19 Just Because Of You

"There was nothing for me to say. I only had to see things getting worse."

"What had happened?"

"My parents were furious to know that I had been lying to them for past 3 years. As I was there dearest child, they never expected me to do this. Not only that, for you I used bunk my lectures to visit your hostel; not study at all; I used to fail in easiest of subjects. I neglected everything for you. But my poorest performance was unbearable for them. You don't even know these things. I was ready to give up everything for you. Even my own home. You remember I told you that my mom has high blood pressure?"

"Yes."

"When I failed in my first year degree, she wasn't able to bear that pain and she suffered a heart attack die to high BP."

"WHAT?"

"Yes. I lost my mind and tried to give upon my life. This only added tensions on my dad. We belong to a middle class family. To pay for the expenses of hospital and my mom's medicines, was difficult for my dad as he was the only one who was the working person in our family. Therefore I had to choose between two options. One was to start working and studying at the same time; and other was to stop studying and start to take care of the whole family and our house. I had to choose the second one because at that time and even today, education matters the most while taking up jobs. And I had failed miserably. I had to sit at home for 2 years. Till then my dad saved money to continue my studies. But this doesn't means that he forgave me. I had to make him and my mom to trust me again. This took me 5 years. And to complete my studies, I took 8 years. The only reason I started working so late was I had to take a 2 year break. It only made things difficult for me. To start something again after a long break is never easy. I won't compare myself to you. But I definitely didn't had less than you to suffer. I've seen hard times. There were times where we had nothing to eat. I starved, I cried, I fell, I broke, I suffered, I died a hundred times..... just because of you Rishi. You were the only reason."

Aliya broke down. She was crying. Rishi couldn't see her like this. He offered her water. She drank some. Rishi also had tears in his eyes. But to make Aliya calm down he raised his hand to touch her head. But as soon as Aliya saw his hand coming towards her she shouted

"DON'T TOUCH ME. I have suffered a lot because of you. But now I won't allow anyone to do what you did to me. NOT EVEN YOU."

"I've changed. I'm not the one whom you had met in the past. I'm not the same anymore."

Poor Rishi continued to plead Aliya but Aliya quickly got out of that cabin. She was feeling suffocated with him. As no one except guards were there in the office, Aliya could wipe her tears and run back to her home without letting anyone see it. Rishi was left alone in the office. He was helpless. This incident reminded him of the day when they broke up. The things he did in the past were returning to him. Because as we say,' It's all Karma.'

_____________________________________________

9 PM

Aliya's home

Anushka was eagerly waiting for Aliya. She heard someone knocking on the door non-stop. As soon as she opened the door, Aliya pounced on her crying. With great difficulties Anushka somehow managed to get Aliya inside the bedroom. She made her sit on the bed and gave some water to her. Aliya was still crying unstoppably. Anushka calmed her down and patted her back softly. She calmly asked

"What's the matter?"

Aliya narrated everything. After hearing carefully, Anushka had mixed feelings. She didn't knew if she had to be angry or have pity on Rishi. She said

"Aliya, don't stress over this incident. You just had a conversation with him. In other words, it was just a recall of your past."

"But did I answered him correctly?"

"Of course you did. Rishi may have changed but we can't guarantee the future. If you would have forgiven him, he would have again taken advantage of you. So you did right."

Anushka hugged her tightly and then went to prepare dinner. Aliya freshened up. After some time they both were having dinner.

"Anu, can you tell me the reason why did you hid such a great news from me?"

"Which news?"

"Don't act smart."

"Okay, okay. Actually I wanted to give you a surprise. And you called me here at the right time. So I took this as an opportunity. But when I heard about Rishi, I thought that if I shocked Rishi by my surprise; it would be a great pleasure for you and me both to see his face. By the way, did you notice how the colour of his face turned pale?"

"Yeah, I noticed. I'm satisfied with your excuse. By the way, at what time are you leaving tomorrow?"

"Are you so fed up of me that you want me to return ASAP?"

Both the ladies were laughing out loud. They soon finsihed their dinner and went to sleep. But Anushka was still awake

'Rishi, I won't let you to even touch Aliya. I'm her best friend. And I also won't let her suffer any more. She has already faced the dark side of her life. It is a pain for me to see her like this. To stop you from doing such things, I think I should meet you tomorrow.'