✿Day 0

Mira's steps were light and vibrant as she entered the software company, Silicon Heights. She had been working for the company since her intern days. This company had given her a-lot. A job, friends, money, and most importantly love. So much love that she couldn't encompass the amount in words. Yes, she did have bad days where the office politics would catch up to her. But the good days surpassed the bad ones.

Atul was talking to the receptionist, his hands visibly shook as a bead of sweat trickled down his forehead. Mira took a deep breath in, her mellow eyes taking him in. He was gorgeous, strong, and confident. Long, dusky brown hair swept off his forehead, curling around the nape of his neck. Thick black framed glasses shielded his honey colored eyes. He was taller than most, at six foot five, his presence was foreboding.

Atul was Mira's boss and friend. He just wasn't any friend for Mira. He was her first love. Maybe one of these days she'll gather the courage to tell him how much she loved him, how every time their hands touched electricity bolted through Mira's veins, how every act of kindness he did didn't miss Mira's eyes, how for the past four years, Mira had been irrevocably, intensely in love with him.

The instant Atul's eyes met hers He visibly relaxed. He half ran, half walked to her. Mira felt her pulse quicken as she straightened her floral shirt.

She smiled at him. "Good morning sir. How are you today?"

Atul rolled his eyes at her formal tone and wrapped his arms around her. Mira instantly melted in his arms. She closed her eyes and breathed in his scent, he smelled of freshly brewed coffee, cologne, and peppermint.

"I'm just so glad that you're here." He pulled back far too soon. The expression on his face returned to the tensed one from earlier. "Did you finish the changes on the new prototype?"

"I did. It's crazy that the people at Sparkling waters are so picky."

"They want the database to have calmer colors." He shook his head. "Like seriously, will their customers care if the screen is white or blue?"

They started walking towards Mira's cubicle. Atul had a habit of dropping her off before returning to his cabin. After all, she was his good friend. A really good friend. Unlike the other team members, she didn't bother sucking up to him. She told facts as they were. If she didn't like the way he was leading or his approach to project, she would tell him.

It was hard to find honest people like her, the words spiraled inside Atul's head.

Mira nudged his shoulder. "Hey, are you listening?"

Atul nodded. "I am, Mrs. Sunshine" It was a small nickname everyone in the office had for Mira. She could make a crying man laugh. Wherever she went, she tried bringing people up, not putting them down. A bright smile always lighted her lips. Atul doesn't remember the last time he had seen her cry. Maybe she was good at hiding pain. Maybe she really was happy.

Yuu from the PR department, who was passing by, scoffed at Mira. Mira stopped walking and stared at him. He had dark inky hair and a lean figure. "Take your raincloud somewhere else, Yuu."

Yuu halted as well. He fixed the maroon bow tie he always wore and wrinkled his nose upwards. "I'm not raining on you, am I?"

Atul sighed. Once Mira and Yuu started fighting, there is no stopping them. He was just patiently waiting for world war III begin.

Mira placed a hand on her waist. She didn't get why Yuu hated her. People like Yuu couldn't tolerate other people being happy. He wanted everyone to be glum and work at Silicon heights as though they weren't a software company but a funeral service provider.

"It wouldn't hurt to smile, would it? Or have your smiling muscles degenerated from the lack of use?"

"There is no such thing as smiling muscles."

"A dimwit like you probably hasn't heard of them."

"Guys." Eliana, the blond haired beauty, emerged from the adjoining cubicles. "Mira. Yuu. We're a group of well-educated adults. Please behave yourself."

Eliana was Mira's best-friend. She was the one person Mira could confine all her dark secrets to. It was nice having your best-friend working in the same company as you.

Yuu stalked in the other direction, not before giving Mira one last demeaning.

"Eliana." Atul smiled at her.

"Atul" She didn't smile back.

An uncomfortable silence passed the two. Mira suddenly felt like the third wheel as they stared into each other's eyes. She ignored it and carried out the conversation. Oblivious to the storm stirring outside her window.

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"Eliana." Mira sighed, resting her head in the maze of her arms. "One these days, I'll tell him." She sat in her cubicle, the twin computer screens blinking at her. The idea boards were filled black sharpie hearts.

Eliana, whose eyes were fixed on the computer, typed away.

"Are you listening?"

Eliana looked over the partition separating their cubicles. "What?"

"One of these days, I'll tell Atul how much I love him. I swear, he is getting dreamier by the day." She let out another sigh.

"God, do I love him. He had a heart of gold. Mrs. Hamington, you know the new lunch lady had to take days off for her daughter's wedding. Considering her dire financial conditions, she must have been planning these holidays for a long time. Atul made her leave fully paid. He's actually pitching money from his own salary. Don't tell Mrs. Hamington that. She'll get really embarrassed"

Eliana's gaze got unfocused for a moment.

Mira noticed this. "Eliana, are you okay?"

She smiled. Mira realized how attractive she looked whenever she smiled. She could whip a guy by just a smile.

"I'm fine. Maybe you should tell him. "

Mira grinned. "I will. Soon."

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Late afternoon, Mira got ready to head out for lunch. Eliana had already left for lunch. She had insisted Mira to come with her but Mira wanted to finish editing one last file before leaving.

When Mira entered the lunch room, a strange sight greeted. For her, the delicate axis on which the earth spun shattered. She felt herself drifting far in space. Numb and Isolated. With a bitter taste in her mouth, she watched the love of her life ask her best-friend to be marry him.

The office staff was cheering around them. Eliana with her dream like blond hair and beautiful honey-dew colored eyes seemed genuinely surprised. She clasped her hands to near chest, her cheeks flush with a brilliant red.

Mira stood at the back of the crowd. Her untamed curls flying every in every direction and her usually warms eyes misty with tears. No-one paid attention to her hands which were trembling, the forced smile on her face which had turned into a sad one for a millisecond.

Atul was bent on his knee, holding a small box in his right hand. The ruby ring sparkled in the bright office lights. Mira couldn't stand looking at his dusky brown hair, his deep brown eyes, his sharp jaw, and that charming smile on his lips. And she certainly couldn't stand him profess his undying love for Eliana.

"....As a drowning man needs air. As a mountaineer needs strength. As the moon needs the sun. The same way I need you in my life. I want you to be the first person I see in the morning and the last one with whom I can dream in peace. In my every moment, of happiness, despair, I want you to be with me."

Even though tears dripped down Eliana's face, the smile on her lips could easily blind the sun.

Atul took a deep breath in, the same time Mira released a shaky one.

"Will you marry me, Eliana Grace?"

Beside Mira, Yuu scoffed. "What is this? A romantic drama? It's a software company for God's sake people!"

"Leave if it troubles you so much." Mira muttered under her breath.

Yuu smirked. "Same goes for you."

Mira's forced smile dimmed. She turned her head to stare at Yuu. Nothing missed his sharp eyes.

"What?"

He shrugged his shoulders and walked away. Mira watched his tall frame disappear into the elevator. Hopefully, he didn't mean what she thought he meant.

When Mira turned around, she saw Eliana softly whisper 'yes' and Atul's strong arms wrap themselves around her small waist. He hoisted her off the ground. His lips tenderly grazed hers and the staff erupted into ear deafening cheers.

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Atul had swept Eliana away for the rest of the day. Like Prince charming, he had stolen Eliana for a romantic dinner date or that is what Mira had overheard Mrs. Hamington and Sarah, the cleaning lady, say.

Mira fastened the lock of her suburban apartment and collapsed on the doormat. She wouldn't cry, Mira knew that. She was far too numb for that. The stifling darkness of the room stared back at her. Few rays of the setting sun's light drifted in from the window. Specks of dust danced around her like stars.

An empty hands, empty heart, and empty stomach was all she had.

"No man in his right mind would love a girl like you." Her mother's scornfully gaze mocked her.

Mira opened her eyes. Gasping. The insecurities she had spent years battling, threatened to erupt again. They crawled beneath her skin, begging her to let them out. One wrong thought and they would break free.

She swallowed again and rose. "I am a strong, independent woman. I won't cry over something silly as this. I've seen far darker days. This is nothing compared to them-"

Mira couldn't go on. She chocked on her spit. The tiny, invisible cracks in the damn split open. A tsunami of tears flooded her.

Mira cried and cried till her eyes had run dry of tears.

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