"It's been so good to see you back, man! We still haven't forgiven you but it's great to have the gang back." Varun smiled on the screen.

Nidhi, Varun and Sparsh were on a video call with Shaurya and Akriti one Sunday afternoon. Shaurya had paid her a visit and they all decided on a group WhatsApp call.

"What's Akriti doing?" Sparsh asked and Shaurya tilted the camera in her direction.

"Cooking," Shaurya said. "For me."

"I miss her cooking," Nidhi piped in.

"Me too," the others said in unison.

"So, man, did you hook up with lots of white chicks?" Sparsh asked, grinning widely.

"God, you're disgusting!" Nidhi said.

"Yeah, I cleaned the drain today and that felt less repulsive." Akriti threw a scowl in his direction.

Their bickering went back and forth. But Akriti noticed that Shaurya was furiously texting on his phone.

"Who's that?"

"No one," he replied hurriedly before turning his attention back to the call.

"Why did you go to Lucknow?" Nidhi asked at one point. Akriti looked up from frying the chicken wings. Shaurya was fiddling with the pillow he had placed on his lap.

"Yeah," said Sparsh. "After Australia, we expected you to find a job abroad or at least here in Bangalore or Delhi."

Akriti dimmed the gas stove and noticed Shaurya struggling to say something.

"I dunno, guys. I found a perfect job here and I'm close to my family," he said with a strained smile.

Akriti turned towards her dish. Her friends were right. Why was he working in this relatively small city? Shaurya had always wanted to go to a foreign land to live and explore. He wasn't a very family driven guy either.

"Plus," he added softly, "I get to be with Akriti."

The thumping against her chest returned. She could feel the heat rising over her cheeks and she was sure her ears had turned pink.

Grateful that she was cooking, she focused on not burning the delicious meal. All the questions from before escaped her mind.

Akriti pulled her nose out of all the college notes when her phone vibrated.

She received it and Shaurya spoke, "I'm bored!"

"I'm not. Go disturb someone else."

Shaurya chuckled. "C'mon, let's go out! We had so much fun last weekend!"

That was true. Shaurya had asked Akriti to meet him in Janeshwar Park where they shared anecdotes, ate street food and complained about their work.

Akriti never knew how much she missed the familiarity of the presence of her childhood friends until she met with Shaurya again. It was easy to talk to him about anything and he knew her better than most people she'd met.

Being with him was like the comfort of home. Everything felt right.

She reminded herself it was just that and nothing related to the revival of her feelings for him.

"Fine, where d'you wanna meet?" Akriti sighs, pushing away her thoughts.

"Janeshwar."

"But we went there the last time."

"So? I like the place! What's wrong with it?"

Akriti frowned. "Relax, no need to be defensive. Be there in thirty."

Without any word, Shaurya hung up.

After almost an hour later, Akriti found Shaurya leaning against the railing around the pond of fishes in the park. She walked closer to him only to find him frowning at his phone with music blasting from his earbuds.

She plucked one of them out and yelled, "Hello!"

Mocking a look of annoyance at her, Shaurya's face split into a wide grin.

"What you listening to?" Akriti asked, putting one of the earbuds in as she leaned against the railing too.

Her face fell a little. "This song..." she trailed off, her thoughts wandering off to her past.

Shaurya looked confused. "You don't like it?" he asked tentatively.

Akriti told him that it was the song that her ex-boyfriend had proposed her to.

"You were in a relationship?" Shaurya asked, his tone bemused.

"Yes." Akriti glared. "Is that so hard to believe?"

"No, no," Shaurya replied instantly, "I didn't mean it like that."

Akriti turned to the pond, her thoughts swimming in her head like the small fishes lapping in the water.

"We broke up." Shaurya was watching her, his arm brushing lightly against her. "We broke up because long distance didn't work. We had more fights in three months than the whole of two years put together."

The sun had sunk low. The golden hue of the evening light shone over their shoulders.

"D'you ever blame yourself for what went wrong?" His voice was almost a whisper. Akriti stared at him; the tip of his air catching the rays turning it to the lighter shade of brown. He wasn't looking at her directly but she could see his brown eyes were far away, lost in some other place.

A cold wind brushed passed. The strayed hair from her bun tickled the sides of her face and she pushed them behind her ear. "Yes."

Shaurya turned with an unusual hurt on his face.

"I do, there are times when I see our old pictures and think about our time together, I think about what I should've done to fix it, if I should've fought harder for us." Shaurya's finger touched hers. Surprisingly, his hand was cold. She squeezed them lightly. "Maybe I shouldn't have given up."

"If you got the chance to fix it, will you do it?"

She had thought about it before. "No."

"No?" Shaurya looked at her disbelievingly.

The sun had already set, filling the sky with a shade of orange carefully twined with pink.

"I don't. As much as I'd like to guilt-trip myself, I don't think it was just up to me, y'know? Relationships are kinda like how a machine works." She chuckled to herself. "Sorry, I'm really bad at this."

Shaurya shook his head. "No, I get it. There are different parts assembled together to make it work. If one of them breaks down, it needs time and care to build it again."

"But to expect that the other part will carry on the work on its own is irrational." Akriti finished.

"Akriti?" Somebody called. She turned to the voice.

"Kiara."

It wasn't Akriti who said her name and that made her look at the one who did.

Shaurya's expression was a mix of fright and guilt. He looked slightly pale in the dim lights of the park that were now turned on as the sky darkened.

Kiara's eyebrows furrowed in anger or annoyance, Akriti couldn't tell.

"How do you know her?" she asked.

Kiara smiled coldly. "You didn't tell her?"

"Kiara, not now." His voice was like a plea.

"Tell me what?"

Shaurya didn't look at Kiara. He was looking at Akriti as if he was trying to convey something. But she had no idea what.

Kiara let out a chuckle. "How very you, Shaurya!" She turned to Akriti. "Shaurya's my ex."