Friends to Enemies to Nothing (Series: Part 1)

Chapter 9: Remembering you as a lesson

Kashish picked up an old photograph of Naina and hers which was taken on Naina's 16th birthday. Naina looked so pretty in her red dress and Kashish wore a pink dress.

She still remembers the time when by accident Charu had fallen down and instead of crying and started singing happy birthday for Naina. Kashish smiled at that memory.

Naina had been a part of her life for such a long time that now, it seemed impossible to forget her. Although she had acted in front of Naina that she didn't care about her, or that she had already forgotten Naina. But the truth being told, she was just super mad at her thinking that she had ruined the of chance she had with her crush. She still feels bad for hurting her throughout the school. It wasn't unnoticed by Kashish, the pain and hurt in Naina's eyes. Now when she looks back at everything that had happened, she realised that she never let Naina speak about the incident that broke their friendship. It was Anju, she had told her that Naina and Rahul wanted to insult her thus they did all that on purpose. Then Parul, she had influenced Kashish's mind so much that she had stopped thinking and was just following whatever Parul used to say. Maybe she was an idiot.

Kashish: Sahi kehte hai, jisko asli dosti milti hai woh uski value nahi karta, aur jise nahi milti woh usse dhoondhte rehta hai. Yeh baat sach hai ki I was instrumental in breaking this friendship, shayad mujhe apne dost pe zyada wishvas hona chahiye tha par maine uski baat nahi sunn kar maine Parul ki baat suni aur apne sabse acche dost ko kho diya..aaj agar woh mere sath hoti, toh usne koi na koi hal nikal liya hota mere iss problem ka. Aaj mai phir ek baar crossroad pe khadi hu. Peheli baar crossroad ke ek side thi Naina aur doosre side thi Parul aur uske dost. Uss time pe maine galat rasta chunn ke bohot badi galti ki thi jiska anjaam tha Naina ka mere sath dosti tod ke chale jaana. Aur ab, uss crossroad mai ek taraf hai mera pyar aur doosre taraf hai mere papa ki tabiyat aur Piyush. Mujhe iss se pehele ki tarah galti nahi karni. Last time maine apne dil ki suni thi aur sab kuch kharab ho gaya. Iss bar mai apne dimag ki sunugi. Mai Piyush se shaadi karungi. Mera faisla pakka hai.

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Naina and Naveen go and open Naina's memory box. It had many photos of Naina with various people. They started seeing the pictures and talking about the old memories that came attached to the pictures.

Naina: Aur yeh meri class 8 ki English teacher! Inke sath maine aur Kashish ne ek bohot hi ganda prank khela tha!

Naveen: Accha! Aisa kya kiya tha tum dono ne?!

Naina: humne ma'am ko ek hi chapter ko 10 baar padh vaya tha! Woh teacher hamesha bhool jaati thi ki woh kaunse chapter padha rahi hai. Toh iss ka fyda utha kar humne 10 classes tak kuch aur nahi padha!

Naveen: Naina! Kitni badmash thi tum!!

Naina: Aur aur, yeh mere maths teacher. Inko mai bilkul pasand nahi thi!

They kept on talking about the old teachers and few old friends. Naveen noticed how in almost all the stories that Naina was telling, Kashish was a part of them all. He now realised how hard it might be for her to forget Kashish. Their lives were so intertwined with eachother that if anyone told them about their fight, they'd say 'good story!'. It was infact impossible to believe that these two girls were no longer friends.

They both didn't realise how the sun had already gone down and it was almost night. Naina went and started to prepare dinner for herself and Naveen. Naveen was still going through the memory box. He saw all the photos, how they both had held their hands in almost all the pictures. Naveen jad asked her to forget Kashish but now he realised how hard it might've been for Naina. Even after being a little away from the Sinha family, Naveen still wasn't able to forget Kashish. Naina was like family to Kashish and so was Kashish to Naina. They had spent their childhood together.

Naveen: Naina, jab tum usse yaad karti ho toh gussa aata hai ya phir rona?

Naina: Dono hi nahi.

Naveen: Matlab?

Naina: Naveen bhaiya, mere liye ab Kashish sirf ek lesson hai. Ek life lesson. Usne mujhe hurt karke mujhe strong bana diya. Ab mujhe hichkichahat nahi hoti hai sab ke samne toldne mai. Ab mujhe unn baato se Dae nahi jinse mai uss time pe dara karti thi. Kashish ne kuch kiya ho ya na kiya ho, usne mere andar se insecurities kafi had tak kam kar di hai. Mera andar ka dar bhi kam kiya hai ussne. Uske actions ne mujhe hurt kiya tha par uss se mujhe yehlesson mil gaya ki kisi ko bhi kabhi bhi blindly believe nahi karna chahiye mujhe.

Naveen: I'm happy ki tum uss pe ab apne aap ki tabiyat kharab nahi karti ho.

Naina: Naveen bhaiya, maine yeh jaan liya hai ki lol na seasons ke tarah hote hai, aur seasons toh change hote hi rehte hai. Badlav iss duniya ka ek important part hai. Aur humme uss badlav ko khulle haatho se welcome karna chahiye..jaise ki mai kar rahi hu. Ha bura lagta hai jab purane baate bahar aate hai par, rona bhi aata hai, par mai ab yeh baat ko ganth bandh kar rakhne wali hu ki Kashish mere galti thi, meri dost nahi. Uska mere zindagi mai itna involve hona, woh bhi ek galti thi. Kyuki Kashish woh ladki nahi nikli jo maine usse samjha tha. Woh toh kuch aur hi nikli..waise bhaiya, aa jao, khana ban gaya.

Naveen closed the lid of the memory box and headed to the dining table to eat. Naina and Naveen ate while taking about Naveen and his studies. After eating, Naina and Naveen washed all the utensils and then went outside to clean the place before heading to bed and calling it a night. Naina picked up the memory box to stash it away but Naveen held Naina's hand.

Naveen: Naina aise kab tak apne past se bhagte rahogi? Accept kana hi hoga tumhe..

Naina: Ha bhaiya, sach kaha..accept kar rahi hu mai, dheere dheere.

Naveen made Naina sit down on the ground and they both opened the memory box once again.