Priya's hands began trembling.
"But why did he come to me?"
"Because he was trying to return."
"Return where?"
"To his body."
The professor paused.
"But something went wrong."
Priya's face went pale.
"What went wrong?"
"His soul became lost."
Rohan stepped forward.
"Can he come back?"
"Perhaps."
"Perhaps?"
The professor nodded.
"His body is alive. His soul is still connected to it. But he cannot find his way back."
Priya looked down.
"So the Jay I met..."
"Was Jay."
The answer struck her harder than she expected.
The stranger who had saved her that night.
The man who had encouraged her to live.
The man she had been searching for.
It really had been Jay.
Somehow, his soul had found her even when his body could not.
The professor studied Priya carefully.
"There is something else."
"What?"
"When you first met him... did he give you anything?"
Priya frowned.
She tried to remember.
The shore.
The bench.
Their conversation.
Jay standing up.
His final words.
Then suddenly—
A memory surfaced.
Something she had completely forgotten.
Her eyes widened.
"Yes."
Everyone looked at her.
The professor leaned forward.
"What did he give you?"
Priya slowly reached toward her bag.
"I remember..."
Her voice trembled.
"He gave me..."
She stopped.
Her eyes widened as she remembered exactly what had happened that night.
She whispered—
"**He gave me...**"