A Young Mistake

A friend like Arjun✨

✨------Arjun's POV------✨

I'm at a bar waiting for someone and out of nowhere

i saw Rohan....My Best friend...

Seeing Rohan like that, after all these years, broke me. The last time I saw him was when i brought Sona to meet him, and since then, life had taken us in different directions. But here he was, sitting in a bar, drowning in alcohol, far from the friend I once knew.

“Bhai, what have you done to yourself?” I asked, my voice cracking as I approached him.

“Ohhooo Arjun, my childhood friend, my brother! Look who’s here!” Rohan said, slurring his words, clearly totally drunk. "Yaar, I missed you so much," he added in a drunken tone.

I couldn’t bear to see him like this. “What have you done, Rohan? Let’s go, man. You can’t stay here like this,” I tried urging him to leave.

But he waved me off. “No, no! I’ve only just started drinking. How can I leave now? Leave? Haha... no, I’m not going anywhere. But she left... oh, she left, didn’t she? Selfish... she’s so selfish, Arjun,” Rohan rambled on, his words barely making sense.

“Sona... Sona... Oh, my god... yeah, her! Selfish, right? Comes and goes whenever she pleases, like I’m nothing. She disappears, and here I am, like a dog, running after her!” Rohan laughed bitterly, taking another sip from his glass.

I stood there, unable to process the pain in his words. He was trying so hard to hold it together, but  due to alcohol he was not able to hide his emotions. I kept trying to pull him away, but he resisted, refusing to leave.

“Listen, bhai, you’re my childhood friend, right? You’ll help me, won’t you? Please, Arjun, help me find her!” Rohan begged, his voice breaking. “You loved Sona too, didn’t you? You know where she is... I can’t find her! It feels like she’s just behind me...  a..nd every time I turn around, she’s gone. BOOM 💥”

My heart sank. Rohan was broken in a way I had never seen before. He continued pleading, his voice filled with desperation, “Please, bhai. Maybe she’s suffocating because of me... but if you call her, maybe she’ll come back. Please, do this for me.”

Even though I didn't want to, but still called Priya. And just like that, she came. For a brief moment, it was like old times—three friends in the same place again. But deep down, I couldn't help but wonder why things had gone so wrong. How did we go from laughing together to becoming the cause of each other's pain?

She looked at me and simply said, “Thank you, Arjun.”

I wanted to ask her how she was. But as if  could even get a word out, Priya didn’t wait. She gently took Rohan by the arm and led him away.

I stood there, feeling sad. My friends, the ones who once meant everything to me, are so far. Rohan, my best friend, and Priya, someone I once cared deeply for—they are both strangers to me now.

And just then, I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned around—it was Sona.

With a sad smile on my face as I looked at her. She was about to cry. Without speaking,

I pulled her into a silent hug.

There was nothing left to say, just the quiet understanding between us.

One night, I got a call from Sona. She told me everything, her voice heavy with pain. I tried to reassure her, saying, "Rohan will never leave you, especially because you can't give birth."

She sighed, her voice trembling. "I know, Arjun, but I can't keep being a burden in his life. What have I given him other than pain? Ever since I came into his life, things have just kept falling apart and getting worse. And before it gets any worse, it’s better if we part ways. I don’t want to bring more bad luck into his life. I'm a very unlucky person.

A single deep cut is better than enduring a thousand little wounds every day."

She was crying as she said all of this, and in that moment, I knew she had made up her mind. Despite my heart telling me not to, I decided to help her.

Today, we're leaving for Canada—leaving India behind forever.

I never told Sona that I love her, and I never will.

Some things are better left unsaid. My love for her runs deep, but it's enough for me to just be by her side, as a friend, silently supporting her. I'll help her through everything, without ever asking for more. Being her friend, standing by her in her hardest times, is all I need. It's more than enough for me.

"Don't worry, bro," I whispered to myself, "I'll take care of Sona, as a friend, always. You just focus on being happy in your life, brother.

I'll be here for her, no matter what."

And we left together.