Estranged lovers

Chapter 50

SIDDHATH'S POV

The tension in the room was palpable, as Shaym's words hung in the air. "Because of her, Siddharth." He spoke quietly, but there was an undeniable heaviness behind it. Aaryan stood beside him, his expression neutral, though there was something beneath the surface......a flicker of understanding, a shared history that Siddharth was only just beginning to grasp.

Siddharth's brow furrowed in confusion. "Her?" he asked, his voice tight with uncertainty. "Who's 'her'?"

Shaym's eyes flickered to the side, avoiding direct contact. Aaryan seemed to sense the shift, stepping in to clarify.

"This isn't about Sheetal," he said, his voice calm but carrying an undercurrent of something deeper. "It's about something that happened years ago....something we should have addressed a long time ago."

Siddharth's eyes darted between Aaryan and Shaym, his mind still struggling to understand what was happening. "What are you talking about?" he asked, growing impatient.

Shaym sighed deeply, his shoulders sagging as though the weight of the past had suddenly become too much to bear.

"When I was 15, I pulled a prank. It was on Adhvait. He had this girlfriend, someone he cared about, and I... I slept with her. It wasn't supposed to mean anything, but it did. To him."

Siddharth felt like the air had been sucked out of the room. He stared at Shaym, trying to reconcile the mischievous, playful man he knew with the person standing before him, confessing to something so hurtful. "You... slept with Adhvait's girlfriend?" His voice was barely above a whisper.

Shaym's face twisted with a mix of regret and defensiveness. "I didn't think it was a big deal. I was young, and I thought I could push his buttons, see how far I could go. But Adhvait... he was different. He really cared for her. It wasn't a game to him."

Aaryan stepped forward then, his tone suddenly sharp. "And that's where it all started. It wasn't about the prank.....it was about the consequences. Adhvait didn't forgive Shaym, but he didn't fight him, either. He just... shut down. He became cold, distant. We all saw it, but none of us knew how to deal with it."

Shaym looked away, guilt flashing in his eyes, but there was no immediate defense in him. "He never said anything. He just withdrew. It was like he... turned off."

Siddharth's confusion deepened, but the pieces were slowly falling into place. "So, after that, Adhvait just... disappeared?"

Aaryan nodded grimly. "He left us. He cut ties with all of us. He stopped showing up, stopped being around. None of us heard from him again until recently."

Siddharth's pulse quickened as he started to piece together the bigger picture. "But you didn't think it was important enough to talk about this until now?"

Shaym ran a hand through his hair, clearly uncomfortable with the weight of the situation. "I didn't want to drag up old wounds, especially not after everything that happened. But it's all connected, Siddharth.

Adhvait's actions, his disappearance.....it all ties back to this. To her. And to what happened that day."

Siddharth was still processing the depth of what he was hearing. "So it wasn't just a prank. It was something that broke Adhvait in a way you didn't see back then. Something that changed him forever."

Aaryan's gaze darkened as he spoke, his voice lower now. "We all saw the shift in him. That coldness, that distance. It wasn't just from Shaym.....Adhvait pushed all of us away. He pulled away from everyone. It wasn't about forgiveness, it was about the fact that he couldn't trust anyone anymore. That kind of betrayal... it changes you."