“Why are you so quiet tonight?” Veer spoke with eyes still on the Television.
Sia shrugged off the question like it was not important.
“So, this is how it will be from now on?” Veer asked in his trying-hard-to-be-calm tone.
“You will not speak to me, ever again?”
Veer’s eyes were wide open yet looked like small little bugs trying to get closer for a high-five. Sia had always found his eyes to be her favorite feature. Yet tonight the desperate expression of theirs made no difference to her. There was nothing in those eyes that she wanted to explore anymore.
The smell of his cologne that once made her weak in the knees now felt claustrophobic. She almost commented on its too much usage. It was her indifference that maintained the silence and peace. The spot right next to him on the very comfortable couch where she sat every night munching on junk food after dinner and sipping wine looked too far away from where she sat tonight. The 5 steps towards Veer made her feel tired in the bones. Her exhaustion was overwhelming and noisy. And then she finally spoke, “I don’t have anything to say. What do you want from me?”
“Really? What do I want from you? Do you mean it? Or is it just another way of yours to cut short the discussion?”
“What discussion?” Sia remarked.
“Really, Sia? It is like you don’t even want to try anymore.”
“hmmmppf!” It was the longest and most obvious sigh ever, undoubtedly.
“I want you to care, Sia. Show me some compassion. Interest that you want us to work. Like you still love me.”
“Love!” Sia’s indifferent smile and eye-roll made Veer angrier.
He walked up to her chair at the dining table. Staring straight into her long-lost eyes, Veer made the final request, “I want you to care, Sia; please.”
“I cannot.” Sia’s cold voice set Veer’s insides on fire.
She turned her lost eyes on the laptop and continued updating her website with the latest oxygen tank locations available in the city. The country was burning in thousands every day and that is all she cared about at this moment.
Black Coffee and Grey Stories 