We sit on the couch again—me on one side, her on the other, like strangers.
Silence. Thick and stifling.
I feel like I did something. Something bad. But the coward in me is too scared to ask.
Then she speaks.
“So...” Her tone is calm. Too calm. “About what you said last night. Do you remember any of it?”
My mug halts halfway to my lips. I blink. Shake my head.
“What—did I say something dumb? I’m sorry—”
Her hand flies up again. No touch. Not even a brush. She’s been avoiding contact since I woke up. That’s when the dread starts crawling in.
“Baby—”
She clears her throat, still not looking at me.
“You said you were sad. That you didn’t get to kiss Aarohi goodbye. Because you couldn’t do it in front of me. Since I’d bepissed.”
My stomach plummets.
Oh fuck no.
I said that?
No, Icouldn’thave.
I swallow hard. “I...”
“Oh and apparently my kisses areperrrfect,” she says in that same detached, robotic voice. No inflection. No warmth. Just... vacancy.
“But I guess you don’t really have the means to compare, do you?”
I set the coffee down, suddenly nauseous. “Gree, I—”
“Greesha,” she says, slicing through my words with a cold smile. “Say it. Gree...sha.”
Panic builds fast, thick and tight in my chest.
How the hell did I manage to screw this up?
Why did I even say that? Why would I voice something so pointless and stupid?
Yeah, sure, there was tension with Aarohi once. Years ago. On and off. But I never acted on it. Neverplannedto.
We were never single at the same time, and besides—last night wasn’t about that.
It was just a goodbye. A dumb, overly emotional, alcohol-soaked goodbye.
But to say something like that? To Greesha? My girlfriend of nearly a year and a half?
What the actual fuck is wrong with me?
She looks at me like I’m a stranger. Like I’m some stranger who disappointed her for the last time.
I panic. Jump to my feet. Kneel in front of her.
