Hamesha, Yours!

-19-

-Mumbai-Goa-

Nandini looked towards a steaming car that crashed into the tree besides her.

"And you royally forgot the only life lesson she gave you, dumby!" a voice hissed and banged out of the door and harshly opened his door too.

"Oblige yourself to come out too. You are out of this seat. You found love and pain and friends but, mujhe aapni zinadagi jinni hi boss! I don't wanna die in a stupid car crash that also because of you." a man shouted. "And get those tears out and when you are done. Chai awaits you."

"And so does she." Nandini lip-read a familiar mumbled.The familiarity clenched her insides. The dancing setting-sun blinded her from recognition but the feeling of closeness and warmth tingled around.

"Cry on." a voice barked and slammed the door shut appearing from the blinding sunshine.

Her eyes didn't leave the tall figure with the trade-mark messy hair, bushy brows and a small notorious eyes.

"Aryaman", she gasped, freezing inside her car. The walls seemed to be collapse on her. The air grew tighter even though fresh breezes made it through the slightly rolled-down windows.

"Nandini Murthy, for once see the light. Come out of it. Think- with sanity! Don't pull him back from where I brought him. Not for yourself, but at least for him- get yourself out of this reverie. It's fucking dream! Wake up, princess!" Aryaman's squinted eyes, furrowed bushy brows, tear stained baggy face flashed in front.

"Fine. Think about. Think about it very carefully! Murthy, I will not take you home this time. This time, you are your star." Abhi's voice hammered her head.

"It's a fucking dream! Wake up, princess!"

"Remember, you are a supporting character in someone else's movie, but also the star of your own" Of all, Abhimanyu's voice hammered into her head, throbbing it to sanity.

"We came here- to start over, not fall back. Nandini Murthy, we came here to build memories, a new life, to call it a day off from those emotional ties; not to be the coward souls we were."

"I.. I became him, Abhi. I utterly became him. I... I.. I'm sorry!" her persisted.

"I don't know your story Nandini! I don't know him. But, I only know one thing, we weren't meant to be what you wrote!"

"I know and I'm sorry! I'm sorry I became him, lathered in the same mistakes as him!"

"No. No. No. No." she breathed deeply, "No, Murthy, focus. Focus, please. They are here might be for someone else. There is much more in their life than you, right? Business, job, trip! Trip- they love trips. They aren't here for you, they understand why you did what you did!" she tried explaining herself.

"I know and I'm sorry! I'm sorry I became him, lathered in the same mistakes as him!"

Her own voice dreaded her, accusing her and she whimpered,

"Accept it. That's what he said. You became him. You ran away?" she broke out aloud as if questioning herself whether there was still a part of her stuck with her two friends. Her breaths even but short, calmed her nerves a bit and she closed her eyes.

"I ran away for them." she explained herself.

"Then didn't he also not stay quiet for you?" she questioned back.

"That's not a comparison." she cringed to herself and shook her head to clear her thoughts. It wasn't a comparison. That was it to it. She ran away- yes, but for someone's betterment. That run may be a hint of cowardliness, as Navya said, but then the majority was also to not let them get dragged along with her in her miseries. It wasn't fair to them or to her. What he did was out of lack of trust and may be love. Love wasn't her department. It was clear by the mere happenstances around her. Whoever she loved would be signing them off to death as a trade-off -- a great deal, indeed if sarcasm was to prevail only in this world. And since that wasn't it, with sarcasm also dwell antipathy, angst and apprehension, she couldn't call a truce between death, her, and love. So, letting-it-be was the only way to go.