This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

For most of my life, I thought I have a best friend who will always be there whenever I need her, little did I know that after few years when we will be out of touch and she would make utmost use of that to hurt me on my back when we were not even on talking terms.

An experience that has taught me a lot of things- bitter truth about friendship and to whom we confide with our secrets.

Before I start, here are the characters and their name from my excerpt

Best friend- Sanvi

Ex-boyfriend- Akshat

My Fiancée- Ahmar

Common friend- Nidha

Past:

We were good friends in school and in college we were two inseparable souls. We used to do everything together, bunking classes, cat-calling guys and mimicking our teachers and we enjoyed that.

Three years of college life went smooth, then we graduated and moved to different cities. During our college days, I was involved with Akshat, he was my then-boyfriend whom I dated nearly 2.5 years. Sanvi knew everything that was going on in our relationship and most of it was influenced by her e.g. like what to say, what to wear, where to go for a date. Even when I and Akshat broke up I never really got to figure out the reason for the silent separation.

During our final terms he suddenly stopped talking, I went crazy over him bailing out on me but still I respected his decision even though I wanted to know why he broke up and why he never bothered to call me back.

Present-day:

It’s been 4 years now since that incident and I couldn’t care less to dig up my past. I was happy with my current fiancée Ahmar until my so-called college best friend turned up. And that too a Facebook post where she was flaunting her Engagement ring and guess who she was going to marry? My college boyfriend Akshat, whom she used to consider her good friend in those days as I was dating him.

I was shocked and angry at the same time. I didn’t know what to say, if there was a dislike button on Facebook, I would’ve chosen that.

Several thoughts ran through my mind “what went wrong, was she the reason for my break up, did Sanvi know that this was going to happen and why the hell she would marry someone I loved, and she didn’t even tell that she was interested in Akshat in some way that I could’ve understood.”

Beginning of My adventure:

A name popped up from my computer screen corner, it was another of my common friend Nidha, who is sharing the news which I already know. Engagement news of my ex-best friend and ex-boyfriend. She seemed excited to have shared the news, but I wasn’t.

It’s true that I didn’t madly love Akshat but the fact that he disappeared on me, without giving me a reason which I deserved to know has troubled me for nights. And the person (Sanvi) with whom I have shared every good and bad thing about my relationship is now engaged to him, when and how is all I wanted to know.

I traveled to my hometown, took off from office for 2 weeks and lied to my current fiancée about some random things which came up at home and I will be away; All nonsense for this stupid reason for stalking my two exes. It seemed desperate and I was guilty of having lied to my future husband; but does that matter? I say NO, as we humans can go to any limit for quenching the thirst of our curiosity and especially when it involves my ex-boyfriend.

I went to visit Nidha first, met her at a library and she said she didn’t have a clue till the last minute that they both were involved and had decided to get married until she received the engagement invite. This made my doubt stronger that something didn’t seem correct. Nidha was always in touch with both Sanvi and Akshat and never saw them together after college finished neither anywhere on social media.

Sanvi was very fond of sharing her life on social media while I was not, I liked to keep things private. She was so desperate for attention that she would always announce her short-lived relations on Facebook and after months would declare herself “Happily Single, In search of love” bla, bla. And this has led up to her engagement and a girl like her- How come she didn’t choose to post this on Facebook? Their meeting, their romance, their dates, etc.

I stayed low at my house for two days, constantly thinking of a way to reach to Akshat so that I could find out more. And I guess God did answer my prayers, I happened to bounce into him outside of our city’s shopping complex; that was one of the major spots where we used to hang out the most or go to coffee dates during our college days.

When I met Akshat

At first, he didn’t recognize me since I had sunglasses on and a hat because of the hot weather. He was about to walk away when I called out his name slowly “Akshat, don’t you recognize me?” He turned at me with a plain face that didn’t have any expression or shock.

I was confused “why is he looking at me with the emotionless face? What have I done so bad? Does he remember me at all?” I snapped my fingers on his face and he came out of long pause… He said “What are you doing here? Why have you come here?” I expected he would ask how I was doing and how is my office life going etc., but all he asked as if I had done a huge mistake to come to the city.

I answered, “I was here to visit my parents and to run some errands, why are you shocked? As if you didn’t expect me.” He said “I didn’t, and I never wished to. Now excuse me!” He was leaving in a hurry as he got a phone call, pretty sure he got a call from Sanvi. He said something quickly and was rushing towards his car. I stopped him again and asked him to sit with me for 10 mins as I needed to talk.

We walked into the complex and sat in a coffee shop, where we used to hang out earlier. He looked around the coffee shop and stared at our favorite spot where now a young couple is sitting and sipping coffee. For me it was a trip down to memory lane with my college love.

We sat, and he was a bit hesitant and constantly kept looking at his phone. I told Akshat to put it down or put it to silent since I have come a long way to look for answers. He didn’t look surprised since he was anticipating this for a long time. I started off with “Congratulations! You and Sanvi looked adorable in the picture. So! When did this happen?” He seemed prepared for my question and instantly answered, “I don’t owe you an explanation.”

That was rude, I wondered. The waiter came around and served us hot coffee and I started on with my questions. Why did he leave me, and why didn’t he try and contact me? What did I do so wrong that he chose never to see my face? To which Akshat said, he did try to contact me and every time he thought about Ahmar, he stopped. I was a bit lost in all of this, I gasped “Stop! Where the hell did Ahmar come in between all of this? I loved you, not him and it broke my heart when you walked out on me 4 years ago. Don’t you remember any of it, I wasn’t involved with anyone apart from you.”

Akshat’s expression changed from anger to astonishment. He accused me of so many things like “Were you not in love with Ahmar and dating him besides being involved with me in college? I heard so many things about you two going to clubs and he even visited your house a couple of times. And let alone the fact that you are engaged to him now!” He finally stopped and ran out of breath. I offered him water and asked to calm down.

He moved my hand and said “The way you have cheated on me and lied to me for 2 years despite being in a relation, I had least expected it from you since I loved you like anything. When I came to know about all this, I was devastated as I actually saw our future together and you destroyed it all.”

I was lost and about to burst in tears, I was feeling foolish inside that for this silly misunderstanding he pushed me away from himself and didn’t even try to clarify everything.

My thoughts went into flashback, 4 years ago…….

Who was Ahmar and How was I connected to him during college?

Ahmar was my senior and my brother’s classmate. He used to come to my house to meet my brother as they were together on the football team and science partners. He was a brilliant student and sometimes I too made use of his academics, in college tests. Not many knew that Ahmar visited my house, it’s just that I didn’t like everyone to know about my family or my life.

Only one person knew from my group and that was Sanvi. I trusted her with this and I knew she wouldn’t tell this to anyone. Sanvi was the only one who knew everything about me, be it my family, my love life, etc. I told Akshat the same thing that how was I related to Ahmar.

Apart from an acquaintance, he wasn’t anything more to me. He had developed a liking for Sanvi since my college days, even when he used to come to my house he looked for opportunities to speak to me about her, but I have always been avoiding him since I didn’t want my brother to find this out. Sanvi knew that Ahmar admired her and was serious about her. He even planned to propose her after we had finished college but due to a misunderstanding, he stopped pursuing her.

I remember telling Sanvi all of it and she advised to not tell this to anyone and that she would manage to stop Ahmar as she didn’t like him. And surprisingly after two weeks, Akshat split up with me and things turned uglier between us since then.

I was a good friend to Ahmar, he is a very good man, and back then he said he loved Sanvi more than his life and would take care of her. He was interested in marrying her, so I helped him to get close to Sanvi. She didn’t know any of it that I was helping Ahmar all the way through to pursue her, I shared her number with him and even gave ideas to propose Sanvi so Ahmar could arrange all of it. We never met in the college premises as this was kept a secret, so we decided to meet at coffee shops or parks so that we could work on ideas. We became good friends along the way of helping him.

When the Real problem began……

On our farewell day, I and Sanvi arrived together. I was looking for Akshat and he was nowhere to be seen. After the party ended, I searched for Sanvi to leave the venue when I heard someone crying. She had her kohl smudged and was weeping. I ran to her and hugged her to make her comfortable and to my horror, she confided that some guy from our class tried to force himself on her when Ahmar was passing by he did nothing to stop the guy until she pushed him and left the spot. I gave her the benefit of doubt as I knew deep down Ahmar was a good person and he was protective about Sanvi.

Later I clarified this with Ahmar and he didn’t utter a word about it, he was just silent, and he vowed to never pursue Sanvi after that, he went on to say she is a stranger to him. I tried to convince him to speak out or to share this why the sudden change of feelings and what made him hate Sanvi so much, he keeps numb about that incident to this day.

Slowly years passed by and we all got caught up in our lives, I became distant with Sanvi as she moved to a different city for work. Akshat walked out on me two weeks after our college farewell and Ahmar remained a good friend to me. Then we became close as he was understanding, and he proposed recently after a year of courtship. I loved his good qualities and I have seen him how he adored Sanvi and so I gave in and accepted his proposal since Akshat was no more a part of my life.

Present-day:

Had I known somebody was using my softness to turn my people against me, I would’ve stopped right there.

I told everything to Akshat and explained to him what happened between me and Ahmar and how we came together. He was devastated and shocked to the core. He didn’t say a word; our coffees went cold and none of us had a sip of it. He held my hand and a tear rolled down through his cheek.

I too was emotional, and it felt as if I was still at that moment which I spent 4 years ago, sitting in the same coffee shop and holding hands with my love. Gone are the days when we used to mean everything for each other. He called me slowly and said “Where are you lost? Why didn’t you tell me all this before, I wasted 4 years of my life misunderstanding each other and killing the beautiful relation we had which could’ve bloomed into a stronger foundation.”

I said “You were the one who walked out on me and never bothered to call me back, I waited and waited but your call never came. Eventually, I had to move on with a person whom I could never love as I have loved you.” He was upset and didn’t let go of my hand all this while.

The traitor is Revealed…….

Akshat held my hand and started off narrating his side of the story, which was about to blow up my whole world and would’ve shaken the foundation of friendship.

He said from day one since he met me he was infatuated and had developed strong feelings for me. And I felt the same attraction as his. He and I were meant for each other and that one person whom he could always trust regarding our relation was Sanvi, my best friend. He knew she would care for me in his absence and whenever I was not reachable he would call her and ask my whereabouts….

One fine day he called her asking why my phone was not reachable, she said I was out with a friend. She didn’t say who it was and Akshat knew I wouldn’t go out with anyone else apart from Sanvi. He didn’t bother much and left it at that. Another day she called him up to start a general conversation, and he asked her about me, to which she sounded a bit annoyed and said “Why are you always concerned about her presence? Why can’t you talk to me for a minute? I know you care about her, but I am your friend too, can we not be more than this?” Akshat got startled and he took it lightly and ignored her.

She kept on trying on several occasions to talk with Akshat alone when I was not around, as I had separate subjects and Sanvi shared common classes with Akshat. She found instances to sit beside him in all the classes and brought a lunch box for him. She never shared her lunch with me saying she ate it before lunch started.

Akshat started getting doubtful and he slowly started ignoring her, and he knew how much close I was to Sanvi, so I couldn’t have tolerated anything that he spoke against her. I now recollected, he did try to ask me something about Sanvi….” Have you ever noticed how much she is friendly to me and she is always concerned? Doesn’t this bother you?” I laughed at him and said, “Her taste is higher than you in boys she wouldn’t settle for someone whom I love, she would never do that to me.”

These words rang in my head, and he went on revealing how she was getting desperate day by day to come closer to him and how she would send flirtatious texts to just get his attention. She would dress up for him, attend marriages and parties and would send her pictures to him. He confronted her one day as he was serious about our relationship and didn’t like Sanvi’s interference with it continuously, he could understand that she was jealous of my growing closeness to Akshat.

He charged her “What is it with you and the interference? Can’t you see I am committed to your best friend; don’t you care about her?” She smirked at him and said “Baby, she is just my ticket to get to you. You are so innocent that you didn’t get why I have been always around you people. Indirectly I have been controlling your relation, what to say, how to say and what to wear etc. that your so-called girlfriend does has been told by me. And all you care is about her when she is dating someone else under your nose.”

Akshat was shocked at this, and he held her arm firmly and yelled: “Stop your nonsense you freak, you are a disgusting person one could ever expect to have like a friend, I love her, and I will always love her so stop lying and blaming my girlfriend.” She pushed his hand and continued her fabricated story “You love her way too much and frankly she doesn’t deserve it. She has been dating Ahmar for months now, they have been meeting at coffee shops and parks, I have seen them with my eyes and I can prove that.” She took out her phone and showed multiple photos of me and Ahmar sitting at the coffee shop, and meeting on roadsides. Akshat couldn’t believe his eyes and he silently left.

SANVI and AKSHAT came together……

Sanvi contacted him and showed up at his place and cried and begged for forgiveness for what she said. Sanvi knew all along that I was meeting Ahmar only for her. She knew about Ahmar’s feelings and that I was meeting him to help him get close to her, and she misused this and fabricated her story to make me the bad person so that she could have Akshat all for herself. Poor Akshat not able to differentiate who was lying and who was honest, so he gave up on looking for answers.

Days went by and Sanvi was able to fill the gap in Akshat’s life where I should have taken that place. He gave in to her softness and she was able to make him hers, and his family loved and admired Sanvi the way she used to care for him. Though somewhere deep down he still missed me and wanted to ask whether I really cheated on him or was Sanvi lying. He kept quiet all these years and slowly had started to forget about us, until NOW……

Her family visited his home, and they all agreed for the engagement date and it took place last week. He was still not happy somewhere he wanted to find answers to his silent questions. In the past couple of years, he has tried many times to let Sanvi speak about me and Ahmar and how this affected his life. He never would have thought in his dreams that he would get engaged to Sanvi. She maintained firm silence and never spoke about me or our friendship because she knew if she would speak she will lose Akshat and she loved him madly.

Present Day……………

When Akshat and I ended our conversation, we realized who has been pulling the strings all along. I opened like I never did before in the past 4 years and confessed to him about all the sleepless nights I have spent missing him in my life. He too was not at peace and I had least expected that he said he too missed me and wanted to find out what had happened. But he was scared that whatever Sanvi said might turn out true and he wouldn’t be able to tolerate the betrayal and the pain that would’ve come along so he left.

We both wanted each other back in our lives but upon seeing each of our engagement rings, we were hit by reality and it dawned on us that we are far away from what we want and maybe it’s too late to ask for it.

It was late in the evening and we decided to head back home. I left, and he too went his way. Going home I wanted to kill Sanvi for ruining our perfect and relationship and destroyed 4 lives. What did she get out of all this? Was she at peace after getting to be with Akshat, despite knowing he still has feelings for me? I called Akshat that night and decided to confront Sanvi. The next day I called Ahmar and confronted him on the night of our farewell, which changed four of our lives. I asked as to what really happened that he didn’t want to talk about Sanvi after that incident.

Ahmar narrates his story:

Ahmar started off “I got a call on my phone and it was Sanvi, she asked me to meet in front of the college library and that she was wearing a Red saree which happened to be my favorite color. I was returning from the office that day and so went to college to meet her. She called me again and wanted to know where I was, I just reached, and she was weeping. I was tensed, and I tried offering her water and she threw the bottle from my hand and came closer to me.”

Sanvi whispered in my ears, “Do you desire me? Do you want to marry me?” I was nervous that how did she know all this and nobody apart from you knew this. She continued “You moron, you coward, meeting my best friend behind my back to win me over without my consent. How dare you? Do you even know my standard? I wouldn’t even touch you, let alone my foot. I love Akshat and I will only let him touch me, I will spend the rest of my life with him. Now you listen to me, if you EVER try to meet my best friend to discuss about me or even show your face around us, I swear I will accuse of molesting me and you would never be able to show your face to anyone.”

My Narration continues………….

Ahmar said he was disgusted on Sanvi’s mentality and desperateness. The girl whom he thought to be simple and down to earth had this evil face which was unveiled to him before she could do more damage. So, he left and didn’t mention anything about her to me. He was embarrassed about how low she can stoop for her mean intentions that she is even ready to hurt her best friend. I was shocked and sad that my best friend whom I treated no less my own sister has been pushing people I love away from my life and I didn’t even understand it. The next day I packed my bags and went back to my city and joined the office. I met Ahmar and told him everything about meeting with Akshat and he was disappointed that why I had to lie in the first place.

Akshat went to meet Sanvi in her city and didn’t let her guess the reason for his surprise visit. She was preparing for their wedding which was set to happen a month from now. Akshat called me and wanted to know what I will do with Ahmar and my relation. I hadn’t yet decided on what to do as I was still in a state of shock. I wanted to meet Sanvi personally and teach her a lesson.

I sat with Ahmar and spoke about my situation, he too sounded confused and he revealed that he was just marrying me as a good friend, sort of compromise for a good partner but he never really felt for me (which was the same with me). I too confessed that I was still in love with Akshat and that I was doubtful about our future together (mine and Ahmar’s future) as we both didn’t feel our bond was strong.

You Get Served What You Deserve

We both decided to part ways and thought of conveying the same to our family. We were prepping up mentally to tell each of our parents about our decision but somehow couldn’t bring ourselves to tell this. Days went by and I and Ahmar stopped texting and calling and slowly withdrew from each other.

Akshat was with Sanvi at her apartment and she was happy that before wedding he came to help her with the shopping and arrangements. He dropped her to the office and while she was gone, he used to call me, and we spoke for hours. One day she came back early from the office and saw Akshat speaking to me. They had a fight and Sanvi somehow sensed that something was not right with him. She tried every possible way to make Akshat speak on what was wrong and why was he getting annoyed with her, he didn’t say anything. That night Sanvi slept without having dinner.

Next morning when she woke up, she found a note on her side table, it read:

“Dear Sanvi,
I know you love me a lot and would never want to hurt me. You’ve always cared about me more than anyone, even my ex-girlfriend- the only girl I loved. You made sure that I stay away from her and you managed to keep me away for four years.

Did you find peace with what you’ve done, with having me by your side? Did you not think about the consequence that it will have on four of our lives which you destroyed to fulfill your selfish means? I hope you are happy now. I have lost four years of my life and the person I love to someone else because of you. You don’t even deserve my hatred. May you have a happy life ahead and stay ALONE for the rest of your life. May you LONG for LOVE like I did. “
― Akshat

Sanvi was numb, and the letter fell from her hand. She couldn’t hear anything suddenly and was seeing everything blurry. She stood there for minutes before she could no longer feel her feet or hands. She loved Akshat more than her life and couldn’t bear to see him disappear on her as he did on me. It gave her chills thinking about how I had felt when Akshat left me unanswered, and how happy she was knowing the reason and watch me suffer every minute, every day for his unanswered separation and heartbreak.

She couldn’t see herself in my place and wanted to tell Akshat that she did all this because she loved him, but it was too late. All she could see in the letter was he cursed her of longing for love like he did, and he didn’t even think her worthy of his hatred. How much he demeaned her and thoughtless about her existence!

She slowly walked towards her balcony with the letter in her hand and there was complete silence. She looked at the dawn and with the first rays of sun touching her skin, she jumped from her balcony.

Two days later……

Akshat sent me a text saying he would meet me near the airport and that I should come and pick him up since he left Sanvi and has sworn on his life of never meeting her. I woke up and saw the text and didn’t know what to reply to. The first thing which I noticed was the photo frame beside my bed, me and Ahmar on our engagement day. We seemed happy and full of respect for each other, ready to begin a new life.

I thought about Ahmar, of how supportive he has been in the last couple of years when Akshat walked out of my life, stamping on my dreams and a broken heart. Ahmar mended my broken heart piece by piece and I too did the same for him since he too loved Sanvi and she disrespected him in ways he could’ve never imagined.

Akshat fled the scene like a coward and left me helpless with my broken heart but Ahmar was there all along through my pain and tears till getting my life back.

We both were there for each other, and now that Akshat wanted to be with me after leaving Sanvi, I couldn’t do the same with Ahmar and leave him stranded in the middle of nowhere. My conscience didn’t allow that, I deleted Akshat’s number and blocked him.

Though in the long run, I know in my heart that over time our wounds will heal, and we will fall in love together.

I texted Ahmar Good Morning and didn’t leave for the airport. Meanwhile, Akshat waited at the airport for hours, but the girl he was expecting……never showed up.

In the end, we get served what we deserve. Many people will cross our path but to decide who to stay and who to leave, we should leave that on Destiny.

Xxxx THE END xxxX