Tara Divan, a sweet and kind-hearted woman with a fairy-like innocence, faces an unwanted situation: a party to celebrate her impending divorce from her husband, Ishaan.
Ishaan, who suffers from intermittent explosive disorder, is seen by many as a...
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When everyone was wrapped in summer holidays, I completed my board exams with great marks. I received admission to Columbia University. Finally, I am here in New York. But I miss India—my uncle Nikhil, aunt Rachana, and... Tara.
As a teenage boy, I always longed for Tara's friendship. But the rivalry between Dhruv and me, the "stellar crew" and "solar squad," created a distance between Tara and me.
That distance forced me to portray hatred toward her before everyone, though it was never real. Yesterday, at the Indian airport, Tara stood behind Aunt Malini, hiding shyly from me.
Her eyes shimmered, blinking with something unsaid. Rivan, Mahira, Jaya, and Dhruv didn't come, but she appeared to see me off. When the elders were speaking, she came closer. I stayed quiet, though a storm raged inside me. Tara extended her hand to congratulate me on my journey.
Her soft, tender palm met my rough one, and a smile appeared on her radiant face as she shook my hand. But it was becoming difficult for me. My breath grew unsteady. My heart felt a surge...a rush echoing through me.
Fifteen hours from India to New York, and more than a thousand times, I remembered Tara's touch. Her touch made me realize something undeniable, a feeling that is beyond friendship, haunting me from the first moment we met.
Yes, I love her. I love my Tara.
- from Ishaan's diary written at the age of 17.
TARA'S POV
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I read the picture of Ishaan's old diary on my phone, a diary he had written at seventeen.
I'd already gone through his old diary last midnight when Ishaan had slept peacefully due to his medication.
This teenage writing of his felt so special to me. So I took a picture of it.
I remembered the day he left for the airport. Rivan, Dhruv, Mahira, and Jaya were busy at Dhruv's beach house.
