Just Wanna Be With You

Chapter 21 - Why?

Chapter 21 : WHY?

“Trying to forget someone you love is like trying to remember someone you never knew."

KAVYA’S POV:

It had been a week since his birthday. He had been a darling all week. Candle-light dinners, long walks on the beach, a pretty diamond necklace and what not. He was being all crazy in love and I was crazy about him too. So when I got up today morning and didn’t find a single message from him I was a bit surprised. He had sounded a bit off last night too. I thought he was just tired because of the long day he had had.

The entire day went and he was still silent. Now, I had this bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. It was not like him to be out of contact like this all of sudden. The whole week had passed by wonderfully. What could possibly go wrong now?

I left for his house after work to find out the reason for his silence. I approached their apartment when I heard loud voices from inside.

“Forget about me. Did you ever once think about Kavya?” I heard Siddharth shout. What was going on? Why was he so livid.

“I can live without you but she’s in love with you man? What are you going to do about her?” I heard him say.

"You don’t think I thought about her?” Ahaan asked raising his voice too.

“Clearly you didn’t. Or this day wouldn’t have come. How long have you known?” Siddharth asked.

“For about 11 months now,” Ahaan replied.

I heard a resounding slap. It had shaken me.

In a much higher tone Siddharth asked, “11 MONTHS? THAT WAS EVEN BEFORE YOU MET HER.”

His voice was so loud the whole building could hear them.

“Control yourself Sid. Why can’t you believe me when I say I forgot? I knew for 11 months but I was reminded of it just yesterday when I got a call from them. And it gave me a bigger jolt than I could have imagined. And stop slapping me. You are not bloody losing the girl you love. I am."

Finding the door open, I couldn’t resist myself. I made my way into the house and asked the both of them, “What the hell is going on?”

I saw Ahaan turn around and look at me with a defeated expression.

Siddharth said, “I am not losing the one I love because I wasn’t a fool like you.” Stopping next to Ahaan he added, “Best of Luck, as always I am here when everything goes wayward man. That is if you want to tell me anything.” He grabbed his jacket and left the house.

I looked at Ahaan with a confused expression. “What is going on? Why were you guys fighting so much?"

He looked at me for a while and then approached me and cupped my face. He kissed me first. He seemed so different. He kissed me as if he was trying to prove something. I was so confused. I just wanted to know what was going on.

Finally after sometime he said, “Once I tell you, I know you will hate me but please just listen to me.”

“Go on, “I said not so sure of myself.

“11 months back I came back to India with a job offer in the UK. I was sent here for a year. I was to look over some things before I left.  And then I met you at the re-union and forgot all about it. Yesterday when I went for work, my boss called me in and told me all the arrangements were done for me and I was leaving in a month. I just told Siddharth this morning. I never wanted to hide anything from you. I have been stumped since yesterday and I just didn’t know how to tell you.”

I was beyond shocked. He was leaving. He had known this before he had met me. He was going in 30 days. He was joking, wasn’t he? I looked up at him and saw him trying to assess my reaction. I didn’t know what to say. How could he forget? He was leaving damn it and he was telling me now. What could I say? Stop. Don’t go. I turned around just wanting to walk out from there. He reached me and pulled my hand before I could leave.

“Please say something, anything.”

“Leave my hand,” I said through gritted teeth. I knew my tears were going to spill soon.

He didn’t leave my hand.

“Leave my HAND,” I said the last words shouting. He let go of me. He was crushed. As I was leaving the house I had tears spilling down my cheeks. I turned around and saw him curse under his breath. He really had screwed up.

I said with all the anger within me, “And leave me alone too. Happy journey Ahaan Phadnis, Have a great life.” I stormed out of there.

As I sat in the taxi I started crying again. Why had he done this to me?

If he knew all this while, why hadn’t he said a word about it? How could somebody forget about such an important thing as leaving the country? Was he that deeply in love that such an important detail of his life was not significant anymore? I couldn’t process what I was feeling right now.

What did he expect from me, when he told me he was leaving? What was the entire point of last year that I had spent with him?