Amaranthine Hope Part 8 P.18 (Jun 5) - Page 8

"Neil, stop crying. Tell me what happened!!" Dimpy spoke, as she held onto me.

"She was lying this whole time Dimpy. The whole time! Even after knowing how hurt I felt! How could she do this to me Dimpy? How could she?" I said in between my sobs. I felt almost defeated. I was taken aback to a similar moment in time several years; I shrugged out of the hug. I wasn't going to let her, Ragini Patel, affect me anymore. I was done with her chapter now, and, this time, for forever. It was time I move on, for real.

I won't leave and let her off easy. No. She's going to go through all that I went through! But even worse. I will actually move on.

I was determined to hurt her the way she hurt me. All those years ago, when she accused me of doing something I hadn't, I felt weak and helpless. I did now as well, but I was a changed man. Wiping away my tears with my hands, I let out a small smile. Having lived through so much already, there was nothing worse that could happen anyway.

Just then, Nivedita joined me in the kitchen.

"Do you want me to pack...," but I interrupted her. "I'm not going anywhere Nivedita. We are getting engaged this week," I told her.

"But Neil," I heard Dimpy say in the background. I didn't wait for her to finish. I knew what I had to do.

-

"Dimpy!!!" Karan screamed into the phone. "Come here in Ragini's room. Right now!!!"

Dimpy rushed to the room, to witness Ragini in tears and a smiling Karan.

"Karan, why are you smiling? And why is she crying? What's going on??" she questioned.

Ragini walked to her slowly, and took her hands in hers.

"I'm... I'm soo sorry Dimpy!" Ragini finally voiced herself as she took Dimpy in a hug. "I don't know how I could be that stupid to break our relationship because of another broken one. You guys were my friends even before Nachiket and I got together. I had no right to do so, and I'm really so sorry!"

Dimpy smiled through her tears, happy that Ragini had finally accepted their friendship whole-heartedly. It was true, she was heart-broken when she found out that Nachiket and Ragini had decided to split up, but what hurt her even more was when Ragini disappeared from their lives without even as much as a goodbye. She was hurt as a friend, but Karan... He felt almost betrayed. She had seen him miss Ragini and cry in her memories. She had almost felt jealous of the bond between them at a point in time. Before Karan had proposed to her at least. He was not ready to believe that Ragini had chosen to bid adieu to their friendship, just because he was also close with her hus-... No, ex-husband.

But now, now things were finally going the way they should have, even then. She hadn't forgotten how angry she was with Ragini for being so immature.

That being said, who knew how important friendship was for the four of them better than Dimpy. She chose to forgive and forget. She had seen too much, been through too much to carry that hurt and pain along with her.

"It's okay Ragini. Forget about the past! We have a long life in front of us to think about. The four...," she paused before continuing. "Well at least the three of us," she added on dejectedly.

"The four of us Dimpy!" Ragini insisted, with a teary smile.

Dimpy looked to Karan, who in response flashed a smirk that reminded her of their college days when he would convince her for one of his silly plans. She returned his smile with a hopeful one, as Karan came and engulfed his two special ladies in a big hug.

-

"You know Ragini, he's planning to get eng...," but before Dimpy could even finish her sentence, we saw Nachiket storming into my room with an unusually big smile.

"Oh good, you are all here. I'll just tell you together then."

"Tell us what?" I asked.

He shot me a pointed look, but I didn't back away either, maintaining our eye contact.

"I'm officially inviting you to my engagement with Nivedita," he said with exuberance, as he snaked his arm around Nivedita's waist who was standing beside him.

I smiled back at him, "Oh we will definitely be there Nachiket."

"Actually it's Neil," the woman beside him spoke.

"The man I know is Nachiket, not Neil. But don't worry, you'll soon realize that. Most likely...," I took a pause and stepped right in front of Nachiket. "... before your marriage," I finished off before walking away.

I was confident that I'd be able bring back my Nachiket. Because after all these years, one thing I've realized is that I will never be able to move on. And now, I know he won't either.

So Mr. Nachiket Khanna, it's on.