"You! Don't curse me!"

"Did I ever stop you from anything?"

"What's it that you're doing now?"

He held her hands.

"Please, I love you."

"I don't want to waste my time with you. If I knew I couldn't take your word for it, I'd have not gotten myself into this trouble."

"Sorry then... I've also had enough with your running away. For no reason!"

"Ready to divorce?"

"Not at all. I'm planning to tie you up."

"..." She looked at him as if she was looking at a retard.

"What?"

"I'm going," she tried reaching for her luggage.

He quickly locked the door and sorted the fingerprints. Only his worked now.

She turned around and went into one of the rooms and shut the door. She thought about what he said. Was she dying? No, but there was a time she wished it was easy to die. Later she came to her senses, thankfully, and looked at life from a different perspective. You only live once. So live it as you wish. Your time is worth being selfish for. So is your energy. That has been her life's mantra for a long time now. What else is life, if not time and energy.

In the evening, he probed her for dinner. She ate well but completely ignored him.

Later they were in bed. His eyes were closed when she climbed in. She stayed on the edge, turned away. He was afraid in the beginning but after some contemplation, he slowly slipped his arm over her, she snuggled into him, slumbering already.

...

He moved his eyes under their lids before he woke up with a start. His side was empty. Wide eyed, he sat up,turned the light on and looked around the room. He flung off his blanket and walked out of the room. He breathed in and calmed himself before continuing the search.

He slowly called out in his groggy voice, "Geetha?"

The hall and kitchen both were empty. He looked into the guest room and walked towards it. Still no trace of her.

He went back to his room, and went near the bathroom but the door was open, just like the one in the hall. The silence in the house was too grim to him. He slowly walked around as he turned all the lights he had frantically switched on, off.

Back in his room, he sat on her side of the bed. It was still dawn and the sunrise was coming. He sat there, as if no breath went in and out of him. After a while, the sun rays fell on his eyes. Black eyes turned brown but they were still dark, resonating with his sadness.

He finally fell back into the bed, an arm covering his eyes. His other landed on something cold. He groped the thing and found it to be a phone. It was slightly heavier than his. And he always left his phone on the nightstand, never near the pillows.

He opened his eyes and sat up straight. It was her phone. Did he go blind? Why didn't he find her? Confused, he stood up to take another round. "Geetha?"

No response again, not even a sound. Then, as he looked around, he caught a door left ajar. It leads to the other balcony. He kept it closed through the winter. He suddenly didn't want to continue. He wasn't very sure she would be there. He somehow pictured some very unpleasant things. No. She must have left but just forgot her phone. With a silent shallow breath, he turned around. His eyes caught her handbag. A little away were her bangles. And when he looked at the main door, he remembered that he had removed her fingerprints. She definitely didn't go out. He didn't want to think further, but his heart was beating faster by the minute.

"Why are you up so early?"

He turned to the voice. The frown that had built up since he'd woken up eased a little. He pulled her into an embrace and held her tightly. But she soon struggled out of it.

"What were you doing on the balcony? Didn't you hear when I called?"

She rolled her eyes at him.

"Since you're awake, open the door," she said and grabbed her phone.

Her indifference was too much to take. He caught her wrist and said, "Do you know how worried I was!"

"What for?" She snorted and tried to fling his hand away but his grip was strong this time.

Seeing his serious face, she said casually, "Why? You thought I'd jump off because I can't get out?"

He still stared at her. "Would you?"

"What?"

"Would you really jump off if I insist we live together?"

"Huh, you want to try?"

This time he flung her hand away. He walked to the door and pressed around a little. "Add yours."

"And get out." He added.

Geetha looked at him with some confusion. But she decided not to waste her time standing there. She had places to be at. She was already a little late.

But on second thought, she decided to pack up all her stuff that he'd unpacked through the day before. Let the match ticket go to waste. This sacrifice would definitely save her a lot of time.

As she got busy, Ramit watched her from the side. He was willing himself not to take back his words.

"Well, it doesn't look like we will meet much after this, huh?"

"We won't. I'll apply for a divorce."

She stopped and looked at him. She gave a small smile. "Okay. You... do everything you like to do. Someone once said, everyone has two lives and we start to live the second when we realise we have only one, after all. If it's in your capacity, do it."

"Which life are you living then? The first or the second?"

She paused and said, "Definitely the second."

...

After what happened, she cut short her vacation. After all, she had taken such a long leave to see him once a week if not every 2 days. After all, Paris was lonely. She did make quite a bunch of friends but his absence, which made little difference, was something her skin perceived rather palpably in Delhi.

As soon as she was done with all the tickets she had bought, she returned.

"Back already? Aren't there till 3 weeks? Argh! How come!"

"Don't you have even a single project that needs me?" It seemed her boss cleared all of her schedule for the whole 40 days. But she didn't mind it. "Or I don't mind some free salary."

She really had little work the next 2 days but since then, until three months, she had a great life. Two parallel projects, weekends filled with exhibitions of some sort or just long drives to walk the sands of the beach for an hour. All these without any compromise for her hobbies, dancing or reading or making whatever YouTube DIY that caught her eye. It was the most productive phase of her life. The only downside was that she ditched cooking for raw food, but she felt even more energised being healthy.