Silence of love

                                    

                                          
Divya POV:
As the train's engine roared to life, I settled into my window seat. The familiar landscape of Coimbatore began to blur, reminding me of my arrival in this city, the mysteries I had encountered, and the warmth of my atha. But it was the soft murmur of voices around me that pulled me from my thoughts. Then, I heard it, a voice I hadn't heard in what felt like forever, but one I would recognize anywhere.
"Divya!" The sound of his voice, surprised and filled with warmth, stopped my breath. My heart raced before I even looked up, knowing exactly who it was. Abhi. The very person I had been searching for in every corner of my world. My hand instinctively reached for my chest, trying to steady the overwhelming emotions. As his footsteps neared, I turned towards the sound, but before I could fully see him, the train jolted, sending him tumbling into me.
Our eyes met. Time seemed to slow, every moment we had spent apart flashing between us. The ache, the longing, all of it was right there in his eyes, reflecting everything I had felt since we last parted. It was as if the entire world fell away, leaving only the two of us in that electric moment.
He reached out and gently touched my cheeks, holding them between his hands, and I instinctively closed my eyes. For a second, I feared it was all a dream, that if I opened my eyes, he would disappear. But then, the whistle of the train snapped me back to reality. He was still there, holding my face. His warmth... it was real. He was real. The connection we had, the one I thought I had lost forever, was right in front of me.
Without thinking, I threw my arms around him, pulling him close. My tears betrayed the emotions I had kept locked away, streaming down my face. "I missed you, Abhi," I whispered, pressing a kiss to his forehead. "I missed you so much... more than you could ever imagine."
He didn't say a word, but the way he held me spoke volumes. His silence was filled with the things he couldn't say. For a moment, it was as if nothing had changed, as if we had never been apart. But then he gently pulled back, his eyes searching mine. "Divya, behave... we're in a train," he said softly, trying to contain a smile.
His casual words shattered the fragile peace between us, and suddenly, anger rushed through me. How could he say that? After everything, after all this time... I slapped him, hard.
The sound of the slap echoed through the compartment, drawing the attention of the nearby two-three passengers. I didn't care. Without saying another word, I stood up and walked to the entrance of the compartment, hoping he would follow. But he didn't.
I stood there, waiting for him to come to me, to apologize or at least say something. Five long minutes passed, and still nothing. I tried to calm myself, splashing water on my face in the washroom, hoping it would cool the heat rising inside me.
I waited for five long minutes, each one dragging painfully slow. He didn't come. I tried to calm myself, washing my face in the tiny sink, but my mind was racing.
When I returned to my seat, there he was, sitting calmly as if nothing had happened, looking almost calm. His posture was so relaxed, so indifferent, it made my blood boil all over again. My inner voice screamed, Stop being angry! It's not worth starting a scene on the train! 
From his look I understood, he didn't expect me to be here. He is more confused than surprised to see me here. I couldn't stop my thoughts train up at least when he is in front of me.
"What's that look, Abhi?" I asked, staring at him, my voice dripping with frustration.
He didn't respond. His silence only added to my growing irritation. I cupped his face, forcing him to look at me. "Now look at me and answer my question," I demanded, my voice softer this time. His eyes met mine, and for a second, I saw it,the vulnerability, the unshed tears. But I knew him well. He would never let them fall.
Slowly, I wiped the moisture from the corners of his eyes. "You're coming home," I said firmly, my voice steady. "We have to talk, and I'm not giving you the option to say no." Without waiting for his response, I turned towards the window, leaving the weight of my words hanging between us.
My tears fell the moment I looked out of the window. The landscape outside blurred into nothing as the weight of my emotions pressed down on me. How could he do this to me? How could he disappear from my life without a word and then show up like this.... acting like everything was normal, as if no time had passed? It hurt, more than I could ever explain.
This wasn't the Abhi I knew. The Abhi I knew would never vanish without a reason. He wasn't the kind to leave me in the dark, to leave me wondering, questioning every moment we shared. The man sitting beside me felt like a stranger, wearing the face of the one I loved. It was like staring at someone I once knew but was no longer able to recognize.
I wiped my cheeks, trying to compose myself, but the ache in my chest remained. This is not the Abhi I fell in love with. He's different now, distant, and I didn't know why. And what made it worse was that he wasn't offering me any explanations. No apology, no acknowledgment of the pain he had caused. Just silence. It was like a cold, sharp blade that cut deeper the longer it lasted.
More than words, silence kills. It eats away at you, gnawing at every corner of your heart until you're left with nothing but questions that have no answers. Abhi's silence felt like that... an unspoken betrayal, more painful than any argument or misunderstanding could ever be. The words he wasn't saying, the explanations he wasn't giving, tore through me in ways that I never thought silence could.
I wanted him to say something... or anything... that could make sense of the chaos swirling inside me. But the longer he sat there, staring out at the world with those eyes that once held so much love for me, the more I realized how much his absence had wounded me. His silence wasn't just quiet; it was a deafening reminder of all the things that had changed between us.
I turned my face away, trying to push back the tears that threatened to spill again. But it was useless. The emotions I had bottled up for so long were pouring out, and all I could do was sit there, drowning in the silence of tears that filled the space between us.
Suddenly, I felt his hand gently pat my shoulder, offering me a kerchief. I took it without looking at him, wiping my tears with a shaky sigh. "Lovely," I thought bitterly. "The same old habit,no touching in public. At least after a year?"
A year of no contact, no explanation, and now he returns with this same distant politeness. It hurt more than I could admit. My heart ached for more than just this... more than the kerchief, more than the silent apologies his eyes seemed to offer. I wanted answers, not gestures. I wanted him to break the walls he had built between us, to speak, to explain, to give me something real after all this time.
But he didn't. Instead, the kerchief in my hand felt like a stand-in for the words he couldn't or wouldn't say. The silence stretched on, suffocating, as the train continued its steady rhythm, moving us forward while keeping us stuck in the past.