It was raining the night she called him.
Not the soft kind of rain that made people romanticize the weather, but the kind that made the entire city look blurred through a window.
He was half asleep when his phone rang.
Mira.
He stared at her name for a moment.
She never called this late.
He answered.
"Hello?"
There was silence on the other end.
Then a tiny breath.
"Are you awake?"
He sat up.
"Yeah."
Another silence.
"I just..." Her voice cracked. "I didn't know who else to call."
He didn't ask what happened.
He simply got out of bed.
"Where are you?"
---
Twenty minutes later, he found her sitting beneath the closed shelter of a small café, her knees pulled against her chest.
She looked exhausted.
He sat beside her without saying anything.
For a while, neither of them spoke.
Then she whispered, "I thought you'd be angry."
"Why?"
"Because I called you."
He looked at her.
"You can call me."
"Even at three in the morning?"
"Especially then."
She smiled faintly.
It was the smallest smile.
But he remembered it.
He remembered everything about her.
The way she hated being asked if she was okay.
The way she said I'm fine when she was anything but.
The way she became quiet whenever she was hurting.
He had never consciously decided to remember these things.
They had simply stayed.
Just like she had.
---
Months passed.
She began calling him for little things.
When she couldn't sleep.
When she had a bad day.
When she saw something funny.
When she needed someone to listen.
Sometimes she didn't even speak.
She would call and leave the phone beside her while she studied.
He never complained.
Somewhere along the way, her silence became familiar.
Comforting, even.
Then one evening, she said,
"I'm leaving."
His heart stopped for half a second.
"Where?"
"Somewhere far."
He forced a smile.
"That's good."
She looked at him.
"You don't mean that."
"No."
For once, he didn't lie.
She lowered her eyes.
"I'm scared."
He wanted to tell her not to go.
He wanted to ask her to stay.
But instead, he said,
"You'll be okay."
She smiled sadly.
"You always say that."
"Because I know you will be."
She nodded.
And neither of them said what they were both thinking.
What happens to me when you're gone?
---
She left the next morning.
For the first few days, he waited for her calls.
Then a week passed.
Then two.
He told himself she was busy.
He told himself she needed time.
He told himself that people didn't disappear just because they moved away.
But some nights, his phone felt unbearably silent.
Then, one rainy night, months later, it rang.
Mira.
His hands froze.
He answered immediately.
"Hello?"
Silence.
Just like the first time.
Then her trembling voice came through.
"I didn't know who else to call."
He closed his eyes.
For months, he'd tried to convince himself that he had learned how to live without her.
He hadn't.
Maybe attachment wasn't about needing someone every second.
Maybe it was simply knowing that, no matter how far life took you, there was still one person whose voice could make the loneliness disappear.
He smiled.
"Where are you?"
She gave him her location.
He grabbed his coat.
"Stay there."
"Why?"
He opened the door.
"Because this time..."
He stepped into the rain.
"...I'm coming to you."
