TRUE LOVE (PART 2)

THE DRIVE

Aly had arranged a car from his friend.

It was a grey Renault Duster. I stepped in the passenger seat. Aly kept our bags behind and he stepped in the driver's seat.

"Ready?" he asked, excited, giving me my favourite carefree smile.
"Yes," I answer with the same enthusiasm.
He looked at me once and started the engine.

"I didn't realize you still had friends here,"I asked surprised.
People still remember him?'I thought.
"You know, I'm a human right?" he asked teasing me.
"Oh! Thanks for bringing that up. We were having our doubts,"I said, rolling my eyes
"Doubt? We?" he asked both the words separately, looking at me once, with creased eyes, while driving.

"Hmm, sometimes you seem, out of this world" I said, smiling as wide as I could, flashing my teeth.
He clucked.
"And we?" he asked.
"My friends," I said casually.
"Your friends are," he stopped the mid- sentence, lacking for words to describe them, I suppose.

"Best" I said, completing his sentence.
"Hmm, Sure you can say that," he said. thoughtful.
"Hey, you should be grateful because of them. You are here sitting beside me." I reminded him.

I was dying inside to ask what made him say that, but then he replied.
Truly I'm grateful no doubt in that, but it's not because of them I'm here, it is because of you," he said in a stern voice and looking at me.
I rolled my eyes.
"Yeah- Yeah I know" I said sarcastically.

"No please listen," he asked, noticing my tone.
I mean, they are very protective over you," he said, choosing each word carefully.
"So?"I asked, confused and continued.
"i'm protective over them too," I said, wondering why he was acting strange about my friends.

"That's true you are," he said, thoughtful and smiling.
"Tell me what's bothering you?" I asked him direct. It was obvious.
"Actually, I wanted to ask you some things" he asked, now speeding towards the highway.

"Sure anything," I said absentmindedly, as I was wondering where we were going.
"When did you speak to your friends yesterday?" he asked politely.

"Bharti and Avikaa came to my house in the morning around 10:40 am. Why do you ask?" I replied and asked him the reason.
"What did you'll talk about?" he asked, ignoring my question.
"Why"I demanded.

"Firstly, you need to answer then I will explain," he promised
"They came to drop my luggage and also we talked about," I stopped, not sure how to say the next part.

I was suddenly nervous to talk about me leaving; scared that I would hurt his feeling.
Everything has changed in one day. After finding it was not his but my fault that we both suffered, it was wrong to blame him now.

"Please continue," he said, looking at me. I turned myself in the seat to face him; he turned to glance at me once and resumed looking ahead; driving. I was relieved that he was not able to stare at me; the thought made me comfortable, and I started talking.

"We talked about my feelings. They wanted to know the reason why I didn't want to be with you. And some part about my past," I said hurriedly and looked at his expression for any sign of distress.

He didn't turn but his hands were tightly clutching the steering wheel. It was clear that my words brought back the memory of his suffering. It was relatable because I was suffering now too. I looked down at my hands. It's hard to look at his sad face, I sensed, it will haunt me forever.

"And the reason was?" he asked in his controlled voice.
"Na, I don't want to talk about it," I replied, shaking my head no.
"Please continue," he begged.
"Where are we going?" I asked distracted as we crossed the city limits.