Akhil was looking at the pictures from last holiday. He thought he looked happy with Shikha together at the beach. They were holding hands and smiling in the sunkissed photos with no filters. He deleted a picture of him standing next to Shikha. Cropped Shikha out of the next one. After that, he went on Facebook and changed his relationship status to “Single”.

An alarm rang on his phone. Dinner date at 7pm, it said. Akhil stood up to wear his clothes. He then zipped up a hoodie that had stains from his last lunch. A smelly old t-shirt was his choice to pair with the hoodie. There was the graphic of a metal band on it. The one which made Shikha shut her ears when it played. The songs from his favorite metal band.

They drove to dinner together listening to the same band. Akhil was enjoying it. The dim flame from the candle flickered in the breeze. Shikha shivered in the chair in her sexy backless dress. Akhil had his eyes on his phone. All the while answering every incoming text faster than it arrived.

The waiter brought white wine to the table in slender glasses. Wine. Again. Akhil was hoping for some beer. But wine, of course. Shikha has to order wine everytime. She loves it. She orders white wine at every special occasion. He wondered what the occasion was today. He guessed that may be her wearing a new dress is the special occasion in her mind.

Akhil heard a chime. He looked at his phone. But the sound was coming from his glass. A ring. It had a ring. He finally looked up at Shikha. She stood up with a nervous smile and walked towards him. As she pulled at her fragile dress to kneel down, Akhil stopped her.

He put her back in her chair. As he put his hoodie on her shivering shoulders, he smiled back. Shikha looked down and covered her mouth with her palms. She felt a gentle kiss on her forehead as tears dropped from her eyes. Akhil wiped her cheek and said, “Smile. Of course, it is a yes.”