Humesha | ✔️

Chapter 15

*unedited*

~if it doesn't hurt, then it's not love~

Z U B I N

Running frantically through the dark walls of her old house, I sighed wiping off the sweat from my forehead. I'm not sure what I was exactly doing, but as much as I could figure out myself, I was trying to not cry as the first lone tear finally slipped off my left eyes and I wiped it quickly, swallowing the unknown fear in my throat.

I never had the habit of holding on to anything. Ever since childhood, when my grandparents left me and went away, I never said no. Then my parents left one by one, and I still didn't say no. And then Malhotra Uncle left, but I still didn't complain. But Mukti entered, filling in the spaces of my life that I didn't know were empty. And then Mukti left, shattering my entire world. But now that Nandini is also leaving, I wouldn't keep quiet. I'm not going to let the only person left in my life leave me too.

It has been more than twelve fucking hours since I saw her, since she left my house, leaving me alone. I thought she'd come back, I waited for her at the dining table for so many hours until I realised she wasn't coming back. She was walking away too, like everyone else.

She wasn't anywhere, and my last hope died as I didn't even find her in her old house, which had been deserted since the past few months. When I saw the lock of the gates opened, there was a hope lit in my heart that I had finally found my girl, and I silently promised I wouldn't ever disappoint her again, but my own hope turned into disappointment.

My bestfriend is naive, she believes everything that anyone tells her (I'm not pointing at Manik) and keeps over thinking about them. I have no idea what Manik has fed her when they met last night,but she believes I am a liar too. Yes, I was lying. I was lying about the newspaper. I and Aryamman hid the newspaper so that she doesn't get to know about the news with Manik, she's already so disturbed... I didn't want her to be more upset.

I did see her sneaking out from the house last night, and that did make me feel hurt; and today, when I saw the newspaper, it confirmed my doubts. Ofcourse I was hurt too. Didn't my own best friend trust me enough? Girls think that guys are strong, they don't cry, they can take everything that comes their way. But behind every strong guy is his own insecurities, his own fears. And my only fear was that my only family left with me- Nandini Murthy, will also choose Manik over me.

Lost in my thoughts, just as I turned back to leave, I banged into something-.... someone, long hair flowing down, partial face being lit in the moonlight, a familiar pair of brown orbs meeting mine which made my heart beat faster. I would have believed I was dreaming, or maybe this was a nightmare, but I knew this wasn't a dream the moment my eyes locked with hers and the blood that had frozen in my heart years ago came rushing back to me.

"Mukti?," I think I just whispered.

N A N D I N I

I remember having a hitting pain in my head, and the darkness due to my closed eyes haunted me for long before I felt some movement around me. I felt numb with all the pain but even with a sleeping body, my mind felt conscious, yet weak to open my eyes.