Part 6 (1/2)

'Love is never wrong. But your choice can be. Rohan, you have to just open your heart to someone who deserves it.'

Saying so, I hung up the phone. I knew that the hardest thing ever is to accept that the one you chose to love couldn't love you back enough. It gets all the more difficult when you have to move on in life without the person you always thought would walk beside you. Rohan re-read all the messages that Zoya had sent him. He had saved some special ones in a folder and tried to delete them in a fit of anger.

He sent her a message again: I miss you terribly. Why did you choose to walk away from me? Every bit of you is ingrained in me. The sound of your voice awakens my soul. I could sit here and write about what I love about you all day and I still wouldn't cover it all. I still feel that we are together. You haven't left my thoughts. Never. Not even once. To put it quite simply, I miss you. I miss the way you would confide in me. I miss the stories you would tell me. I miss your smile. I miss every moment spent with you. I despise every moment without you. I could spend hours trying to explain why it still hurts, but all I wanna tell you is that I miss you.

However, I have no clue whether you do or you don't. I would have fought for you but you never acted like it would be worth the fight.

As always, Zoya didn't reply. When you spend so much time with another person, you get so used to their presence around you that their absence hurts you. Even your likes and dislikes change accordingly.

It's completely normal to miss those moments once that person chooses to walk away from you. Your heart will be broken, stomped on, crushed and shattered, until you find that one person who can put it all back together again.

We never really get over the person we once loved; we just learn to keep going on with our lives, resigned to our fate. As time pa.s.sed, Rohan too learned to deal with his past, but sometimes the memories of Zoya still haunted him. With time, he understood his priorities and decided to concentrate on what lied ahead of him rather than what he had left behind. He wanted to build his life all over again.

He tried to keep himself busy as much as possible, not because he wanted to achieve something big, but because he wanted a reason to forget his past memories. Riddhima acted as a solvent to it and her presence in his life comforted him. With her silly jokes and comforting nature, she was able to make him smile.

'Rohan, why are you crying? I told you that I can't see tears in your eyes,' Riddhima said as Rohan came out of the kitchen.

Since Rohan had an off on weekends, he would visit Riddhima's house to help her with the daily ch.o.r.es.

'I am not crying, this onion...' Rohan said wiped his tears away.

'What are you doing with that onion? Just leave it and come here,' Riddhima said while cleaning the showcase.

'This onion is after my life; it's making me cry.'

'By the way, in this get-up, you look like the ideal maid,' Riddhima teased pointing at the kitchen ap.r.o.n he had donned over his outfit with a glint of mischief in her eyes.

'You jerk, I will kill you. Do I look like a maid to you? Please, maids are not as s.e.xy as me.'

'They are. I can show you a few of them if you want me to.'

Riddhima pinched him on his arm and ran away. Rohan ran after her, throwing cus.h.i.+ons at her to obstruct her path. He grabbed her just in time and pinned her down on the sofa. They both looked at each other and started giggling.

'I am so happy to see you smiling again. I thought that I'd lose you and that smile of yours, considering the way you have been acting since your breakup,' Riddhima uttered.

'Rohan's smile disappeared as he heard the word 'breakup'.

After a few seconds of silence, Riddhima went into the kitchen in order to make coffee for him to better his mood. Rohan sat thinking about how his life had changed in the last couple of months.

Sometimes, a cup of coffee and a good friend make life much better. It's never easy to act as a friend around the person who you love and wish to spend the rest of your life with. Riddhima loved him, yet she acted like a friend and did whatever it took to make him happy.

Dreaming of You 22nd December, 2009 It's a myth that people and relations.h.i.+ps don't change. In fact, both keep evolving with the pa.s.sage of time. As time pa.s.ses us by, we go through so much that we grow into a different person altogether and thus the nature of our relations.h.i.+p changes. In the past few months, Rohan had witnessed things that he had never experienced before in his life. Some people told him not to let go of what he couldn't live without, but actually it was holding on to that thing that was tearing him apart. He had understood and accepted that Zoya couldn't be part of his life anymore. He deleted all her messages and didn't keep any contact with her. Neither did she. Time and again, her words would reverberate in his ears: Someone, somewhere is happy knowing that you are happy. He didn't hate her, but he had lost all the reasons to love her. Sometimes you love, learn, and then move on, which is perfectly fine as not everything is meant to last forever.

Post their break-up, he had begun to spend more and more time with Riddhima. She was his pillar of strength who helped him move on and he loved being with her. However, she was still just a friend and his French teacher, nothing more. Every minute you spend with someone you aren't meant to be with, takes away the time you could have instead spent with the right person you should have been with in the first place. For her, Rohan was that right person. He too had slowly developed feelings for her but was afraid of taking things to the next level.

Virat supported Rohan post his break-up, explaining to him why it was important to move on in life and not pay heed to what had happened. His funda in life was 'let bygones be bygones'. He tried to make Rohan see what a wonderful girl Riddhima was. He firmly believed that Rohan won't ever find another girl like her, someone who stood by him, selflessly, during his ups and downs even when he was in a relations.h.i.+p with Zoya. He told him to take a chance with Riddhima and figure out if she was really the one for him. He didn't want Rohan to regret not having tried his luck with her.

'Where are you? I'm waiting near the canteen,' Kavya told Virat over the phone.

'I am at the gate. See you in 5 minutes.'

Even though Virat was now dating Mahek, nothing changed between Kavya and him. They still were the best of friends who would do stupid things together, be it teasing, irritating, or insulting each other.

The fact is you're not really best friends until you start insulting each other on a daily basis. Virat was someone who would do anything for a good friend and Kavya was on top of that friend list. Whenever she was in a fix, Virat would come to her rescue, leaving everything behind.

After he parked his car, Virat sent a text message to Mehak as he walked towards the canteen.

Waiting for you in the canteen. Come soon. I want to feel you touch. Love you. Muaah.

Mehak's reply soon followed: I want to feel not only your touch but much more. Waiting to see you. Love you more.

A girl can be your best friend, your lover, your worst enemy, or your worst nightmare. It all depends on how you treat her. Virat pampered both the girls who were special to him in their own, unique way.

Mahek never tried to keep Virat away from Kavya; she never felt insecure. She had full faith in Virat and their love which grew stronger with each pa.s.sing day. She had kept her relations.h.i.+p a secret from her family because she didn't want any unnecessary complications. Involving the family would mean having restrictions on going out late with her friends and she didn't want to lose that freedom.

Moreover, her family was the conservative kind and wouldn't have accepted Virat so easily knowing that he had lost his parents early on in life and didn't have a career yet.

'Where is Mahek?'Kavya asked as soon as Virat reached the canteen.

'She must be reaching anytime now. I have informed her that we are here.'

'Let's order something while we wait for her. I'm famished.'

As Virat was ordering something at the counter, Mehak surprised him from behind by hugging him.

For a few seconds they forgot that they were in canteen and not in their bedroom, but it hardly bothered them. Virat turned and pecked her on the cheek. He ordered Misal-Pav for her as it was her favourite dish. Back at the table, all three of them gossiped about how bad their college was and how their professors acted like psychos. No matter how reputed our colleges are, we love to curse it and even if it has the best teaching staff, we love to abuse our professors.

'You should see our Organizational Behaviour professor peep into the cla.s.sroom when he notices a female professor teaching. His speed slows down automatically, and he scans them from top to bottom,'

Kavya said.

'We should make his MMS too. What say?'Mehak added.

'Oh please, I don't want to get thrown out of college,'Virat said sarcastically.

'Anyway, we never actually attend cla.s.ses, do we? We just eat at here at the canteen or roam about in the campus,'Kavya laughed and everyone joined in.

While they were talking, Virat felt a hand lingering on his inner thighs, under the table. He froze for a moment and looked around to scan the room and see if anyone was noticing them.

'Ouch!'Virat screamed.

'What happened to you? Why did you scream?'Kavya asked, unaware of what was happening.

'Nothing. I am absolutely fine.'

Mehak laughed and continued to pinch his thighs. Virat reciprocated by grazing the sole of his feet against her thigh.

They continued teasing each other like this for some time until Mahek sent him a message.

I want to be alone with you. Let's go to some cla.s.sroom.