Breakup - a love story

. 5 .

Four days ago...

There is no better sight in this world than the sun slowly caressing the horizon and finally losing itself in the land's embrace, just to rise once again the next day. No matter how many times she watched the sun set, Riya just couldn't get tired of it. The scene had a perfect mixture of hope and promise, both of which she direly needed at the moment.

Her life had been perfect a couple of weeks ago. She was an engineer at last. Considering the struggles she had to endure before and during the course of her college life, it was indeed a big achievement for her. As if that wasn't the best thing in itself, she had the most amazing friend in this world, a friend whom she wished to cherish forever in her life. And yet, it had all turned around in a snap.

How, she didn't know.

After the incidents of that farewell night, most people would have sat down contemplating what went wrong and trying to come at a conclusion of whose fault it actually was. Those things didn't matter to her. Whatever happened blew away with the winds of change. Just thinking of it over and over won't turn those winds back. It's the actions later on that would define the direction of those winds. And that's where Riya faltered.

Rather than allowing the words to drag her out of the muddle like they had done a numerous times before, she chose the path of silence. Or rather, anger made her go down that path. And by the time she realized that silence was keeping it quiet and not solving the problem at all, it was too late.

Riya had always heard than when life decided to trouble someone, it grappled them with a fist of problems. And last week, she was the newest victim of that. As if the so-called breakup of her friendship with Ram wasn't enough, her lifeline was getting snubbed back at home. A minor land dispute had led some goons to pick up on her father and the end was never going to be good. When she got a call that her father was battling for life in the village hospital, land eroded from under her feet.

Without thinking about anything else, she packed her bags and left for the station.

In was only when she sat on the bench waiting for her train to arrive, emotions finally took their toll. Right there, in the middle of a crowded Mumbai platform, she cried, and a lot. No matter how much she tried, tears didn't stop. That moment, for the first time since the farewell party, she missed Ram. She missed the comfort of his shoulder. She missed his soothing words. She missed his clumsiness. She missed his restless nature. Yes, she missed him, and she missed him a lot.

The loud horn of the arriving train brought her out of her cocoon.

As she got up to board the train, she felt a pang of guilt. Though time was known for the changes it brought, her heart still believed that nothing must have changed. All it needed was one call from her and everything would be back to normal. She still wasn't ready to answer whether what they shared was something more than friendship or not, but for once she didn't worry about it. The only thing she wanted at that moment was to hear his voice.

While walking towards her compartment, she took out her mobile and scrolled to his number. She was about to hit call when her leg hit something and before she knew it, she found herself sprawled on the platform. The world blacked out for that tiny little moment. By the time she came back to her senses, some of the other travelers were already trying to get her back up, inquiring whether she was hurt anywhere. She felt some pain in her legs and head, but that wasn't important. The main thing was that her mobile wasn't in her hand. Searching for it frantically, she almost scared her helpers away. One snared at her for being rude, one even called her mad, but she wasn't listening to any of it. Her only concern was her mobile, and she couldn't see it anywhere.

The train's horn blared once again signaling its departure.

She had never felt a need to remember anyone's phone number. They were always just a swipe away on her mobile. Without her phone, she knew there was no other way to contact Ram from her village. More silence would only mean more problems. There was a choice to be made and her love for her father won over the love for her friend. She just turned around and ran to catch the train. She had abandoned her phone. She had abandoned Ram. And there was nothing she could do about it. When life itself had resolved to mess with her, who was she to say otherwise.

Sitting by the window, watching the final rays of sun vanish beneath the horizon, Riya felt all the hope drain out of her. There were just two people in the entire world capable of making her smile amidst all the adversities; her father, and Ram. While one was fighting with life awaiting her to return home, she had shunned the other one away herself. She had never felt this helpless before.

If only she would have allowed words to take control when it mattered...

***

"If only we could forget the word, 'if only'"

So finally we hear Riya's side of the story.

I think I'm not that angry with her after all these. She did realize how much she missed him after all.

There's definitely a hope in it.

But then, if only she'd have realized it a bit sooner...

Now, all she has is nothing.
No phone, no number, no other way to contact.

How do you think she'll come out of this?