She was gone for three days before he said it.
This was not the sequence she had anticipated — she had half-expected the controlled Atharva, the strategic Atharva, who would have managed the absence with the same careful efficiency he managed everything else, would have waited it out with his usual patience, would have kept the penthouse running and the work running and the appearance of stability intact until she returned or didn't.
She stayed with Divya, who had delayed her flight back and was staying at a friend's flat in Versova, and who asked no questions beyond are you okay and do you need anything, which was the exact right amount of Divya.
She called him that evening. Day one. She had said I'll call you in the note and she kept the promise.
"I'm with Divya," she said.
"I know,
