Seasonal Scrawl | Collection

(02) Tum Se Hi

9 years. It had been 9 long years since they had parted ways and he had breathed a sigh of relief at freedom from their forced marriage which felt nothing more than a nuisance. When they had parted, he was relieved and happy because he no longer had the nuisance stopping him from reaching his happiness, in his life.

For him, she was the storm that had wrecked his life and pushed it to chaos and he hated her for that or so he thought. According to him, he loved Malini and only she was to become his wife not any other woman. But fate had played it's own game and he had been married off forcefully to Imlie. Before he knew it, he had turned extremely callous towards her which wasn't his usual personality. He hurt her many times yet she quietly took it in without a word. The fact that his family had accepted her without any qualms and showered her with affection irked him even more and he behaved even more rudely with her. Soon she too stopped coming infront of him, avoiding him as much as possible giving him some relief. But despite all his anger and hatred, he had never failed to read the pain in her forlorn eyes.

And then she had let go. She had walked upto him one day but he had behaved just as rudely with her like any other day. She had patiently taken in his rude behaviour and calmly spoken to him about their divorce. At that moment, he had been astound. Why hadn't he thought of that before? They had then agreed mutually to a divorce and he had started the proceedings immediately, ignoring the feelings in his heart at the fact that they would be seperating soon. Once their divorce had been done, she had wished him and Malini her best wishes for their life ahead and had bid a tearful goodbye to his family who had actually become her own as well. And casting one glance at him, she had moved out.

At that moment, Aditya never understood why he did not feel completely happy at being freed. He hadn't understood at that moment why he felt sad seeing her leave. He had brushed all of it aside and had married Malini. If only he hadn't let go of her then. If only he had realised then!

Malini and he were really incompatible and that they both realised in their 2 year marriage which ended with their divorce and which was also the reason of their divorce. They had parted on good terms and while Malini had left to the US along with her family, he still stayed alone.

His family had tried many times to convince him to get married but he couldn't for he had realised by then, just how much incomplete he was without her. It had taken him long to understand that Malini had just been his best friend and that he did not love her. Love - love was what he had found in her. Imlie - the only woman he had loved.

She had come into his life like a storm and had left it like a silent breeze. He never realised when he actually fell in love with her and by the time he knew it, it had already been too late. He had lost her forever! But he had no one to blame but himself. He had hurt her always and he knew by hurting in her love for the rest of his life was how he would be able to repent.

He had come to know of her achievements soon as they were published in papers. He had kept track of her but did not have the courage to go to her. She looked happy and for all he knows, she might have found someone else. His heart twitched in pain at the mere thought of it. But she deserved to be happy dint she? He dint want to entangle her with his life for he held himself responsible for breaking her heart. Yes, he still remembered her last look. Her forlorn eyes held all her emotions she had masked well till the last moment and witnessing it he knew, if somebody ever asked what his biggest mistake was, he would tell them it was breaking her heart. She dint love him but surely respected and cared for him but he had just treated her like an animal. And so Aditya Tripathi decided he wasn't worth the precious jewel Imlie was. Yet inadvertently his dreams would show her as his forever.

Placing back the cutout of her photo from the newspaper back into his drawer, he closed it and wiped his tears. She was the brightest star in his universe while he was a mere spectator who only could look at her from far but never have her. Aditya had accepted this fact yet every piece of his heart which hurt with agony at this distance from her still wished she could be there, just as his and just for him. He had pushed her away but subconsciously wished she would come back, just for him.

Love,
Pratyusha