Best Friends Forever(#YourStoryIndia)

27

DIYA

I sighed,  frustrated. It was the Sunday after we had seen the newspaper. Abhi and Dev were continuously hounding me and I didn't know what to do? Abhi didn't even know what went wrong. I had a strong feeling all of it was just a misunderstanding. But, Ana jumps to conclusions like changing colors and convincing her of otherwise is an impossible task. I blame all of that on the stupid novels she reads. 

My cell rang,  again and I saw that it was Dev.  I took a deep breath and answered, " Hey."

"Don't hey me. What the hell is going on? First,  Ana is not talking to Abhi. Then you stop talking to him and now you're avoiding me, too. So, what the fuck is going on?" He, all but yelled me.

My temper spiked. "I'll tell you what's going on. For starters,  your brother doesn't tell his girlfriend where he's going. And you both hide your identity from us and you still expect us to talk to you." I hissed.

I heard silence from the other end and I  looked at my phone to make sure it was connected.

He sighed, "You know."

"So its...its true?" I stuttered.

" We had our reasons for hiding things from you. We didn't lie about anything else." He said, defending himself.

"Yeah, failing to mention you are one of the richest man in India or mostly the world didn't cross your mind,  at all." I said,  sarcastically.

"What do you want me to say?" He asked, frustrated.

" I don't know." I said, a sharp pain piercing my heart.

"Meet me tomorrow?" He asked.

When I didn't reply he said, " Please."

" You are back so soon?" I asked.

" Yeah. Abhi has work and classes and when Ana stopped talking to him, he literally rushed back. He's a mess, Diya. I had to stop him from camping outside her front door." He said.

" Okay. Tomorrow, 5 o'clock." I said.

*****************************************************************************************************

I looked around the cafe and finally,  spotted the familiar face at the back and made my way towards him. Dev was dressed casually in jeans and a red shirt looking as handsome as ever. I looked at him,  trying to see if he looked different,  now that I know he's wealthy.

He looked up and smiled at me brightly and hugged me. I thought I felt him smell me, but before I could confirm that,  he pulled away and gestured for me to sit. We both ordered our coffee and an awkward silence fell between us.

He sighed, "Stop looking at me like that."

"Like what?" I asked, confused.

"You are more guarded today and you are looking at me differently,  with mistrust in your eyes." He said, hurt evident in his eyes.

"Can you blame me?" I whispered.

He gave a short laugh and said, "No. I am still the same Diya. I know I should have told you, but..." He trailed off.

He ran his hands through his hair, ruffling it in the process and making it stick up in different directions. I had a sudden urge to run my hands through his hair and make it as unruly as possible.   I held my hands in a tight grip, just in case they had a mind of their own.

" Abhi and I had a lot of friends. We were young and we had loads of money and we just wanted to have fun. We were treated like kings wherever we went,  cause of the money we have. We were arrogant, cocky and looked down on everyone. Basically we were assholes." He started and looked at me to see if I was going to judge him and I tried to keep the judgement off my eyes and silently encouraged him to continue.

"My dad and I don't get along. He wanted to me to get a degree in business and help him expand our business. I didn't want to be a part of it. To tell the truth,  I never understood all the numbers and merges and contracts. That was not me. I wanted to be free. I didn't want to get stuck in all the politics, so I left. I created my portfolio and sent it to one of the famous wildlife photographers and he agreed to train me.

I left the day I got the letter from him , without looking back to see the mess I left behind. Abhi had to bear the consequences. My father didn't want his second son to follow in his errant brother's footsteps. He started training my brother as soon as he finished his high school. He didn't have a normal teenage life. He was thrust into the business world when he was supposed to hang out with his friends, fall in love, and make mistakes, all because I didn't want to be responsible." He stopped,  hurt clear in his eyes. I caressed his hand and he gripped my hand tightly in his.

" I wasn't home much. My dad and I could barely stand each other and I moved out. I made enough to survive in the city and my so called friends were nowhere to be found. I realized that  they were only with me for my money. Abhi learnt this in a harder way,  than I did. He fell in love with a girl from his college. Everything was going great. He bought her expensive stuff, took her to parties, paid for her shopping, you get my point. When it came to her, he was blind. I tried to warn him so did some of his friends. She was using him for his money like so many of  his friends. Deep down, I think he knew about them, but he didn't want to face it. He was in denial." he said.

"Then what happened?" I asked, totally engrossed in his story.

" Truth hit him hard. One day he went to her place to surprise her, instead he got a shock for his life. She was in bed... with his best friend. He finally realized that they were playing with him and that broke him. That was 4 years ago, Diya. It still pricks him. He never let anyone close to him again and ditched all his friends. He became guarded compared to the carefree,  open guy he was. He became a player, going around with girls never sticking to one. He got drunk, did drugs you name it. It took me a whole year to pull him out of that mess. I wish I had never left. All this wouldn't have happened. Now, do you understand? I can't let him go through that again." He pleaded.

I nodded my head, trying to digest everything he said.

" We didn't tell you because we wanted you guys to like us because of us and not our money. I think,  he is in love with Ana. I don't know if I will be able to bring him back from the edge if things go wrong this time." He said, defeated.

I sighed, "I understand but,  Ana. That's going to be difficult. She hardly trusts people Dev and now .... She thinks Abhi was just playing around with her. You never did ask me."

" What?" He asked, confused.

I shook my head at him and said, " About how we found out that you guys are Richie rich?"

" Richie rich?" He smirked at me.

I rolled my eyes and removed the paper clipping from my bag and handed it over to him.

He paled and looked at me and said, " It's not what it looks like."

" I know. I believe you. Convincing Ana is not going to be that easy, not easy at all." I said, grimly.