Reading the diary of the one you love would be the only sure way to find out their true feelings. I came in through the door and she was standing in the middle of the room, declaring herself, smiling at me in her cute way, rolling her lower lip like a naughty child, playing caught in the act. ‘I did something bad…I looked in your diary.’

In our months of conversation, artist Tarik Ahlip and I kept returning to the idea of imprisonment. In Sri Lanka, where I write from, Bogambara, a maximum-security prison established in 1876 by the British administration, was closed in 2014, with the explicit aim of developing it into a “Cultural Park”. In February 2026, I visited the prison with the hopes of seeing it in its original reputation of stone walls of colonial architecture—it was also recommended to the public as a site of “sightseeing”. 

I wake up to the warmth of Lou’s hand on my face. I open my eyes and see Lou reaching out her hands, smiling. She seems to be in a good mood. I softly plant a kiss on her forehead, then stand up with her strapped to my chest. See the sun set, the day is ending. I look ahead—the mountainous terrain stretches out in front of me, with the open sky sitting behind.
'Okay. Time to head home.'