Sid didn't sleep well that night.
He kept thinking about everything Anna said. Not just the words, but the way she said them. Calm. Tired. Like she had already said it many times in her mind before saying it out loud.
He realized something clearly.
He had been listening… but not really hearing her.
The next morning, he reached the office earlier than usual.
Anna came in a little later. She looked normal, but there was a quiet distance in her eyes. She didn't look at Sid immediately. She went straight to her desk.
Sid didn't wait this time.
He walked over.
"Anna," he said softly.
She looked up. "Yeah?"
"Can we talk? Not now… but after work?"
She hesitated for a second, then nodded. "Okay."
That "okay" wasn't warm.
But it wasn't closed either.
The whole day felt slow.
Sid tried to focus on work, but his thoughts kept returning to the evening. He didn't want to repeat the same mistake again. He didn't want to stay silent when things mattered.
Anna kept herself busy, just like before.
But this time, she was also thinking.
Not about what Sid did wrong.
But about whether things could actually change.
After work, they met outside the building.
No noise. No rush.
Just the two of them.
Sid spoke first.
"I've been thinking about what you said," he began. "And you're right."
Anna didn't interrupt.
"I step back when things get difficult," he continued. "Not because I don't care… but because I don't know how to deal with it."
He paused, then added, "But that doesn't make it okay."
Anna listened quietly.
"I should've stayed," he said. "I should've listened properly instead of avoiding it."
For a moment, there was only silence.
Then Anna spoke.
"I don't expect you to be perfect, Sid," she said. "I just don't want to feel like I'm the only one trying."
"You're not," he replied immediately.
She looked at him, searching for something real.
"Then show me," she said.
Sid nodded slowly. "I will. Not in a big way… but in small ones. I think that's the only way I can do it honestly."
Anna didn't smile.
But her expression softened.
"That's enough," she said.
They started walking.
Not close. Not distant.
Somewhere in between.
"I'm still figuring things out," Sid said after a while.
"Me too," Anna replied.
They didn't try to fix everything in that moment.
They didn't promise that things would never go wrong again.
But something changed.
This time, they didn't walk away from the problem.
They walked with it.
Together.
And sometimes, a small step in the right direction was more important than a perfect solution.