𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐀𝐕𝐄 𝐎𝐅 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄

(II)

𝑩𝒖𝒓𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒂𝒔𝒕 , 𝒌𝒆𝒆𝒑 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒐𝒏

It is said new year comes with new beginnings but for Aarav nothing changed . His childish pure friendship which was slowly turning a love-tint feeling was eruption with passing day . In the midst of darkness in his whole life , he found Shanaya as the only light which shone upon her . Since childhood , he was only made afraid of his wrongdoings , scared of losing his closed ones if he did not obey them , fear of being left alone . For the first time , he wanted someone by his side . He may show himself all tough infront of everyone else but that was not the other way round .
It was shocking how he never met her face to face , not even had a conversation with her yet the eleven year old manifested this much with her .

Shanaya was a brilliant student , to be honest . Every teacher adored her for her intelligence . She was a bright student and at the same time a responsible too . Not only in school she was quite adored by her parents too for her witty mind . Her mother even termed her as "beauty with brains" . She was very admired by even her relatives as compared to Aarohi . A happy , jolly nature not knowing a sweet innocent boy was falling and waiting for the right time to express his feelings and gentle gestures to her . Aarav always thought that relationship of love can only be there when two people are of same standards and status . Here it refers to studies . They were now in grade eight . Not to lie , things had been changed in Aarav as he had now become a brilliant student .

Shanaya and her friends decided to take Computer Science in ninth grade . Aarav came to know about this and started investing his efforts on studies . The criteria for being selected in computer section , in other words , to get computer subject was above 80% . Aarav need to work hard to get that . He studied day and night to pass the criteria which would enable to go in her section . The annual examination came and he scored 82% , hence got the subject and came in same section .

Shanaya and his friends set the goal to score good percentage and get into computer science . Her elder sister , Aarohi also chose computer science so it was somehow planned for her , and hence she did not explore the other subject , Commerce . The annual exam came and she scored 96% and got Computer science . She was happy because she got the C section which was the best batch but a bit sad because her best friend went to Commerce .

All the brilliant student got collected in one section , that is , C section . Aarav was happy as he could see her everyday and was super excited to get to see her everyday without much efforts . Since it was the Covid period , classes started going online and hence a whatsApp group was formed for sending the assignments , information and announcement about the online classes . Aarav took her number from that group but did not had the strength to text her .
He came to know that she is available on Twitter and texted her with a hi . Their talks gradually started and soon he started sending some classwork and pdfs to her . Shanaya did not pay much heed as she took it too casual .

Aarav was living his life at this point . He was happy as he was getting to talk to Shanaya everyday . Her replies made him feel butterflies in his stomach . It was all fair and fine with him .
One day , a text came on his phone with an unknown number which later came out to be his classmate Ashmita . Aarav , being a kind person as he was , started helping her unknown to the fact that she had a crush on him . Finally she confessed to him on a call .
Aarav went in a bizzare for a moment . He was unable to say yes or no because right now , at that moment he wanted to put all his efforts on Shanaya so he put forward a hand of friendship , politely . But Ashmita on other hand wanted to prove her love .

Aarohi came to know about Aarav from Shanaya one day as they were discussing about class which started few months after covid . Aarav used to reach class earlier to study as Shanaya told Aarohi but we all know the reason . Shanaya appreciated him that he is very good in studies and a very bright student . Aarohi smelt that he was crushing on his sister but did not digged deeper into it . Aarohi only know this much that Aarav was the classmate of Shanaya .

Aarav confessed his feelings to Shanaya randomly and he got rejected by Shanaya. He felt broken , maybe because it was his first heartbreak . All his childish manifestation , his dreams shattered at once in front of him . Being a adolescent , he could not take the rejection but still he did not left his hope . For now , all he wanted was to become her friend . He thought even if love cannot happen , atleast friendship could take place . On the other hand , Ashmita was determined to prove her love , she used many ways to make him fall for her but his reluctant side did not let him do it .
He was serious about Shanaya , if not her then no one .

Even after constant efforts of Ashmita , nothing big happened and time came to part ways . In India , after doing high school , students have only two choices - Engineering or Doctor .
Aarav decided to pursue NEET (competitive exam held in India basically to qualify for MBBS) it was basically for undergraduate . He went to Delhi for its preparation without losing his hope for Shanaya .
Shanaya in covid period , made many online friends and was having her good time so when she rejected Aarav , not much difference came into her life . She blocked him from Twitter because he lied about being BTS army . Things became disturbed when her online best friend suddenly abandoned or disappeared . That took a major turnover in her life and she completely changed . Aarohi observed everything , yet she cannot do anything for the pain suffered by Shanaya .

Shanaya decided to pursue JEE ( competitive exam held in India for qualifying to do engineering) . On Instagram , she still had little conversation with Aarav . He apologized for his lies and said he would never repeat again but deep inside Aarav always questioned himself ,
Was he so wrong or was the lie too big to be accepted as friend by her ?
Shanaya at first decided to do preparations from Delhi but later on decided to prepare online . The thing was when it was not confirmed she would go to Delhi or not , she discussed her plans with Aarav and he took as an opportunity to start their friendship again and went to Delhi . Later on , plans changed and she started preparing online from home . Both JEE & NEET took two years for preparation .

With time , the connection between Ashmita and Aarav slowly broke and between Aarav and Shanaya , worse . There was no improvement or any uplift between them . He considered her as friend but she did not . She was still graving for her best friend and with time she became bitter and cold when she came to know the reality of her male best friend . Aarav tried his best but with time he realized that no matter how much he tried his best , she is never going to understand or appreciate his efforts he was putting on her . That disheartened him and somewhat he started self - harming .