The next few days were quiet.
Nothing dramatic happened. No big gestures, no long speeches.
But Anna noticed small things.
Sid asked how her day was, and then he actually waited for the answer.
He put his phone away when she was talking.
He remembered the deadline she was stressed about and asked, "Did that go okay?"
It wasn't much.
But it was something.
On Thursday, things got tense at work. A client changed everything at the last minute, and the whole team was running around.
Anna sat at her desk, staring at her screen. She looked tired.
The old Sid would have kept his head down. Stayed out of it. Waited for it to pass.
This time, he walked over and placed a coffee on her desk.
"Wrong order again?" she said, looking at it.
Sid smiled a little. "No. I checked this time. Black, no sugar."
Anna almost laughed. Almost.
"Thanks," she said.
"Do you want help with the presentation?" he asked. "I'm not great at it, but I can try."
She looked at him for a moment. Then she pulled a chair closer to her desk.
"Sit," she said.
They worked together till late evening. It wasn't perfect. Sid made a few mistakes, and Anna fixed them without making him feel bad.
When they finally finished, the office was almost empty.
"I didn't think you'd stay," Anna said quietly.
"I didn't want to be the one who leaves," Sid replied.
She didn't say anything. But this time, her smile was real.
They walked out together.
It was a little closer than before.
At the corner, Anna stopped.
"Sid," she said.
"Yeah?"
"Thank you for not walking away."
Sid shook his head. "I'm just trying to do what I should have done earlier."
"That's okay," she said. "Better late than never."
He nodded.
They both knew there was still a long way to go.
They would still have bad days. Misunderstandings. Silent moments.
But now, they had something they didn't have before.
They had trust that was slowly being rebuilt.
One small step at a time.