Cupcake Bites

Love Again: 1 (ft. Preeti)

I went inside my old and dusty store room with a lot of difficulty. I was supposed to clean this room as New Year was falling the next day, and the room was full of spider webs, dust, and proof that this room was not disturbed for so long. But I'm here to disturb it now!

I put on my yellow rubber gloves and started to clean the ceiling with the brush.

I was exhausted after two freaking hours of cleaning up the room and I was already full of dust and webs that I met on the way.

But somehow I cleaned it, man!

As I was proudly walking around the place I cleaned, I saw a photo framed. I took it up and saw that it was a cheesy photo of myself and him, holding our respective vanilla ice cream cones, and facing the hot wind at Juhu Beach. That was a photo shot on New Year's Eve in 2016, a day before my relationship ended with Harshad, along with the year 2016.

A lone tear escaped from my left eye at the thought of Harshad, and I quickly wiped it.

Why should I think about that jerk? It was he who left me!

I hugged the photo and I don't know why but I started to cry.

Even though he is a jerk, he's mine!

I cried at the thought of those intimate moments, those secret ice cream meetings, and I missed almost everything I had with him.

Why should I even think about him? Did I forget what happened that day?

I thought when my mind teleported to the New Year's Eve party that year.

"Harshad, but it wasn't me! It was Rohit who asked me out," I said to him.

"But wasn't that you who provoked him?" He asked. His eyes were bloodshot.

"No, Harshad. I swear that was not me!"

After a sardonic smirk, he said, "My friends had already told me a lot about you. It was my fault to ignore that. And it was my fault for falling in love with a femme fatale!"

I looked at him shocked. That one sentence was ringing in my ears. Am I a femme fatale?

"Harshad," I whisper-yelled at him. "It's over."

Now it was his turn to look at me shocked.

"What?" He asked.

"Yes. Now, we are breaking up. I don't want you to fall for a so-called femme fatale like me. Thank you for wasting your time with me. But one thing. I won't ever forgive you even if you want to apologise. Goodbye!" I saluted him and left, while tears started to pool my eyes.

I went to the restroom and looked at the large mirror. A horrified person looked back at me. My eyes were smudged with Mascara and I was in my black bodycon dress Harshad gifted me for my birthday last year.

And I regretted thinking about him the next moment.

"DAMN, THAT HARSHAD!" I shouted without care about this world and broke down. I sat down and started to cry. I didn't stop crying until a person came there. I stood up and left the place. As I stepped out, I saw Harshad waiting for me.

"Preeti, I--"

I raised a palm, asking him to stop, and said, "It's enough, mister," and went away from him.

I stopped crying but still, tears were flowing at the thought of the New Year party.

"Why am I thinking about that asshole?" I asked myself and looked at the happy picture.

How happy we were! That jerk dug a grave for himself.

I thought and threw the photo away, and left the room.

As I sat on the couch and tuned in to Republic News on my TV, my mobile pinged. I took it and saw that it was a message from my friend Shanaya.

Hey, Pri!
Free today?

Ummm... Yeah!
Having any plans?

Yep!
Are you coming to The Habitat today?

Ummm... Anything special?

I just want to hang out with you. So... You coming, right?

Sure! Where did I go without you, Sha?

Heehee!
Then let's catch up at 7, shall we?

Sure!

Okay! See ya!

With that, she went offline.