The Gymnast's Escapade

Neither A Yes Nor A No

Act 1, Scene 5 (Continued)

Rejected!

Thrice!

The two words constantly throbbed in Aashka's head as she continued to sit at her place and gawked at the man in front of her unable to comprehend her own response. Neither had she faced any kind of rejection before, nor she knew how to deal with it. She might seem incompetent in this scenario to know how he might be feeling.

All she understood was—it hurts harder than the incision made by the scissors, and the wound is deeper than an ocean. So raw yet faded; Raw in the sense that the wound may take some time to heal but it starts fading one day. Perhaps, it's the combination of white that depicts the bluntness of one's life, or maybe its red that describes the fire of the heart which when extinguishes makes it a faded red, or it could be a sky blue that shows the empty dreams.

But whatever it is, it fades yet it aches but with time you realize that it wasn't you who caused it, it was never meant to be, so it occurred despite your efforts to never have felt the stinging pain of the rejection.

Aashka debated Harsh's state even though she was not the best one out there to comment on him; in this case, she'd thank her parents always for guiding her in the best way that none of them had to deal with this uncompressible pain.

But she respected all those who fought it and emerged winners, because suggesting someone was easy, but living with it required extra-efforts.

When she continued to gaze at him lost in her reverie, Harsh asked, "Won't you say something?"

"I don't know what to say. It's not my place to comment on you or your life because I'm not the best one out there to say anything. But all I'll say is, I'm here to listen to you whenever you want to talk about it and that includes, even now." Aashka replied, rising on her feet.

Aashka took slow steps towards him and retrieved the cup from his hand; Harsh watched her with a smile as she poured him more coffee.

He needed it after confessing something he hid inside him for more than two years now. No one knew apart from Devansh but today it felt somewhat nice to unburden his chest.

Even though his mind declared him as a self-made loser, but he guessed that Aashka will think otherwise.

Her thinking process reflected systematism and balance of opinions, unlike the people he had met prior. If he had to define her in three words, it'd be—calm, composed, and compassionate.

It was these reasons, that despite being scared to open this part about himself, he preferred to disclose it to her.

"Can we discuss this some other time when we're not near our families?" He asked, a bit hesitant of her response in delaying it. She smiled and nodded, understanding that it might not be something nice to relive, and there was no harm in waiting now.

If he was the one at fault also, she wasn't going to judge him because its mistakes that teach us to be a better human, and there's no one out there in the world who might've never committed a mistake in their lives.

Whether kids or adults, everyone has their share, and the ones who think that life's going to bless them with everything perfect then they need some counselling for their head.

When you yourself are filled with dozens of flaws, what right do you have to even judge someone else or their lives?

Perfection in today's time was more about the superficial baggage people carried with tainted souls that don't know to love but show off the assets they carried and in her case, she preferred to follow her parents who fell in love with the other's heart not the fame either of them carried.