Breakup - a love story

. 2 .

He tried.

Ram tried to live his life in all the ways possible. At first, he tried to live it the lonely way. He sat at the window for hours admiring the sky, put his head into books and tried to study for the upcoming entrance exams, and then slept throughout the day. When nothing worked, he tried to lose himself among his friends. He went to movies, went to parties, and even tried to fall in love with someone else. Yes, Ram Malhotra tried to live his life.

He failed.

Irrespective of what he did, his heart just wasn't there. It was lost somewhere. No, not somewhere, he knew exactly where it was lost. For quite some time now he wished for his friendship with Riya to take a step forward. He was okay with it not being called love right away, but he wanted Riya to accept it was something more than just friendship. One yes from her would have changed so many things. It didn't matter now though. Or so he thought.

If his heart was lost, his mind was trapped too. It kept on thinking about that night over and over again. Yes, he erred. He shouldn't have forced her to do something she didn't like. And dance was her least favorite thing. He knew it since the very first day they met.

He still remembered how they had bumped into each other at the night of fresher's party. Clad in a simple Indian dress, she wasn't the most beautiful girl in the campus. But that tall figure carried an unusual aura around her. He couldn't quite figure out why, but he did end up asking her for a dance.

"I don't dance," she replied politely.

Even back then, the eighteen-year old wasn't used to hearing a no.

"You just got to move your legs a little, sway those hands in air, and shake with the music." He did a move right there. "See, it's that easy."

She couldn't hold back a chuckle.

"I know how to dance. I just don't."

"Oh...," he didn't know what else to say, "Let's just walk then, I'm sure you do that."

And for the first time he watched the most beautiful smile he had seen till then.

Their walk started with a silence and just about when he thought it'd end in silence too, she held out her hand.

"Riya Pradhan."

"Ram Malhotra," he said shaking her hand.

That night, he made two more unsuccessful efforts to get Riya to dance. It was the first time he didn't get a girl to dance with him. Though somehow, he wasn't upset about it because that night, he found a friend who was soon going to turn into the best. She wasn't just someone who had the most beautiful smile in this world; she was also the one who knew how to make him smile.

Even today, he smiled at that memory.

The four years of college had definitely been the best years of his life. And he was certain it was the same for her too. Then why was she so adamant on keeping it simple? Why was she afraid to take a step forward? No matter how much he thought, he wasn't able to find an acceptable reason of why she made a scene on the farewell night.

For two weeks now he had been trying to see through what went wrong. He knew the job would have been a lot easier had he just asked Riya about it. But every time he decided to call her, the question of "Why me?" stopped him. And Riya didn't make it any easy by choosing silence over the words.

Usually a talkative girl, Riya had gone silent for the last two weeks. No messages, no calls, nothing. In normal circumstances, such a long silence would have thrown Ram away, but somehow, the last two weeks exaggerated his feelings for her. The more she remained silent, the more he thought about her, and the more he fell in love with her.

The flower of love was blooming in his heart with every drop of silence that she poured. Sadly, he had no idea how to admire the beauty of that flower.

***

"Silence may keep it quiet, but it's words that solve the problem."

How many times has that question of "Why me?" destroyed the relationships?

And yet, we just don't seem to see the back of it.

So then, who's the real villain here, Ram or Riya?