Riya didn’t cry. She had no tears left.
Riya stared at her phone screen, thumb hovering over the download button. It was 2:17 a.m. The rest of the flat was silent except for the hum of the refrigerator and the distant siren of an ambulance somewhere in the city.
Riya set it as her default ringtone immediately. She didn’t know why. Maybe because she wanted someone to hear it when they called her. Maybe because she wanted the world to know, without her saying a word, that she was falling apart quietly. She had broken up with Kabir on a Tuesday. It wasn’t dramatic. No shouting, no plates thrown. He just said, “I don’t feel the same anymore,” and she said, “Okay.”
Then he left. And the silence that followed was louder than any fight.
She just whispered, “Aaj kal tanha me kaha hu? Here. Still here.”
Riya didn’t cry. She had no tears left.
Riya stared at her phone screen, thumb hovering over the download button. It was 2:17 a.m. The rest of the flat was silent except for the hum of the refrigerator and the distant siren of an ambulance somewhere in the city.
Riya set it as her default ringtone immediately. She didn’t know why. Maybe because she wanted someone to hear it when they called her. Maybe because she wanted the world to know, without her saying a word, that she was falling apart quietly. She had broken up with Kabir on a Tuesday. It wasn’t dramatic. No shouting, no plates thrown. He just said, “I don’t feel the same anymore,” and she said, “Okay.”
Then he left. And the silence that followed was louder than any fight.
She just whispered, “Aaj kal tanha me kaha hu? Here. Still here.”