The recording began in grainy close-up, then pulled back to a bedroom with paint peeling from the ceiling and a window steamed by breath. A woman named Meera leaned against the wall, eyes rimmed with tiredness; across from her, Arjun sat on the bed, fingers tracing an old photograph as if memorizing its edges. They spoke in soft, clipped Hindi about small things: a delayed salary, a neighbor's loud radio, the way the monsoon had smelled like wet earth and possibility when they first met.