At night...
I was sitting at the corner of the bed. The blue light from my phone fell on my face like a torch placed on a corpse in a hospital. Subh's na was shining on the screen. The man who had silently wrapped himself in the cloak of disappearance.
I called—why, maybe even I didn't know.
It rang... once... twice... "Hello?"
It wasn't a voice, it was an old wound still being poked.
"Hi... Subh," I said.
"Aira? Are you okay?"
"I'm fine... just wanted to check if you're alive or dead."
He didn't laugh. Neither did I. There was a mont of silence, as if both of us were thinking of our own lies.
"Suhina..." he said.
I rested my head.
"She said, she doesn't feel anything. Then one day, she smiled. Tell , is this a punishnt or rcy?"
I didn't answer. He didn't expect one either.
"Let's et tomorrow," he said.
"Okay."
The call ended. I sat there. Saying anything now was useless.
He was broken, but there was no darkness in him. It was clear, like the first page of a book of silence.
I called Nami.
"Subh is fine. Just... a little dead in Suhina's love."
"Are you sure?" she asked.
"Yes. If there was sothing hidden, I would've noticed it first."
"Okay. Now, go to sleep."
"Yeah, you too."
The call ended.
I sat there, folding the bed sheet. I kept thinking —
can a man really change in one night? Or do just the excuses change?
I was convinced that there was nothing strange in Subh. At least not enough for a girl to start sleepwalking at midnight.
But the fear remained —
Ifnot Subh... then who?
Maybe Suhina is crazy. Or maybe, as Manto said —
"हर औरत के अंदर एक गुमनाम कब्र होती है, जिसमें वो हर रात अपनी नींद, अपना यकीन, और कई बार अपना इश्क़ दफ़न कर देती है।"
( translation ------- "Every woman has an unknown grave inside her, where every night she buries her sleep, her faith, and sotis, her love.")
And I... that night, had dug one more grave.
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