In Between ✓ short story

>2<

Let go,
If it breaks you.

Hold on,

If it heals you.

Ryan couldn't sleep. His thought wanders back to the day they met. It was six years ago.

The sun was setting down. He focused his camera on the drowning sun and the flying birds in the sky. As he captured the scene in front of him, he heard another click. He looked at his right side and found a girl with a camera.

He smiled at her. She smiled back at him. And that was the beginning of their friendship.

Rhea sees Sona's phone screen blinking. She finds a message on the notification panel from some Ryan. Sona has never told Rhea about any Ryan. Rhea puts Sona's phone back on the nightstand without opening Ryan's message. Prying on someone's messages is not Rhea's thing. Even Sona is her girlfriend.

RYAN

Let's talk when you are free?

12: 12 AM

Sona reads Ryan's message in the morning. She decides to tell Rhea about Ryan before she replies to him.

She walks to the kitchen where Rhea is busy making breakfast for them.

"Good morning." Sona leans on the kitchen counter.

"How are you feeling today?" Rhea puts her palm on Sona's forehead.

"Better."

"I will ask Priyansh to postpone our project." Rhea takes their breakfast to the table. Both girls are working for a travel magazine.

"He probably wants to throw me out of his company for taking leave in every week," Sona says with a small laugh.

"I will talk to him. Don't worry."
Rhea assures her. Sona feels something off with Rhea.

"Rhea."

"Hmm?" Rhea looks at Sona.

"Are you okay?" Sona reaches for Rhea's hand but she pulls it away.

"What's wrong?'' Sona questions. Rhea's sudden change surprises Sona.

"Who is Ryan?"

Sona averts her gaze from Rhea. She fixes her eyes on her untouched sandwich. She feels a metal taste in her mouth.

"A friend?'' It comes out more like a question than an answer.

Rhea hopes that Ryan is just a friend but Sona's facial expression says otherwise.

"Are you sure, Sona?" She hopes Sona to say yes but, Sona doesn't say anything which makes Rhea angry.

"You know what, don't answer it. Your silence says it all! " She pushes her chair away and takes her half- eaten sandwich to the kitchen. She dumbs it in the trash bin.

"Rhea, it-it is not what you think." Sona holds Rhea's hand.

"We will talk about this later." Rhea jerks her hand away from Sona's grip.

"Let me explain, please?" Sona begs.

"I am getting late for work." Rhea shuts their bedroom door on Sona's face. She leans on the door crying. She ignores Sona's bangs on the door.

Sona feels the metal taste in her mouth again. She stops calling for Rhea and runs to the bathroom. She throws up all the contents she ate last night.

Half an hour later Rhea opens the door. She finds Sona sleeping on the sofa. All her angriness vanishes away. She quickly makes another sandwich. She leaves Sona's medicine and her breakfast on the table.

After a few minutes of battling with her own mind, she decides to wake Sona up. But she doesn't want Sona to think that she isn't angry when she really is pissed off.

She drops a thick book near Sona's ear. Sona's eyes jerks open. If it is some normal circumstance, Rhea would have laughed at Sona. She places the book on the coffee table.

"I am going," Rhea says angrily, stomping out of their house. Sona stares at the door which Rhea closed behind her, for a few minutes. All she knows is, she isn't going to give up on Rhea.