Right after dinner Lakshya turned on the TV. "What are we watching?"

"A Silent Voice."

The title took him back to the existential horror of the manga he had flipped.

"Do many people like it?"

Shreya understood his concern. "Yeah. It's beautiful. You'll cry at the end. Cry out for how beautiful it is."

He keyed in the title. "I won't cry!"

Shreya smiled. Anyone would cry.

They both settled on the couch. Shreya got her pillow for good measure. She was going to hug it and shed some silent tears. Or maybe not.

"Aren't we too old to watch some highschool romance, Shreya?" He said looking at the movie poster.

"It's not a romance."

Such a nice opportunity sent down the drain, he thought, she could have suggested a good romance.

Shreya stared at him as he turned to the TV and clicked play. She did not understand at all. She did not understand at all why he was suddenly talking to her.

She did not want to watch this movie at this time. She was going to watch it in a week or two when she would need it to cry away. She should have suggested Death Note, which is regarded as the universal start to getting into anime, or better yet, the popular Shingeki no Kyojin, which was arguably the best anime of all time.

She somehow did not have this intelligence when he asked for her favourite. She sighed beside him.

She watched as Ishida wrapped his life up and then stared at the water below the bridge. Soon she was engrossed.

Lakshya stole glances at her halfway through the movie.

His sister was like the man from the poem, 'The Second Show,' his English teacher taught him. She spoiled every single scene. Being accustomed to that, he felt Shreya was too silent.

He did not think much. She did not look upset at all. Her lips moved and she gulped holding a pillow.

He put his attention back on the movie. He had to admit, he did wipe a tear. No, multiple tears.

When the movie ended, Lakshya was already crying. He did not try to hide and be stoic. The movie seemed to have taken away that ability.

Shreya was much calmer.

After five minutes, Lakshya was still soaking in the emotions and crying fresh tears.

"Nobody died..."

After a while she said, "When you watch it the second time, you will notice many more details. I cried more on my second watch."

She carried her pillow to her room and stood by her door.

Seeing this, Lakshya quickly said, "Tell me a joke." He definitely did not be left alone with this feeling.

Shreya paused. "That was a happy ending..." Why did he want to listen to some random joke and be done with the beautiful feeling the movie gave?

Lakshya finally got up.

"It was great." It was a lot different from what he was used to. Had it not been for her, he may never have watched it. He wanted to say thanks, but that felt too distant.

"I'm going to sleep now."

He nodded. "Good night."

He saw as the door closed. He thought for a moment and then knocked on the door.

"Shreya, come and sleep in the bedroom."

The fact that he had to go through the embarrassment gnawed at his ego.

Inside, Shreya was dumbfounded. She really did not understand.

The knocking was ceaseless.

She opened the door and stood behind it.

When she did not move, Lakshya's jaw clenched. "Come on."

Shreya silently grabbed her pillow.

She trailed after him.

If he wanted to touch her, she would not deny him.

But she would be much happier if she could just lay next to him and perhaps talk to sleep.

Then again, she wanted them to sleep with each other too. She was sure he had not yet spoken to Moksha over the phone that night. If Moksha could call him for sweet nothings for her to go to bed with while they were engaged, what would he do?

If he cut that call, she would be satisfied.

She slipped her palm into his and interlaced their fingers. Would he jerk her hand off?

Lakshya stiffened but did not have any other reaction.

As they entered the bedroom, the atmosphere turned ambiguous. Since her hand was still in his, she put her arm around him.

Lakshya lifted her chin and kissed her on the lips.

Her intermittent confessions of love and some moans and grunts went on for an hour.

It was almost midnight. Shreya put a blanket on herself and carefully asked him, "Are you not going to talk to Moksha?"

Lakshya was still in the haze. "What?"

"You talk to her every night..."

Lakshya clenched his fist. He really had nothing he wanted to say.

"I've stopped that." He did not explain anything.

After a few minutes, Shreya sighed audibly. "Is that why?"

"What?"

"Did you sleep with me because you two have fallen out?" Shreya was much calmer this time than when they spoke after their first time.

"Yeah! Why else?" He was seething. Had he still been dating Moksha, he would not have done this, right? Unlike the first time, he was not resistant at all. If anything, he might have initiated it.

Shreya did not cry like the last time.

"You did not have to put in so much effort." She definitely would not have rejected him. Why go through all the trouble of watching her favourite movie with her if this was all there was to it?

Lakshya turned to her. He stared. Her eyeballs quivered as she spoke. There was no sync between them and the way her eyelashes moved. But he could not take his eyes off them.

She felt his eyes on her. "I... I do mind though. So do not let me know of your girlfriend."

"So, you are fine with your husband having a girlfriend?"

"I guess." She loved him. But deep inside her heart the guilt of trying to break up the lovers, the hopelessness that came with realising her own worth in his eyes... It was all too much. She loved him a lot though. Every time they made love, she sunk deeper in this feeling. She wanted to hold his hand and cry to him, 'How could you even ask that. You cannot imagine how much I love you.'

But she felt miserable. What would he think of her if she said that? Would he look at her with even more accusation? She'd rather hear it from herself. And maybe, she actually did not mind it as much. "I guess so. Since... you know, it didn't work."

He knew exactly what she was referring to.

His lips formed an angry smirk which stayed on until morning when he woke up.

∼•∽

Next morning Shreya was packing lunch for both of them when Lakshya came into the kitchen.

Once again he could not see her eyes.

He walked into her room and rummaged through the nightstand, then the dressing table. There he found them. A pair of lavender hair clips, each with a single pale pink flower at the end.

There should be more.

He went into the draws and finally found the packet. There were 10 pairs in total, all the same in design but different in colour combinations of soft pastel colours. Some of them he had never seen before.

He did not have any particular preference, but he grabbed the yellow ones. They had dull green flowers.

His attention was back on the nightstand. He grabbed the comic.

When he came out he saw her peacefully eating. It seemed she did not mind him going into her room at all.

Right under her gaze he stuffed her book into his laptop bag.

She was watching him, but didn't react. "I've taken your book."

"Yeah."

He walked to the table and dropped her clips on it. "Don't eat your hair."

Shreya opened her mouth in confusion. She was not.

"Should I help you put them on?"

Shreya put her spoon down and moved her hair out of her face and secured it with the clips.

Lakshya became more playful when he saw her eyes. She did not cry.

"How long do you think I'll take to finish it? The... manga," He asked as he served himself the upma.

Shreya took some time to find her words.

"You don't have to-"

Lakshya cut her off. "I said, how long will it take to finish it? How? Long?" He leaned in, locking his gaze and not looking very kind.

"...two or three months."

"Three months? Okay. If I finish it in three months from today, I will win. If I take longer than that, you win."

Shreya did not seem to take him seriously.

"If you win, I will do anything you say."

Shreya looked up.

"Anything." Lakshya reassured.

"Okay," she nodded with a smile.

Lakshya wasn't satisfied though. He thought she would ask him to break up with Moksha, but she didn't look like she had that in mind.

"If I win, you should buy me a cool gift."

"Okay."

Lakshya was still around by the time Shreya got ready.

It was 8:50 AM. She was on time. It was Lakshya who was late.

"Quick, I'll drop you at work."

"Oh.."

"Your phone's with me. What else do you need?"

Shreya quickly put on her shoes and grabbed her lab coat. They walked out together.

It was the first time Shreya got on his motorbike.

The last time she rode anything close to this was her bicycle back in highschool.

"I'm a little scared," she said as she put her arms around him.

Lakshya did not say anything. He could see them doing this for years to come.

He just had to make sure he was completely over Moksha.

∼•∽

"Is that the guy?" Zahra asked Shreya. She was 15 minutes early that day, but she just couldn't be there before Shreya!

Shreya was definitely competing with her to be a better researcher.

She so happened to see Shreya get off a man's bike. That must be the jerk she loved but did not love her back. He did look like the idiot Shreya had married.

"Hm," Shreya said as she settled in.

"Did you ask him to drop you?"

"No..."

Zahra's interest piqued.

"Then, then, then?"

"He said he'd drop me."

Zahra narrowed her eyes.

"Let's just start the study," Shreya said as she carefully placed a little metal scrap under the telescope. It was taken from an ancient meteorite.

Zahra smiled. Good for you then, she thought.

∼•∽

Lakshya was late to the office and his new team lead eyed him silently for the whole morning session.

In the evening, Lakshya tried to tell him he wanted to leave a little early. Shreya must have ended her work.

In the end, he thought that she must have some good deal of work left... Because, Shreya also did not call him or message him. He anticipated she would in case she wanted to be picked up. He hoped she wanted to be picked up.

After a lot of waiting, he was disappointed, although very little. His team lead did not permit him to leave anyway.

Then again, it was a good thing perhaps. He wanted to have a chat with Moksha soon. The way she left him hanging was definitely not how he wanted to end things.

Lakshya caught sight of the comic on his desk. He had not found time to read any of it that day.

His mind wandered to Shreya. Her soft face, delicate lashes, her neck... she was gorgeous indeed. He found himself being drawn to much more these days. He wondered though. Can he completely let go of his anger sprouting from there?

He was not sure exactly what feeling it was. It was different from anger.

He just did not like how things started between them.

When he could clock out, he went straight to Moksha's cubicle.

∼•∽

Ever since she walked out of the park that fateful evening, Moksha smiled little. In all honesty, that day she wanted to break up with Lakshya. But after sitting alone with her thoughts that day, she could not get herself to do it.

Later on when they did meet that day, she did not know what came over her. She had cried in his arms and then... she pushed him when he tried to kiss. That had never happened before. She knew he would be completely angered and upset.

She actively avoided him until the birthday party.

There, she almost could not believe her eyes.

Lakshya was considerate towards Shreya. He put in quite some effort for her. He almost looked like he was scared to upset her, something she did not remember ever happening before. She still remembered how he had softly tugged on Shreya's handbag.

But when Utpal taunted Shreya, he did not stop it right away, but only said anything when it went too far. That was when her doubts settled. They were not on absolutely good terms.

She did not know exactly what their current situation was. She knew that Lakshya had already told Shreya about her before the marriage. But what did it mean to even bring Shreya along and not her. Even if they fought, he should not have brought her.

In all of this mess, if there was one undeniable truth, then it was the fact that she missed him. Theirs was a four year long entanglement. They had poured in all the feelings of their youth. Every night she scrolled through old messages. She would type in a 'hi' and then pause, delete everything and exit the app.

Sometimes sitting in the office with no pressing work would prompt her to open those messages.

She typed in 'hi' again. But what should she say after that? She deleted it and put her phone away.

When she looked up, she thought she saw Lakshya. How bad was her love sickness getting?

"Moksha, hi." Lakshya greeted her.

She was still in a daze.

"Are you done with work?"

Moksha finally understood Lakshya was standing in front of her in reality. Did he come to drop her off?

"Hi... yeah."

"Let's go for a coffee."

Moksha followed him.

Few minutes later they were in the break room. She definitely did not think of this place. She honestly thought that his anger had come down and that he was asking her out on a date to probably ask her if he had given her enough time and then drop her home.

"What do you want?"

"Macchiato."

Lakshya returned with a cup of coffee after 5 minutes.

"I made it the way I usually make it."

Moksha remained silent. In the past, she was the one to enthusiastically make him coffee. This was one of the rare times he made it for her.

She sipped it. She guessed he did not pay any attention all of those times when she pressed the machine. That had been the case indeed. He would be on his phone standing right next to her and she smiled watching him.

Why state it though? Was he trying to make it clear that he did not know how she made their coffee? He was purposefully distancing himself, she understood.

"I like it."

Lakshya sat in front of her.

Moksha waited for him to say what he had to. She watched him fiddle with his phone impatiently sometimes. He was slightly getting mad at whoever was perhaps messaging him. But he was not replying.

"Is everything okay?"

"Yeah."

Lakshya looked around. Since it was time to head home, no one went to the break rooms.

"So, it's been a while since we spoke. Do you have anything to tell me?"

Moksha fisted her palm. She did have a lot to tell him. "You were the one who called me."

"And you came." He gave her a lopsided smile. "I'll go first then."

Moksha looked into his eyes. Worry fogged her mind.

"Let's break up."

Moksha slowly put her cup down.

"I am sorry. We should have broken up before my marriage. I should never have put you in such an unfair situation."

"Lakshya... don't... Don't feel like that. There are only so many things in our control. I... I told you before I didn't mind. I still don't mind. I was just stressed out last time. Are you still angry? Don't take it to heart, please...

"I miss you."

"Moksha... I am sorry. It's not possible for us anymore."

Lakshya stood up checking for any messages one last time. He then sent Shreya a message. 'Did your work end?'

'Yes. I am home.'

Lakshya eyes his phone menacingly. He wasted no time in calling her.

"If I dropped you in the morning, I should be the one to pick you home in the evening, don't you know that?"

On the other side Shreya could not form her defence. In fact, what he said did not make much sense to her although it seemed to have some logic to it. Finally she said, "I didn't know."

"Fine."

He ended the call.

"Lakshya, are you happy with her?" Moksha asked.

"Hell I am! She's-" he stopped. "That's for me to worry. Moksha, we had our fun. If you were ready for marriage, it would have been great. But as things are, it ends for us here. Forget everything."

Moksha stood up as well. "Fun? Was that all it was?"

Lakshya titled his head. "If you are asking if I am sad, I was sad and angry that day."

Moksha let her tears fall. She was angry too. She was sad and angry all this time. "Whole of my team knows that we are dating."

"We were. Not anymore. Tell them."

"How can you be so insensitive?" Moksha cried.

"I am sorry, Moksha. I plan on announcing my marriage soon. So please tell them as soon as you can. I should get going."

"Four years! Was our four years nothing to you? Are you going to end everything just like this?"

"Don't call me rude but how else are break-ups supposed to be?"

Moksha watched him with parted lips.

Lakshya left the break room right after. He was doing them both a favour and making it all easy. He was melancholic as well.

Maybe he wasn't.

He hoped Moksha would soon move on with someone else like him.

He revved his motorbike to an ice-cream shop on the way.

"A blueberry tub."

He was in a mood to celebrate.

Standing at the door, this time, he did not want to make all the noise with his keys for Shreya's attention. He hand moved to the door bell. Before he could ring it, the door opened.

It was a pleasant surprise.

"How do you always know?" he said leaning on the door frame.

If he was in a good mood, he would talk without any inhibitions. He probably looked dumb asking such a question, he thought to himself, but he was curious.

"I hear your steps."

"Not the keys?"

He then realised he must have given away that he deliberately shook his keys standing outside all those times. That was not all, Shreya seemed to be shocked too.

Both of them widened their eyes.

After a few moments Lakshya finally stepped in and handed her the ice-cream. He smiled in his heart. She actually knew when he was home, but she took her time to open the door for him, or worse yet, decided that he had to unlock it himself. So she had been angry with him.

If that was the case indeed, he felt weirdly comforted.

"So all those days, you just did not want to open the door for me?" He narrowed his eyes at her.

"Which days?" Shreya's words trailed off, and her eyes cast downwards. She was caught in a lie.

"You know which!" He pointed to her nose.

Shreya took a deep breath. He was not really angry and he made it obvious. Her heart smiled wide. When she looked back at him, her eyes had a glint and a soft smile was on her lips.

"Oh yeah? Wonder why you keep fumbling with your keys for so many minutes every time!" She was not as loud as he was. But her mimicry was still top notch as her pointing finger stayed before his nose.

Lakshya wrapped his hand around the finger in front of his face. "Alright, alright."

Shreya's eyes followed their hands.

"I do like it when you open the door like this. But you don't have to come home soon especially to do that, yeah? You should let me pick you up."

Shreya muttered slightly flustered. "It's not like I left my work in the middle... My work ends at 6 and that's earlier than yours."

"Did you ask me to be there at 6? I didn't hear it well."

"When did I ask!" Shreya frowned, shaking her head. He was... He was such a champ at this. "Be there once you finish your work. I'll wait."

Lakshya took some time to respond.

"Will you be bored?"

"Not really."

"Thanks." Lakshya blindsided her and gave her a quick hug and rushed to freshen up.

Shreya was left standing dazzled.

She looked down at her hand going numb with the cold. It was blueberry ice-cream. His favourite was chocolate. She smiled.

This day was one of the best days of her life.

∼•∽

A/N:
Too much anime?

If you haven't watched a silent voice, this is your sign. Please do!