Naila tossed and turned in her bed. "What the hell was I thinking? Will his eyes be okay? Will his face be okay? It matters in his line of work," she kept thinking.
Meanwhile Luke opened his travel.bag and carried all the stuff to the washroom. His skin care routine looked extensive. He started removing his makeup and wash up. "It feels good to be home," he murmured as he showered.
Naila scrolled through her phone for a while, her eyes moving mindlessly over the screen. She hesitated before opening Danish's chat.
For a moment, she stared at the empty text box.
She typed a simple message, just to see if he was online.
Then she stopped.
She looked at the words for a few seconds before deleting them one by one.
Danish had asked her not to disturb him for another month until he returned. By then, it would have been almost a year since they had separated and they still wouldn't be divorced.
The thought crushed her all over again.
Her eyes welled up before she could stop them. She lowered the phone onto the bed and pressed her lips together, trying to hold herself together. But the tears came anyway.
She felt strangely light, almost numb, yet she couldn't control her emotions. She quietly wept into the darkness, letting the tears slip down her cheeks without making a sound.
Almost four years of her life.
Four years of what should have been the prime of her life, she thought, gone.
She couldn't forgive herself for letting it come to this.
Eventually, exhaustion overtook her. Her eyes grew heavy, and she slowly drifted into sleep, tears still drying on her cheeks.
Luke went to bed early that night. The day had drained him completely, and all he wanted was an uninterrupted eight hours of sleep.
He was just about to settle in when he noticed a faint light coming from Naila's room.
He frowned.
He walked out and stopped outside her door. It wasn't locked.
For a moment, he simply stood there, leaning against the doorframe with his arms folded across his chest. He took a slow breath.
She must have fallen asleep with the lights on.
Luke stepped inside quietly, intending only to switch them off.
Then he saw her.
Naila was lying on the bed, completely still.
And there were tear tracks running down her cheeks.
Luke froze.
The hand that had been reaching toward the switchboard slowly dropped to his side.
He stared at her, unable to understand what had happened. His expression softened as he stood there in silence, barely moving, afraid that even the smallest sound might wake her.
He took a slow breath.
"What happened to you?" Luke wanted to know.
The question lingered in his mind as he stood helplessly beside her bed.
He walked back to his room. The bed felt so comforting. He slowly drifted off to sleep too.
No one woke up before 8 AM the next morning. But some one started ringing the door bell.
"Arghhh," Both Luke and Naila felt pissed off. The two woke up from their bed. Naila had forgotten that Luke is home for some minutes. She walked out if the room like a zombie and ran into Luke who also stepped out at the same time. She hit her head on his chest and looked up. That's when she woke up.
"Luke," she was shocked. He looked sleepy too, wearing sweatpants and a black oversized tank top. She turned around immediately. She did not wish to show her face to him.
"Sorry," he apologised and walked to door, to answer. He looked through the peep hole. "Oh shit,".
"Naila," the voice from the outside called out.
Naila turned around, trying to tie up her messy hair. "Who the....?" Naila asked.
"It's her. Your friend. What should we do?" Luke whispered.
"Which friend? I don't hav friends here," she whispered back.
To Luke that felt odd. "You did not make any new friend?" He asked.
"Is that what matters? Now?" She asked back.
"Okay, what to do with her?" He whispered.
"Let me see who it is," Naila walked towards the door too. She peeped and it was Sony.
"It's her. She is dangerous," Naila said. "Don't open. Don't open the door. Let her return back," Naila decided.
"Are you sure?" He asked.
"I'm 100% sure. Don't open," she replied.
Five minutes later, when no opened the door, Sony slowly left. She assumed that no one is home are decided to visit another day.
Luke and Naila looked at each other. "Are you okay?" He asked out the blue.
"What's wrong with me?" She asked back.
"I'm just checking," he replied. "Let me go freshen up," he said and walked back to room.
"Breakfast?" Naila asked.
"Let's go eat somehwere," he suggested. "Flann cafe's breakfast set is really yum. We will go there".
Naila agreed to it and walked back into her room.
Half an hour later, the two stepped out of their rooms. Naila put on a white and sky blue checked a line dress with short sleeves and deep v neck with laced borders. She carried her navy trench coat and sling bag along. Her hair put up into her signature ponytail.
Luke walked out wearing a navy blue shirt with a blue wide legged jeans. The first two buttons unbottoned.
The two stared at each other and the clothes. It ended up like they wore coordinated outfit. Luke smiled. "Nice dress," he gave her a compliment.
"Thanks," Naila replied awkwardly. The two got into the car. Luke noticed that she wore the watch. Rose gold indeed looked good on her wrist.
Naila remained silent. She did not know what to say.
"I'm sorry about Sony showing up," she finally spoke but an apology. Luke glanced at her for a moment.
"Why are you apologizing for that?" He asked.
"Because she showed up at your place, and disturbed you," Naila replied very easily.
"Our place," he corrected. "You live there too. Bith if us," he explained. Naila was surprised. Danush always used to refer to everything as his home, his stuff and this coming out of Luke sounded odd for a second. "What? He asked.