Titash has returned to the city just a few days ago. It is his first homecoming in nearly ten years.

He remembers it quite well, from 2013, when he left the city for the very first time for his Job in Gujrat.

But this city of his, seems unknown to his nerves today. Something seems to changed, something seems to have happened.

Titash, always could smell the city. The fragnance of roads, the scent of those alleys and localities, they do not match somehow...

Disheartened at how the city seemed to have betrayed him, Titash decided he would take a transfer elsewhere soon.

Like all traditional homecomings, his parents were extremely elated to see their son after so long. His friends, having got the news, called him up to plan meetups.

Titash, meanwhile wanted the city all to himself for once.

Like the girl, one loves, he wanted the city all to himself, for once, to feel its embrace, on his bare heart. To makeup for all the missed nights of romance, he just wanted one chance.

The next morning, he took a light breakfast, and nearly ran out of the house. He was happy, for he knew, today was the day he was to find his long lost lover.

But deep inside somewhere, Titash's heart screamed at the prospect of a love that seemed to have faded long ago, the ashes of which were being fruitlessly rekindled.

Morning rolled into Afternoon, and by the time vermillion rays of the Setting Sun slowly started fading, Titash seemed to have lost hope.

What has he not tried today? Went around every place he knew, his old school, the old streets they bought tea and gossiped on.

The alleys which held the long walks with friends, the canteens which were a daily go-to, the hubs which brimmed with happiness.

Nothing is the same. New faces, new people, adorn the chairs. New shops light up the same old streets.

Hands in his pocket, he moved lesiurely, wanderless through the footpaths.

Suddenly, he smells something. At first, it feels like food, but as titash walks in its direction, it gets more and more familiar.

Goosebumps run through him, isnt this one of those same old smells?...

He nearly stumbles as he runs towards the building the smell seemed to surround. A very old building, the plaster falling away with bricks exposed.

Like a tattered symbol of time's endless erosion, it stood there, among the shadows of twilight.

Next to Titash's bewilderment, the building seemed to speak inside him,

"Why have you come to me today? After so many years?"

"I...I, who is this?"

"This is the soul of the city, I am here to speak to you"

"I...I was busy in life, I never had a chance to return in all these years..."

Tears fall form in titash's eyes and he blurts out the words.

"And while you were gone, someone else loved me, I belong to all the people, who sit on those chairs today, and gossip on those newly made benches near the canteen"

"But...but what about the old you I loved?"

With this line, a desparate cry for longing seemed to come out of Titash.

"There is no new me, or old me Titash, you moulded me your way when you were here. When you left, others came, and moulded me to their lives. But I am the same city of yours. Even today."

Before Titash could reply, the voice seemed to fade away in the background.

He stood there, for hours, pondering over something, only he knew in his heart. The Phone kept ringing, and the inbox was full...as the night dragged on.

A few months later:

Titash sipped through his tea in his office cabin. He seems happy, content.

Over the past few months, he has adopted the city again. In its new form, even though the old love is not there, he tries to find happiness in its new attires.

Only he knew what he had thought all night that day, sitting on the pavement, beside the old building.

It is a secret of two lovers, and will keep being so.