The three required empty nights began at once.

Monday the unlocked door stayed open and no one came. Rajesh took her in the morning with the short, intense rhythm, hands already on the continuous dark map, mouth carefully renewing the edges that would be allowed to lighten. He asked whether she already needed more. She said yes. He called no one. By evening the dual residual ache from the previous weeks had begun to thin. Priya moved through the apartment naked more often than not, the continuous dark map still deep but already softening at the edges under only his attention. Milk beaded under every cool draft from the open balcony doors. Rajesh watched her and felt the same imposed absence move under his own skin—thinner than hers, but present. At night he took her rawer than the ordinary morning rhythm, hands locked on the softening bruises, and still the single cock was not enough. He finished inside her and stayed buried, forehead against hers, both of them listening to the unlocked door that would not be used.