Broken promises

Ch-08

It's been a week since Prithvi began to fully realize the gravity of his mistakes. He had been trying to contact Kirti and even approached her at school, but now Kirti had begun to ignore him completely.

Prithvi felt like a relic, just a fossil in her life. Kirti had removed him entirely, leaving behind only distant memories, as cold and lifeless as fossils. She wanted nothing to do with him anymore, knowing that any interaction would only cause her more pain.

One day during their shared PT period, Kirti went to fill her water bottle, and Prithvi followed her.

"Kirti," he called out, making her stop in her tracks, her back stiffening.

"I'm really sorry for what I did. You'll forgive me, right?" Prithvi asked, his voice carrying a mix of guilt and desperation.

Kirti’s expression was unreadable as she turned to face him. Without a word, she picked a flower from a nearby plant and held it up to him. "Can you put this flower back on the plant exactly as it was before?"

Prithvi looked at her, puzzled and a bit frustrated. "That’s impossible," he answered, the irritation clear in his voice.

"Exactly," Kirti said quietly. "Just like it’s impossible for me to forgive you. But what is possible is forgetting you. So don’t come in front of me again." She poured a bit of the water from her bottle onto the ground. "And you can’t put this water back into the bottle either."

Without waiting for his response, Kirti turned and walked away, leaving Prithvi standing there, feeling more defeated than ever.

"Did I ruin everything so badly?" he muttered to himself.

"Yes, you did," came a voice from behind him. Prithvi turned to see Devika, her face neutral but her eyes sharp with disappointment.

"Prithvi, you failed her," Devika said bluntly. "You were supposed to be her best friend, and instead, you hurt her more than anyone ever could. Ignoring her was one thing, but when you made those accusations, you shattered her. She trusted you more than anyone, and you took that trust and broke it."

Devika stepped closer, her voice softening just a bit. "She’s still hurting, and it’s going to take her a long time to heal. What you’ve done is hard to forgive, and it's not my place to tell her to. But please, if you really care about her, let her find peace. Stop trying to force your way back into her life. Let her move on."

Devika turned and walked away, leaving Prithvi with his thoughts. He sank to his knees, tears falling freely now.

"I’m sorry, Kirti," he whispered. "I promised never to leave you, but I was the one who left you first. I’m sorry."

At that moment, Prash came over and knelt beside him. "I failed too, Prithvi. We both did. She trusted us, and we betrayed her."

Prithvi shook his head, the weight of his guilt suffocating him. "Some things can’t be fixed, Prash. I hurt her in a way that no one can fix."

Prash held him in silence, knowing that sometimes, the damage was too deep. A plucked flower can't be reattached to its stem, and once trust is broken, some wounds never fully heal. Kirti would never be the same with them, and they both knew it.