Your fabricated lie

16 - Lost a friend

"Wait. Are you leaving?" I asked Gautham who was leaving when I was getting in. Adding up to my guilt, his simple head gestures made me feel little. I mean, it's not something I am ashamed about but it hurts to hurt him. After all, it was never my motive to hurt his tofu like feelings because I know. I know how badly it hurts to see someone you love, love someone else.

"Can you spare some time? We need to talk," I said while he was walking past by my side. Looking over his shoulder, "I don't think it's necessary. Besides, I am busy," he said.

"Adi…" he swiftly turned around. "I mean, Gautham…" I corrected it. "We really need to talk. At least to – "

"CAN'T YOU SEE THAT I AM CLEARLY AVOIDING THE TALK?  – I know what it's about and I have nothing to do with that. So please. Please leave me," he yelled at me for the first time. Tears rolled in my eyes.

Whenever I am with Aditya, Gautham's reaction used to flash in front of me. I saw this coming all along yet I chose to turn a blind eye.

A tear rolled down my cheeks when my face was absolutely expressionless. Seeing that, he turned back to leave but stopped when Rajesh's car arrived. I wiped my not so noticeable tears quickly and faked a smile.

Getting down from the car, "Oh. You are here too?" Rajesh asked Gautham. "Come, let's have an open discussion," he gripped his wrist to pull him along.

"Discussion for what?" Gautham asked.

"Of course regarding the case. What else were you expecting?" Rajesh said.

Looking away from me, "See Rajesh, it's not like this is the only case I deal with. I have many other things to take care of and now my job is at stake too. Let me focus on my career before it gets too late," Gautham addressed me indirectly though he was looking at Rajesh.

"What's with him?" Rajesh asked as if I could read his thoughts. Of course I know the reason for him being upset at this moment.

"Let him go, Rajesh".

Inhaling sharply, "Let him go before it gets even more difficult," I sobbed. When Rajesh came, I was strongly determined not to cry but look at me making it obvious. I am sure Rajesh understood it by now. After all, he is also a lawyer.

His pain for not having me, annoyance at Adi for stealing me away and devastation for loving me was clearly seen on his face. Controlling his tears, "I have never hated you to this point, Anu," he said. "Actually, I don't hate you. I'm just disappointed you turned into someone you said you'd never be".

Tears were not in his control anymore. He cried his lungs out which was quite new for Rajesh as well as for me. Venting out more, "You said you'll never go back to him… [Sniffing in] You said it's over long back… Then what's this?" he yelled.

I don't have and will not have answers to any of his questions. Who has seen the future? I mean, no one has seen the future.

When fighting for university's top position, Gautham never thought he might love me one day. When marrying Roshini, Aditya never thought she would kill his mother. When Rajesh wanted his brother to get trained by me, he never knew I would be the reason for his death — Same goes with me. Even I never thought that someday I will get a chance to write the continuation of the chapter called, ADITYA. In fact, I still can't believe I got a chance to pen down the rest of the chapter when I thought it would never have an ending.

I understand what Gautham is going through but there is nothing I can do about it.

He looked at me with teary eyes. His eyes. His eyes were questioning me for things I have done and calling me out for not being his. From a distance, I could feel his warm heart echoing his sniffs. And again, I have never felt this bad.

Glaring at me, piercing through my soul, he said, "You are a traitor, Anu!" This is the second time he is calling me a traitor. First time was when Vikram's parents committed suicide. For some reason the second time hurts more

Before getting into the car, "At least don't hurt Aditya anymore. That poor guy will not be able to take this," he said, looking over his shoulder.

There you go. I lost another best friend.

I have lost many people because of Aditya. My parents, Karthik and now Gautham too. Not sure if he is worth it!

Whatsoever, IT IS WHAT IT IS!

We, as in me and Rajesh, walked in and Gautham left for his so-called busy work. That is when I understood it wasn't just the discussion he left but also me. In spite of the drama we made outside Rajesh didn't even raise a single question. We went in, sat and our discussion was on point without any deviations.

As expected, our conversation started talking about Adi's alive wife. I told him everything I know except for the Dori entries as I wanted to keep it private. It's not that I was being secretive. It's just that my father taught me never to share things, others share with me. It's called keeping the trust. Though people call me a traitor, I got to keep my ethics and values.

"Should we reveal that his wife is alive?" Rajesh asked.

I shook my head. "That would just complicate things even more. To be more precise, Aditya will be blocked".

"So, what now? Is our objective to save Adi or to find who killed Karthik?"

"Saving Adi is not our objective but our duty, Rajesh. And talking about Karthik, let me deal with that," I said. After spending a whole day and night with Adi, I learnt a lot about him and Roshini. Now I strongly believe all these details will help me to solve the case with less effort. Talking about which, I found out a few things about Karthik's death which I absolutely can't discuss with Rajesh.

Letting him know any more details would just add more pressure. Now that I don't have Gautham to help me out, I gotta solve things on my own.

Fuck my life!