27/07/2025
The Boy with the Lantern Smile
In a quiet town nestled between hills and lavender fields, there lived a young man named Elias. He wasn't the tallest, nor the richest, nor even the most striking at first glance but there was something about him that made people pause.
He worked at the town’s small library, a warm little place with creaky floors and the scent of old books. Every morning, Elias would unlock the doors, dust the shelves, and leave handwritten notes in books tiny quotes, uplifting messages, or curious riddles that made readers smile.
The girls in town noticed him, of course. They’d often come to borrow books they didn’t need, just to see him smile. It wasn’t a showy kind of charm—no smirks or flirtation but a soft, sincere smile, like the glow of a lantern in winter.
Elias never boasted. He listened more than he spoke. He remembered little things how Clara loved poetry but was too shy to read it aloud, how Mina hated rainy days unless she had lemon tea, how Eliza dreamed of becoming a painter but was afraid of being laughed at.
He encouraged them all in quiet ways leaving a poem marked for Clara with a note, "Your voice deserves to be heard," or slipping a teabag into Mina’s returned book with, "For when the clouds get heavy." To Eliza, he gave a sketchbook wrapped in old maps, saying, "The world is big, but your dreams are bigger."
None of the girls ever quite knew if he favored one over the other, and truthfully, he didn’t flirt or lead anyone on. He simply gave kindness like others gave flowers. He treated people as if they were already special not because of beauty or popularity, but because they were trying, dreaming, living.
One summer evening, as the sun dipped low and fireflies danced among the trees, a little girl approached Elias while he was closing the library.
“Why do so many girls like you?” she asked, innocently.
Elias chuckled and knelt beside her. “Maybe it’s not me they like,” he said softly. “Maybe it’s how they feel when someone believes in them.”
And with that, he locked the door, lantern in hand, smile still glowing.
And the girls? They grew. Clara performed her first poem in public. Mina opened her own tea shop. Eliza had her first gallery show. Each would remember Elias as the boy who saw something in them before they saw it in themselves.
Love Clinic Uzoma Callistus Uju