Beep

Tara called him after the breakup.

Two years had passed since their separation,two long years of silence, growth, pain, and unanswered questions. When the call connected, there was a pause. Not because they had nothing to say, but because there was too much.

They spoke about their current lives. Work. Dreams. Struggles. Small victories. They shared everything, like they once used to,carefully, softly, as if afraid the past might break again.

Then Tara asked, quietly but firmly,

“Why did you choose me… when you knew it would be so hard to make it work?”

He giggled at first, trying to dodge the weight of the question.

“You already know,” he said.

She insisted.

And this time, he didn’t run.

“You know how tough my childhood was,” he began.

“You know how broken my financial condition was. I was trying so hard to be someone I wasn’t,trying to look cool, pretending I had it all together,while inside I was burning, broke, and scared.”

He paused.

“You were the first person who saw through that act. You caught me being fake,not because I wanted to lie, but because I was ashamed of my truth. And even after seeing all that… you didn’t run away.”

“You stayed.”

“You were the only person who didn’t choose me for my looks. I wasn’t charming,I was ugly. Yet you chose me for who I actually was. You sensed all the pain I hid behind jokes, behind making others laugh. Everyone else enjoyed my humor, but you understood my silence.”

“You knew I was financially broken. You knew it would take time for me to stand on my feet. You never demanded expensive dates or grand gestures. You were content with roadside ice cream or flavoured milk dates, long night city rides, and quiet moments that felt richer than anything money could buy.”

“You had better options than me,better, safer, easier,yet you still chose me.”

“You knew how restless I am, how chaotic my mind can be. Still, you tried to calm me. You tried to ease me. You listened,every single time,no matter how repetitive or messy my thoughts were.”

“I told you how my family treated me, how they thought of me. And not once did you speak ill of them. Instead, you corrected me. You changed my perspective. You taught me to see things with maturity.”

“You helped me grow.”

“You softened my anger. You pushed me toward my hobbies. You saved me from the wrong people when I couldn’t see clearly myself.”

His voice cracked.

“You cried,feeling helpless,when you saw me survive on biscuits or vada pav for lunch. You cried because you couldn’t do anything for me except love me harder.”

“What more can a broken guy ask for,” he whispered,“than a girl who loved him so deeply… in exchange for nothing but trying to make her life a little playful,when she was away from home for the first time?”

And for a matter of fact, you knew it too,how hard it would be for us to work out,yet you chose me anyway.

Tara was crying.

She didn’t know what to say. Words failed her. Her breath was uneven, heavy with everything she felt and everything she had lost.

All she could whisper was,

“Why… why… why?”

Before he could answer... 

before he could even breathe... 

Beeeeeeeeep.

The call disconnected.

The sound of that single beep was so loud that it froze him in place.

He kept staring at the screen, holding the phone like it might ring again.. 

like the story might continue.

But it didn’t.

-Suraj