COLD EXCHANGE [Verse 1] She came in late with winter on her, Black coat buttoned to the throat, Said she’d missed the last connection, Said she’d lost the note. She smiled like she was telling me Only half of what she knew, And I should have seen the warning In the way she watched me too. [Pre-Chorus] Nothing given, Nothing free, Every favour keeps a key. [Chorus] Cold exchange, You take one, I take two, You hide the truth, I hide it too. Cold exchange, Every touch becomes a debt, You make me bleed, I make you regret. Round and round till nothing remains, Two prisoners pulling at the same old chains. [Verse 2] She had that quiet country cunning, Never hurried, never loud, Let me think I’d caught her lying While she vanished in the crowd. She remembered every weakness, Every word I’d said too soon, Then used them months later Like a blade beneath the moon. I tried charm, I tried spite, I tried staying out all night. She just smiled And moved one square, Like she’d always known I’d be there. [Chorus] Cold exchange, You take one, I take two, You hide the truth, I hide it too. Cold exchange, Every touch becomes a debt, You make me bleed, I make you regret. Round and round till nothing remains, Two prisoners pulling at the same old chains. [Verse 3] I learned her little silences, She learned exactly when I’d crack, I found names inside her messages, She found ways of getting back. I played games with absent lovers, She disappeared for three whole days, Every move became another move, Every answer made a maze. [Bridge] Tit for tat. Truth for lie. You hurt me once, I ask you why. Then hurt you twice, Just to restore The balance neither wanted Any more. One defects. One betrays. Both go home And count the days. No winner. No prize. Just two people getting good at alibis. [Verse 4] She damaged something in me, That much I cannot deny, Made me doubt the simplest kindness, Made me study every eye. But somewhere in the retaliation, In the ugliness I’d grown, I saw the man that I was becoming And decided he could go. So I stopped keeping scorecards, Stopped rehearsing what she’d done, Stopped imagining the perfect move That proved that I had won. [Final Chorus] Cold exchange, You take one, I take two, That was the game We always knew. Cold exchange, Every victory was small, Till winning meant Not playing at all. You damaged me, But I walked away, Not innocent, Not whole, But I found something underneath the wreckage— I got back my soul. [Outro] She was clever. I was proud. Both of us lost Inside the crowd. No confession. No revenge. Just silence At the cold exchange.
