Bas Dekhna Tha.

I kept staring at her picture.

The screen was dim, but her face wasn't. There was something alive in her eyes. Not metaphorically. Actually alive. Like if I stayed a little longer, she would move. Blink. Say something.

Man karta hai bas dekhta rahun. Man kabhi nahi bharega.

I could feel my heartbeat. Not fast. Not dramatic. Just present. Like my body had quietly stepped in and said this matters.

It's strange how none of this made sense earlier.

When we were younger, it was always those songs. Emraan Hashmi on someone else's TV. Rain, close-ups, eyes that looked like they were carrying too much. And in the background, Himesh Reshammiya, same voice, same feeling. At that age, they felt like the same person.

And the reaction was always the same. Kaun hota hai aisa. Itna pagal.

I remember laughing at that scene.

Maddy, standing in a PCO, on a call with his father. Supposed to be talking. And then he just stops. Because she's there. Dia. In the rain. Not even aware he exists in that moment.

"Main Delhi bol raha hoon Maddy se."

I laughed. Really? The rain caught in his head like that? Who loses track of something so simple?

And then Ali from Dhoom. One look at Bipasha Basu and he had imagined everything. A whole life. Marriage, arguments, growing old. All of it. In seconds.

We called it funny.

It wasn't funny.

It was just early.

There was also that music. Some other language. Words we didn't understand then. Still don't. But somehow, it still reached somewhere.

You don't learn the language. Bas mehsoos karna seekh jaate hain.

Like the feelings you build for one person.

I always thought I was outside all of this. Watching it happen to other people. Slightly amused. Slightly distant.

Until it was my turn.

Tab samjha. Tab samajh mein aaya.

We had already stopped talking.

Three months. No drama. No fight. Just mutual silence. The kind that doesn't ask questions, so you don't answer any.

That night, I don't know why I called.

Voice call.

She cut it.

For a second, it felt exactly like what it was. Overstepping something that had already ended.

And then my screen lit up again.

Video call.

Her name.

I picked up.

First time.

She didn't say anything. Neither did I.

She was just there. Slightly off-center in the frame. Hair not fully set. The room behind her quiet. And her expression not surprised. Not awkward.

Just soft.

Like she had already decided to call before cutting mine.

We just looked.

Seconds passed. Or maybe more. Time wasn't very clear in that moment.

"Kya dekh rahe ho?"

Her voice was calm. Not teasing. Not defensive.

"Pata nahi," I said.

And that was the entire conversation.

But it wasn't empty.

There was something sitting in that silence. Something complete. Like words would have reduced it.

She adjusted her hair once, then gave up halfway. Let it fall again.

"Aise hi call kiya," she said. "Bas dekhna tha."

That line stayed.

Bas dekhna tha.

No explanation. No reason that could be explained.

Just that.

We stayed on the call longer than we spoke. Small sentences. Long pauses. Nothing important, if someone were to ask later.

But I remember everything.

The way she didn't look away, even when there was nothing to say.

The way silence didn't feel like a gap.

The way ending the call felt slightly wrong.

Like stopping something mid-way that didn't need an ending.

After it ended, I just sat there.

Phone still in my hand.

And for the first time, all those things from before didn't feel exaggerated.

They felt accurate.

Maddy wasn't distracted. He was somewhere else entirely.

Ali wasn't funny. He was just faster at feeling things.

And those songs, they were never trying to explain anything.

Some things are like that.

You don't understand them fully.

Bas mehsoos karte ho.