As soon as she hung up the phone, she received a text from him: Meet me in one hour at the same temple we used to visit.
Aarti felt slightly nostalgic when he said that he wanted to meet her at the temple. They had shared many good memories at the temple, from chalking each other's names on the walls to praying for a good future together. She took a deep breath and thought about her hundred percent to avoid thinking about him. But suddenly, she felt like telling Prashant about her achievement. He had been her best friend, and she had nobody else to share it with. She knew that her and Prashant were not at that level anymore, and it saddened her to think that in all of this, she had lost her best friend.
An hour later, she approached the temple nervously. She knew why she was here. Aarti had to tell him that the past was the past and she had forgiven him, but hadn't forgotten it. She had to let him know that she moved on, and that she was sorry if she ever upset him.
She spotted him right away and she sprinted in his direction. She stopped right in front of him, clutching her chest in order to catch her breath.
Then she made a huge mistake. She looked him directly in the eye and her heart rolled over and she felt every emotion she possibly could. She felt immense love and pain for the man who stood before her right now.
She thought she was over him... but now she saw him. She believed she had moved on until she remembered why she was supposed to move on in the first place. Her lips quivered and her eyes got teary against her will. She hated herself right now. Why couldn't she stay strong?
"P - Prashant," she whispered, barely managing to get his name out.
She felt shaky and light. She thought she could just topple over and fall... maybe he would catch her if she did that? She brushed the thought aside. She was here for a reason. What was the reason again? Oh right... to tell him how much she missed -- how much she was better off without him.
"Aarti," he said politely, "It's nice to see you."
Her name on his lips made it even harder for her.
"Why - why did you want to see me?" she said with difficulty.
"I really needed to talk to you. I'm so sorry if I troubled you. You look really nice by the way," he told her, smiling at her.
She started to smile, but even her smile trembled. He had caused her so much pain, but despite that, she had been so happy with him. How was it possible that the person who made you live was the same person who took your life away?
"Thanks," she whispered.
She looked away from him, trying to regain her confidence. Aarti what's wrong with you? You're over him! Tell him! Do what you came here to do, she urged herself.
"I - I know why you called me here," she told him, looking at a spot behind him. She couldn't look at him while she did this.
"Really?" he asked, sounding surprised.
"Uh - huh," she replied.
Then she made the same mistake of looking him in the eye and she couldn't stop herself from doing what she tried to hold back from doing.
"I love you a lot Prashant," she whispered, feeling a strong stabbing sensation inside her chest with every word she spluttered. "I always wanted you, only you. I still want you. Please come back to me... please Prashant. I don't care about what happened between us. Trust me Prashant. Trust us. Have faith in my love, come back to me Prashant, I love you."
Aarti are you crazy? What's wrong with you? He hurt you, you have someone else, you have Yash, she silently shouted at herself. Yash... oh my God Yash!
She looked away from him and forced herself to smirk. In fact she laughed coldly. "If you thought I came here to say that, to beg you to take me back, then you were wrong Prashant. I'm not a toy you can use whenever you want and then throw away when a better one comes along. Oh no Prashant, you've got it all wrong. I would never come back to you!"
She chanced a glance at him and noticed pain in his eyes. He looked very, very hurt, and Aarti suddenly felt guilty for making it meaner than she could have made it sound.
"I'm sorry Aarti," he apologized, "I know I've hurt you. I can't stop hating myself for the way I treated you. I'm so sorry... I felt bad from the day it ended between us, but I didn't have the guts to face you, I didn't have the guts to apologize. I haven't seen her since that day, I swear I haven't."
Aarti's mouth nearly dropped open. He hadn't? She didn't know whether to believe him or not. She forced herself to remember that she shouldn't even care if he was telling the truth or not, because he meant nothing to her now. Nothing.
"But you ignored my calls and texts," she told him firmly, finding it hard to trust him right now.
"How could I answer them Aarti? I hurt you. I never meant to hurt you though... I met Nida and then I got carried away. I won't try to justify what I did, nor am I asking you to come back to me, because I don't want you to return either. I'm a monster Aarti."
Aarti felt like reaching out and telling him that he wasn't one, that he had a really nice heart, that she believed him. But she couldn't, because she wasn't sure how much of it was true.
"I called you three months ago because I thought I could finally say all this to you, so we could get a proper closure, but you hung up on me, so I thought you never wanted to see me again. And I told myself I deserved it, because we both know that it's true, you shouldn't want to see me again," he continued.
She crossed her arms and kept quiet.
"I'm sorry. Forgive me if you can," he said again, and turned around to go.
"Prashant... wait," she called out, feeling her heart ache to reach out and touch him. "It's okay. I forgive you. We could... we could be friends, but I'll have a hard time trusting you again. And I can't get back together with you."
She left out the reason why she couldn't get together with him and she didn't know why. Tell him Aarti, she insisted to herself, tell him about Yash. But she couldn't bring herself to.
"That's understandable," he said, smiling at her. "Thanks Aarti. You've removed a huge burden from my shoulders. I'm glad we could be friends."
Aarti genuinely smiled back at him, feeling like a lucky girl. She just got her best friend back, what more could she ask for?
A few hours later, in her hostel, Aarti, sent Yash a text with a huge smile on her face: I'm thinking about you.
He replied: Meet me. Need to talk to you, it's important.
An hour later, she met him at the same park they were at yesterday. It was cloudy and grey outside, and the winds were howling. It seemed like a storm would be arriving at any time.
"Aarti," Yash said, putting his hand on a tree trunk and facing away from her.
"Yash," Aarti said happily, hugging him from behind. "I'm cold."
"Aarti," Yash repeated, removing his hand from the trunk and holding both of her hands to his chest for a moment before he turned around to face her. He held on to her shoulders firmly.
"Really, the shoulders Yash?" Aarti asked playfully, "You're so unromantic!"
He let go of her shoulders and looked away.
"Aarti," he said, fiercely, catching Aarti off guard, "Listen to me!"
She nodded, starting to get worried. She hoped everything was alright. Yash sounded very serious.
He looked away from her.
"I met Arpita. She managed to call off her engagement," he said hesitantly.
Aarti got scared. No way... this couldn't go the way it sounded. No! She squeezed her eyes shut and silently prayed to God that this was not going to go where it seemed like it was heading.
"And?" she asked him fearfully.
"I told her I'll come back to her. I couldn't say no. I'd hurt her if I said no," he confessed.
"You don't care about my feelings? You don't care about how much you hurt me?" she asked, feeling her eyes water. "You don't care about me at all. You don't care. You never did!"
"That isn't all," he pressed on, ignoring her response.
She dreaded what else might be coming.
"I can't lie to you anymore. I've always loved Arpita this whole time. I never - never loved you. Never even liked you for that matter. You - you annoyed me too much. Sorry Aarti. I'm a guy, I got bored. I needed someone for that physical intimacy that I couldn't share with Arpita. Sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you but - I just couldn't lie anymore."
She squeezed her eyes shut and felt tears roll down her cheek. This hurt. This hurt so much. She didn't know how she would manage to survive this. This was too much to bear for her right now.
"Is that it?" she asked shakily.
"No," he said.
Her heart dropped. What else could he want to say to her?
"I know we were technically in a relationship, but our relationship meant nothing to me in front of Arpita. So me and Arpita, we got close physically, and then I realized that... that she's so good. She fulfills my desires better than anybody else. She's such a good kisser, and you - you're nothing compared to her."
Aarti didn't know what to do. She wanted to die on the spot. She wanted to collapse. Why did breathing hurt all of a sudden? Yash cheated on her. Like Prashant. Yash did the same.
"I hate you," Aarti whispered. "I hate you Yash."
"Yeah, go tell that to someone who cares," he said coldly, each word stinging Aarti more painfully than the last.
She wiped her tears away and shrieked, "I HATE YOU YASH!"
He snickered cruelly. "Like I said, tell that to someone who cares."
Thunder roared above them as Aarti yelled at him again. "I trusted you! I gave you my heart, I gave you everything Yash! I gave you everything... you proved you were no different. You proved that all men are the same!"
"At least Prashant learned from his mistake," Yash said coolly, "I'll never be able to leave Arpita. I love her way too much. I hear he hasn't seen Nida for months, he's been pining over you. I've known for a long time, but I didn't want to tell you because then I wouldn't have someone for my physical desires, you know."
Aarti dug her nails into her palm and walked around him to face him, both anger and pain etched clearly on her face. She raised her hand and slapped him with all her might, as hard as she could. He didn't react to it at all.
"Go to hell," she snarled.
Then it started pouring, drenching both of them. She remembered the day he walked her to her hostel. Oh, if only she had never been curious about him, she would never have to face this day.
"At least Prashant gives a damn about my feelings. You're heartless. You have no feelings! You're horrible," she yelled, her pain evident in her voice.
Yash was the true monster. Yash Scindhia was the one who toyed with her heart and then crushed it, leaving it to die. This whole time, she had mistaken Yash to be a sweet guy who taught her calculus. She thought he was good looking, she connected to him. But this whole time, he had an ulterior motive. He wanted to use her and then throw her away.
Her tears were concealed by the rain, so it was impossible to tell whether she was crying.
"At least Prashant cares about me! At least I can trust him enough to not say these horrid things about me. At least he loves me," she said, desperately wanting Prashant here. She wanted to cry, to snuggle up against him and pour her heart out.
But instead she was here in the storm, where the rain washed away every ounce of respect she had for Yash.
"Like I said, I don't care. If you say he cares so much, then why're you trying to explain yourself to me?" Yash said with a final smirk.
Then he turned his back to her and walked away into the darkness of the night. He left a heartbroken Aarti there alone, who was sobbing uncontrollably as she fiddled with her phone, trying to protect it from the rain as she typed the text she desperately needed to send.
Prashant, let's get back together, I can't be without you for another moment... I need you Prashant, she texted him.
END OF PART ONE
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I cannot believe I posted this in like 7 hours of posting the last chapter. I've even made the next promo! I just have to upload it... 😛 The next chapter starts with a leap... you'll get a clearer idea of what's going on in the promo... actually I take that back, you'll probably be more confused than ever after you watch that! 😆 I want to start Part 2 in a new thread so I want to make sure that this topic gets up to 150 pages before that. All of you comment okay? If you don't then I'll throw the tomatoes you threw at me for writing this chapter right back at you! 😡 I'll upload the promo a bit later, so it'll make my life a lot easier to get to 150 pages. 😆
Let me know what you thought of part one... sad to say their university romance is over. 😭
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