A Tale Of Friendship And Loneliness

The Break-Up

Atharv woke up from his bed with a jolt. He was sweating profusely. He looked around him to make sure it was just a bad dream. He gulped down the water from the jug on his bedside table.

" What the hell was that! I hope it does not mean anything", he said to himself.

There was a thud in the kitchen. He went into the kitchen to see what it was. It was a carton of groceries had got home last night from the super market.  All the things he had bought were out of the carton and on the floor. On top of the table stood Tim wagging its tail. Tim was his pet cat. He had rescued Tim from a group of street dogs while coming back from his office. It was wounded. He nursed it till it got better and later left it on the street back. But Tim always found ways to come back to his apartment. He used to live alone so he did not mind some company and let it stay. 

His phone beeped.. " Good morning Atharv.. How are you feeling today? Better? "

The message was from his ex. Sara. 

"Hi..Morning..Yes, thank you", replied Atharv. 

The reply was cold, as it had been for  the past 3 months. Sarah could sense that her messages were unwanted. She knew she had to discontinue it someday. She was waiting for that 'someday'.

Every time Atharv saw the message from her ,he was reminded of the relationship he and Sarah had  and the fact that she had broken up with him. They had been together for 2 years. He found this texting habit of hers very exasperating. More than exasperating it felt like Sarah was playing some kind of cruel joke on him. 

Why does she care if I am dead or alive , but he never missed replying to her text.

Sarah and Atharv had met at a birthday party of a common friend.

They both were as diverse in characters as desert and ocean. They did not have anything in common. Despite all the differences, they could connect to each other. Their friendship soon had blossomed  into love or so, they thought. They belonged to different religions. It would not be an issue anywhere else in the world, but the country and the society they lived in - believed in religion, caste and status. It was not like that they had jumped into the relationship. They had considered the consequences they would experience in future and still gone ahead with the relationship. 

Atharv looked at the clock on his wall. It had a picture of Hulk on the inside. It was 7: 30 in the morning. He had to reach office at 8. He rushed to the bathroom, took a shower , wore his pressed formals and a tie to match his shirt. He skipped breakfast since there was not much time left. He grabbed his bag , shoved in the laptop and got ready to leave. Before locking the door he gave a quick look into his apartment. Everything was in order. He locked the door and left for office.

Atharv was a 28 year old software engineer who worked at  a MNC, considerably successful among his peers. He had become the team lead in a short period of time. The methods he had used to gain that position would be questioned by some, but nobody dared to say anything on his face. He liked things to be in an organised way. He was tall, fair and handsome. He was reserved.He had everything planned in his life. But Sarah was not one among them. He had not expected to meet someone like her let alone be in a relationship with her. Sarah was everything he was not. 

He could never forget the day she broke up with him. The words still rang in his ears, " Atharv,  I have got an opportunity to work with National Geographic Channel. Its been my dream from a long time and I intend to go. I will be a part of Amazon jungle documentary they are making. I know we had thought what we had was forever, but I want to end it".

"What? Why? How can you make the decision all by yourself?", questioned Atharv.

"Listen Atharv I am going to be honest with you. I do care for you. I do love you. But I cannot be with you. You suck all my positive energy out. I feel emotionally drained being with you. You are not my strength , you have become my weakness. I want to be happy and cheerful again".

Sarah had never thought she would be the one to end it. She knew she had to do it otherwise she would regret it for the rest of her life. It is better to rip off the band-aid at once rather than peel it slowly all through my life, Sarah had thought to herself. 

Atharv did not say anything much after the reason Sarah gave for the break-up. He walked away silently, did not even look back once. Sarah stood there for a while and then left the place. 

The air around her felt cold as ice suddenly.. She had thought she would feel relieved after being honest with Atharv. 

There was a side of Atharv she had never seen. Hell, she did not even know it existed. She was about to experience it....not immediately but over a period of time. 

It was the silence before the storm.