1 Breaking POINT

"Morning."

Deborah placed a cup of coffee on the desk. Ashish reached out for it. Deb smiled as if reflecting upon an inside joke. Ash didn't notice anything around him. He had a deadline and even 24 hours of staying awake hasn't helped much. The rest of his colleagues went home, came back, went on with their normal lives. Ash never knew that sort of normalcy; a dysfunctional family which eventually left him an orphan, a string of loveless relationships, and tough job environments — this was his normal.

Deb reached for the her bag and pulled out a box of sandwiches. She took it to the cafe and neatly placed it on a disposable plate. Ash has probably skipped lunch and dinner yesterday, drinking just the occasional coffee or ice cold water from his flask. Having known him for 7 years now, she didn't feel pity anymore. Nor sympathy. This was him and as his friend, she did what she could, quietly. That's what he appreciated the most in life — unquestioning silence. When the entire world poked his wounds with question marks, his best friends —the angels who guarded his castle of solitude— stood like the statue of justice, blindfolded.

This morning was different. This was Ash's last day at this office. He was to fly to India tomorrow to join the Hyderabad office. Although born an Indian, this was his first time home. His parents had a love marriage, without the consent of their families and they lived away from relations until their death, so Ash never knew anything about his possible Indian heritage. Not that he cared. He had promised himself to never care, in fact. Life is transience at best; one needs to be disconnected from sentimentalities— this was his motto. But this transfer was something he was looking for. He would be meeting the other musketeer, the third witch, apart from himself and Deb, Max, in Hyderabad. Deb wanted to join them too, but unlike the other two, she had a life and it was about to be chaotic soon with a winter wedding on the charts. Max and Ash would come together, then. It was 6 months away, anyways.

"Done!"

Ash punched the period key with force. Deb smiled again and went to stand behind his chair.

"Well, mister, you have done it. Now, go home and get packing. I will do the printing and submission."

"Thanks, Deb. You're an angel."

"Whoa, save that for your one night stands."

"Bye, see you tomorrow." Ash picked his bag up.

"Not tomorrow. I'll stop by later tonight. Mom insists to send you some food."

"Alright. See you!"

Ash jogged out quickly and gazed up at the skies as he got out of the 20 storeyed building.

"I'll miss you, mom. Tell dad that I'm going to his least favourite place in the world."

He chuckled to himself, thinking of how his dad used to hide his emotions under hate. He'd insist he hated something when he truly missed it.

"I hate you too, old man."

He mumbled under his breath as his slid into his Prius Prime.

The sun scorched under the weight of heaven's love. The tides were finally changing.