Heart-strings

Chapter 28

“Yes, I’ll come. I know I owe you one. Sure!”, I talked to Dhruv on call. He was convincing me to attend his wedding in Mumbai. Although, I didn’t want to go, I had to because he helped me hell lot when things took a turn and my life walked on the path of destruction. The one favor he did to me would always stand big in front of my hundreds favor to him. “Okay, bye!”, I disconnected the line looking at the worried expression over Maa’s face. She slowly walked into the room holding her phone close to her ear and keenly listening to someone over the call. I feared she was talking to Dhriti. “What happened”, I whispered and she passed on a blank expression. Before I could ask her something else, Aarohi entered the room. She came to me, held my wrist and forced me to walk out of the room with her. She did not talk to me since a year and now, all of a sudden, she wanted to talk to me. I was scared if she would burst her anger on me or maybe, she would have accepted what I told her about my break-up, she would have forgiven me. She dragged me to the balcony and shut the door. As soon as I turned back to face her, she squeezed me into a tight hug and I was uncertain why. “You dumbass! You would have told me at least!”, her voice shook and I understood that she was crying. I broke out of the hug and asked, “What happened? What would have I told you?”. Shivers went down my spine; I was scared Dhriti told her the truth. “You wanted to suffer alone, keeping everyone else in disguise. I hated you for leaving Darshan without even knowing that you sacrificed everything for him. I am sorry, you are hurt because of me”, tears dribbled down her cheeks. “It’s not your fault. You didn’t know anything so your anger was acceptable”, I kept my hands on her shoulder. “Screw Dad! How could he do such cheap acts to separate you guys? Such money-blinded man, he is!”, she scoffed. “Chuck it! It doesn’t matter anymore. Time will heal everything”, I said. She snapped at me, “Time will heal everything! Are you nuts? Have you lost your mind? He was so mean to you and you want to move on with times, sacrificing your happiness today because tomorrow, things will change. Do you expect him to let you live peacefully? He will never, mark my words. Giving up on Darshan and your career will be your life time regrets. He will never change, he and cruelty are best friends”. “What can I even do? Do you want me to risk Darshan’s dreams for saving our relationship? Should I give him this reward for falling in love with a messed-up girl?”, I said in annoyance. “Do you want to tell him everything? Maybe, you both can find a way together”, she suggested. “That’s not happening ever. No way! If he finds out about this fuss, he will do something bad in anger, I fear”, I said in despair. “Bu-“, before she could continue, I cross-spoke, “It should be between me, Dhriti and you. Not even mom should get to know this”, I said. “Alright”, she said. “But Aarohi, there’s a problem”, I licked my lower lip. “What”, she asked. “Actually, there’s a friend of mine, Dhruv, who helped me when Dad put me into these situations and he is getting married day after tomorrow. I will have to go to Mumbai because had he not been with me, I would not have been able to stand strong. I fear what if I and Darshan cross paths”, I asked her with fear. “Mumbai is a big city and Darshan is also busy these days, I don’t think you guys will meet”, she replied. “Oh, are you in touch with him?”, I asked her instantly. “Umm, yeah! He often used to ask me about you after you guys broke up. He told me how he couldn’t digest the fact that you left him and he would always wait for you. He doesn’t believe that you moved on with someone else”, she exclaimed and tears blurred my vision. Why did he need to be so good? When I was the one who left him and hurt him every now and then, how could he still manage to believe on me! Did he read the pain behind my eyes? I prayed to never bump into him again because if he would question me, I would fail to answer. His unshakable trust spoke volumes of the love he had for me. “Make sure you conceal it from him”, I told her fixing my gaze on the marble floor. “Huh, don’t worry. When are you living, anyways?”, she asked me. I looked up at her, “Tomorrow morning”. “Okay. Go and enjoy. Don’t worry about anything. You have not been well since a year so refresh your mood there instead of pondering about the problems”, she told me and I nodded with a smile. “I’ll go now. I owe Dhriti a pizza party because she told me the truth”, she said and we cracked up. 
I didn’t tell Dad that I was going to Mumbai. I told him that I was going to Surat for an office trip. Dhruv was still the same person, he did not change. When I went to his place, he ate my head for the whole day asking about the apparels he should choose. He was bubbled up with excitement for his wedding. I was happy for him because he was marrying his same girlfriend and they both were set off for a new journey, they were fortunate enough as their fate favored them; most of the relationships don’t even reach to the thought of wedding let alone spending the life together. Sometimes even when you love someone with your whole heart, your togetherness is not guaranteed. Some love stories have happy starting and sad ending, you cannot predict the challenges life will throw on you and the sacrifices you will have to make. You endure pain for your love, you bear the burden of distance, you smile with the curves on their lips, you sob when their heart aches, you accept them with flaws and give all of yours to them; that’s the true love and if their happiness resides in you moving out of there life, you do that too. I envied their relationship, they would stay together forever and that reminded me of the dreams I and Darshan had. We promised to stay with each other through thick and thin and I don’t know if people would judge me for leaving him but for his future, I had to choose it. I couldn’t be selfish in love. Had I stayed in his life for more, I would have ended up in becoming his weakness and that was beyond my acceptance. Sometimes distance makes things easier. I left him so that he could move on but for me, there was no chance of finding someone else and giving him the same love which I gave to Darshan, it wasn’t my cup of tea to feel the same for any other guy.