A sob caught in her throat. That was the thing about love, wasn't it? It wasn't the grand gestures that broke you. It was the small ones. The way he used to save the last piece of gulab jamun for her. The way he would hum that tune while folding laundry. The way he would look at her sometimes—like she was the answer to a question he had forgotten he asked.
Taani stood by the window of their empty flat, watching the droplets race down the glass. The song was playing in her head again—the one that used to come on television every night before their dinner. Tere liye... For you.
(For you, I lived. For you, I would die... I am for you.) tere liye star plus title song
She remembered the first time she heard it. She had been chopping onions, and he had come up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist. "This is our song," he had whispered, even though no one had sung it for them yet. "Listen. It says that no matter what, I will stand in the sun for you. I will become your shadow."
The fight had been stupid—a misunderstanding about a text message, a forgotten anniversary, the slow poison of silence that had crept into their marriage like termites into a beautiful wooden house. He had said, "You don't trust me anymore." She had said, "You don't see me anymore." A sob caught in her throat
Back then, she had laughed and pushed him away. "You're dramatic."
She laughed through her tears. Outside the window, looking up at her from the street, stood Anurag—soaked, shivering, holding a brown paper bag above his head like a shield. It was the small ones
The rain hadn't stopped for three days. Not since Anurag had walked out of the door, leaving behind nothing but the faint scent of his sandalwood cologne and the echo of a slammed latch.