To love or die trying

chapter 26. rumors spread like wildfire

 Radhika woke up to the sound of her phone ringing of notifications. She saw her phone to find her being tagged on social media on post that are either hateful or full of support. she also received messages from news reporters asking for an expose on Radhika's problem. Radhika took a deep sigh before getting out of bed walking up to the kitchen. Before entering the kitchen she heard some kind of liquid pouring into a glass. She followed the noise to find Rajah pouring whiskey in a glass full of ice while looking at his computer screen that viewed comments and posts regarding radhika. He quickly took a gulp before scrollingg through the feed.

"did you start this habit before or after I came back into your life" radhika said startling rajah

"after you left" rajah said reminding radhika about the night of which ended them

"habits take awhile to die out huh?" Radhika said sarcastically sitting down next to rajah

"you can say that again" rajah said laughing going back to the scrolling

They both then read through all of the post and comments posted on social media. Every hateful word felt like daggers aimed at radhika's heart. She could not believe that only a few hours have gone by after karla posted about radhika's problem with drugs and now almost the entire town is commenting via social media about it. This made radhika not only an over night sensation but also made her look like a drug addict. She could not see anymore she closed the computer.

"lets not look through it ok" radhika said getting up "and anyways don't you have class? Its a Wednesday you know"

"I'm drunk aren't I?" Rajah asked sarcastically screamed "I'm not going because I'm worried bout you"

"you are definitely to drunk to go to classes" radhika said while trying to find fresh air

Rajahs breath smelt as if his breath was made up of different brands of alcohol mixed into one. It was also visible that he was very drunk. Radhika decided to bring him to the kitchen and forced him to lean on the counter. she then took a wash cloth and damped it with water before placing it gently on rajah cheek start wiping his face. After wiping his face off she told him to go to the living room and sit on the couch. he obliged. From the kitchen, radhika brought something for them to eat and a few bottles of water. she then gave a bottle of water to rajah to drink before heading to her room to get the aspirin. She gave the aspiring to rajah to drink with the water. Soon enoughh rajah soberd up.

"when did this habit start getting worse" Radhika asked

"didnt chirag tell you" rajah asked back

"just the bit he knows off" radhika said "but I don't know if you started before chirag knew or when chirag found out"

"when you started dating shiva" rajah replied

Radhika remembering the day realized more than what she hoped for. She remembered the difference between dating shiva and rajah. Shiva would always look at other girls while rajah would concentrate on just radhika. she felt worse about the day she left rajah. Rajah noticed radhikas change of expression and took her hand.

"the past is past" rajah said placing his other hand on radhika's cheek "now you are here with me and I you"

Radhika smiled and continued on eating the food she brought from the kitchen she brought for both of them. Rajah soon dogged in as well. while eating they talked about radhika's sext album ideas. one idea stuck in radhika's mind. Life struggles and treasures. She already created plenty of songs about those subjects. Radhika looked at the clock and realized it was alreadyy noon. she told rajah she needed to record the songs now before she forgets. Rajah decided to walk with her there. They both got ready and left.

Once they arrived, radhika got into her room with rajah and she started fiddling with her guitar strings making chords to find the song melody. Rajah watched and gave his feedback. Even though he did not know much about music, he knew enoughh to know what a hit sounds like. After what seemed like 4 hours they heard a knock on the door. rajah opened it to reveal shiva in tears. Shiva ran and got down on his knees near radhika apologizing about what he has done. he then told radhika and rajah about shanaya leaveng him because he did the same thing to her as he did to radhika. Radhika did not have anything to say to shiva. she just looked at rajah. Rajah knew what to do.

"its to late to apologize" rajah said helping shiva onto his feet "whats done is done"

"but I love her" shiva said. Radhika could feel shiva was lying

"if you loved me you wouldn't have cheated" radhika said

"i did that for us" shiva said "i thought that with Karla's help..."

"it would be easier for YOU to rise to fame?" Radhika said.

Before shiva could defend himself radhika dismissed him and rajah took him outside the building. Smithson saw rajah and shiva and knew there was some kind of trouble. He called out to the both of them. Rajah explained the whole situation. Then smithson looked at shiva and started shouting profanity at him before forcing him to leave the premises. Smithson and rajah went towards radhika's room of the studio to check up on her. when they were outside the room they could hear radhika singing one of her new songs. It was about her struggles of finding her identity. To rajah it sounded like a cry for help. To smithson it felt like a number one hit. She then finished singing and the two guys came inside.

"wonderful" smithson said "that will definitely be in your next album. Have you got any more similar"

"a couple" radhika replied "i was actually thinking to put those in the album as well"

"excellent idea" smithson agreed "the album will be called life as we know it. or something like that"

Smithson gave more encouragement to radhika before leaving the room. She smiled before looking through her phone. Rajah could tell the posts on social media were getting worse and worse by the expression change on radhika's face.

"its getting late" rajah said "wanna grab dinner?"

"i think moms making some for us" radhika said "she just texted us to come over"

they then walked to manimegle's house to have dinner there. Once they arrived manimegle hugged radhika tightly worried about her due to the social media scandal. Radhika told manimegle not to worry. Rajesh was also there for dinner. They all then sat and ate while planning how to handle the media. Radhika suggested to leave it because she predicts it will die out soon. Rajah agreed with radhika. Howeverr rajesh and manimegle thought it would be better to go on the news or get an interview with a magazine stating the truth. Radhika could not handle the subject anymore and decided to go home since it was getting late. Rajah walked back with radhika making sure she was alright. they soon reached rajahs place and sat on the couch for awhile.

"will life ever be easy as it used to be" radhika asked

"afraid not radhi" rajah said

Radhika sighed a heavy sigh before turning on the tv. It opened to a newscast talking about radhika's drug problem. Radhika couldn't take it anymore. she balled out crying. All rajah could do is comfort her. Rajah contemplated on how to make it up to her and how to make it better. He finally got the idea.

"brainstorm" rajah exclaimed "lets heal each other"

"how" radhika asked cluelessly

"simple" rajah said "i help you out with the drug issue and you help me cure my alcoholism"

Radhika agreed and decided to head to sleep. That night she did not take any pills before drifting to slumber land.