Part 5 (1/2)

The girl and her gang of friends continued pa.s.sing comments till Virat left the campus. Virat tried to avoid eye contact with anyone. He still hadn't gotten over last night's episode.

Kavya was furious but didn't say a word because she knew that Virat was hiding something. The only person she was concerned about at that point was Mahek. Her mobile phone was still switched off.

Kavya walked alongside Virat who was lost in his thoughts completely. He picked up his phone and messaged Mahek: Call me as soon as you read this message.

After walking a mile, Virat sat on a bench along the footpath. Kavya looked at him and saw tears rolling down his eyes.

'What's wrong, Virat? Are you okay?' she asked.

Virat looked at her with a guilty look on his face and told her about what had happened last night. He narrated everything that he had gone through and also confessed that though it was wrong on his part, he didn't tell anyone about it. He had no idea where she was and the last time he had talked with her was last evening. He had messaged her before sleeping but she didn't reply. Kavya was shocked hearing this and almost pulled her hair out in frustration. She was unable to understand why Virat had taken such a drastic step and ended up shattering everything.

'I seriously don't know where Mehak is and trust me, I was going to give my best performance today.

I am afraid they either did something terrible or told Mahek everything,' Virat cried.

'How could you do such a stupid thing, Virat? What was running through your mind? You had practiced so hard and it was Mehak's dream to win. You just ruined everything. She was our friend,'

Kavya said in a tone of dejection.

'Dammit! She was more than a friend to me. You know that. You know how much I loved her. Even I wanted her to win and...forget it. I know I am at fault here. I am really sorry.'

Virat kept his head on her shoulder and broke down in tears. Breaking a girl's heart is way worse than we think it to be. It destroys everything-her future relations.h.i.+ps, her ability to love and trust someone, and her inner peace and calm. Virat felt like he had broken Mahek's heart which was meant to beat for him. He called Mahek once again but got the same response. He wanted to throw his mobile away. He couldn't quite interpret what his feelings for Mahek meant. Sometimes they were friends, sometimes they behaved like they were more than friends, and now she was behaving like a complete stranger by not even telling him where she was.

Kavya was worried about Mehak and decided to go to her house and pay her a visit. She told Virat to go back home because she didn't want to create a scene at Mahek's place. Virat let her be because he didn't want to create another mess. Kavya a.s.sured him that she will meet him at his home after sorting things out with Mahek. The worst thing in life is not losing the one you love, it's losing yourself in the process of loving someone too much. Virat felt that he was addicted to Mahek and she was the only drug that could soothe his pain.

Virat reached home and as he entered the bedroom, he recollected the moments he had spent with Mehak. He opened his laptop and scrolled through their pictures that Kavya had taken of them while practicing their dance moves these past couple of days. Unable to bear her absence any longer, he shut down his laptop and was about to fall asleep when he saw a book on the table. It was Mahek's personal diary. She had forgotten it at his place during dance practice. Virat opened it and flipped through the pages to find his name sketched on one of the pages. He froze for a moment and his heart skipped a beat. What did it mean? Did she harbor feelings for him as well? He closed his eyes and wished for Mehak's happiness although he knew that he could no longer be the reason for her happiness anymore.

He wasn't happy either, but he took out his mobile from his pocket and sent her a message: I just saw the diary in which you had written my name. You left it for me intentionally, didn't you? Was it your way of letting me know about your feelings once we were done with our performance? This, in itself, shows that we are more than just friends. I know I hurt you but trust me, it was never planned. I used to pray for us to be alone, because I know we wouldn't ever run of things to say. We're both such freaks-we could've put silly acts up for days, but you left. You didn't even think about expressing your feelings? Not even once? You should have talked with me before disappearing into thin air. We could have sorted this out. I remember sitting next to you and occasionally trying to look into your eyes. It was different. The silence in that moment filled me with a warm happiness, like I had swallowed something too hot too fast. Mehak, can't you forgive me?

Seriously, I feel like you're the pa.s.sword to my life. In your absence, I'm denied access to everything. I can neither drink nor eat.'

The message didn't reach her because her phone was switched off. He called Kavya up to ask how Mahek was doing.

'Is she at home?' Virat asked as soon as Kavya answered the call.

'Yes. She is at home but doesn't want to talk to you. She's just a bit upset,' Kavya said.

'Oh, thank G.o.d she's alright. What happened?'

'I will tell you everything once I reach your place. Don't take too much stress,' Kavya added.

Virat heaved a sigh of relief when he heard that Mehak was alright and nothing had happened to her.

At the same time, he felt heartbroken when he realized that she was avoiding him on purpose. He tried to erase the last few hours from his memory and tried to get some sleep. It's said that you feel better when you don't think about what's bothering you, but when you care too much, everything reminds you of it. Every corner of his house reminded him of Mahek and he felt suffocated by it. The way she splashed water on him, the way they danced, the way they completed their a.s.signments and so on.

Sometimes, we play with love, but when you finally realize that you want to get serious, love plays with you.

Mehak's residence 'Do you know how many times we tried calling you? How can you be so irresponsible? It was all that you had been waiting for-your dream! And you gave it all up! For what?' Kavya bombarded Mahek with a million unanswered questions.

Kavya had come visiting without informing her and found her sitting on the bed, depressed and alone. Mehak sat with a dazed-like expression on her face, choosing to not answer any of Kavya's questions.

'Will you speak up, for G.o.d's sake?!' Kavya said raising her voice.

Mehak finally broke her silence.

'I didn't feel like partic.i.p.ating today. I realized that winning a compet.i.tion is worthless when you have lost something more important in life.'

'Will you jump straight to the point?' Kavya requested. She couldn't take the suspense anymore.

'Yes, I couldn't stop thinking about it last night. The fact that I wouldn't have ever found out whether I had won because of my talent and pa.s.sion or because of Virat's false methods was reason enough for me to hold back.'

'What do you mean?' Kavya asked curiously.

'I had gone to college last night and I saw Virat in the corridor. I was about to call him but he went inside the auditorium. When I went towards the auditorium, I saw Virat talking about something to the seniors. Then I listened carefully and saw him pleading to them, begging them to let us win because he wanted to win my love and could do anything for me. I left immediately and got back home weeping. I felt bad...I felt guilty. I felt cheated upon.'

'Do you know anything about what happened later?' Kavya asked.

Mehak told her that she had left soon after and didn't know what occurred next. Kavya conveyed to her everything that had happened so far and how badly Virat had been beaten by them. She even told her that Virat practiced their dance routine alone the entire night as this victory meant more to him than it did to her.

'He loves you. I've known him for ages and I have never seen him act like this before. He has transformed into a different and a better person since meeting you. He was just afraid of losing you because he knew how important winning the compet.i.tion was to you. He didn't make any wrong deals with them and today if you both had won, it would have been because of your mere talent and nothing else. Why the h.e.l.l would you back out? Why? Was it so easy for you, Mehak? We had dreamt of winning this together,' Kavya shouted.

'No, it wasn't easy. And I wasn't aware of the fact that they hurt Virat. I just didn't want to win the compet.i.tion by sacrificing Virat's self-respect. I thought that winning that compet.i.tion would inevitably make Virat look weak in front of those seniors; his self-respect was at stake. I can't see him lose his dignity in front of anyone just because of me. I know that he is very strong, mentally, but I felt like I'm the one who pressurized him and made it so hard for him. I constantly asked him whether we could perform to the best of our abilities or not. No Kavya, I didn't want to win by losing my way in life. His dignity and his self-respect mean much more to me than my dreams.'

Kavya was speechless and just stared at her without blinking.

'Do you mean....you...love...?' she stammered.

'Yes, I do. I've loved him ever since the very first day I met him!'

'Why did you never tell me about it?' Kavya asked in curiosity.

'Because earlier I thought that you two loved each other. You used to be together all the time and I thought that I might end up spoiling your relations.h.i.+p. So I never confessed my love for him. I realized it later when you and I became friends, and I planned on telling him everything today. But things didn't go as planned.'

'Everything will be fine. Just leave it to me.' Kavya had a big smile on her face and hugged her.

She left Mehak's home and called Virat, asking him to meet her at Aroma's. He requested her to tell him why, but Kavya didn't disclose anything and told him to reach there in the next couple of hours.

Before leaving Mehak's place, Kavya had planned something with her, and had a surprise waiting for Virat who desperately wanted to know about Mehak. He had lost all hope, but he still loved her. Little did he know that even she loved him.

You can pick your friends, but you don't pick who you fall in love with. Such things are beyond control. Though Mehak had lost the compet.i.tion, she was going to win her man's love. They both loved each other but had never expressed their feelings. Love is not about desire or wanting the person you love, it's about finding that person to be irresistibly desirable.

'Where are you, Kavya? I've been waiting here for an hour. Do you mind telling me what's going on?'

Virat screamed.

Virat had been waiting for Kavya at Aroma's cafe since the past one hour but Kavya was ignoring him by disconnecting his calls and not replying to his messages. Finally, she called him up.

'I am not coming. Go back home. I will meet you later,' Kavya stated.

'What the f.u.c.k do you mean by that? Are you nuts?' Virat shouted.