Bonus Chapter 3
(Short Story)
name: Sweetheart

Characters:

- Kaira
[ Daughter of Mukti and Zubin ]

- Ishaan
[ Son of Aliya & Dhruv ]

- Krishh
[ To those who don't remember him, he's Myra's senior. He played a part in Myra-Abeer's story, and is one of the major characters of this story. ]

- Nisha
[ New Character. Kaira's old friend from Interior Designing. ]

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K A I R A

I stared at the waves of the ocean crashing against the black rocks on bandstand as I took a sip of the starbucks' coffee in my right hand.

A hundred thoughts ran across my mind at the same time, but all of them centred just around one thing.

Heart break.

I believe everyone has their one problems in life. Never judge someone until you're in their shoes.

In case of Myra, it was obvious. The way Abeer affected her. His absence made her mad, but his presence made her even crazier. And I knew Abeer better than the others after he left to London. He always had a thing for Myra too. The way he used to flinch when I used to mention about Krishh to him, the way he used to hide how desperate he was to meet her everytime he came to India. They were pretty much meant to be.

But for Ruhaana, who knew... she and Aarav? Ruhaana has always been really good at hiding what she feels, just like me. She never even hinted in all these years that she and Aarav has a thing or if she still felt anything for him. And in a way, Aarav liked her just as much.

And I was the reason they suffered.

I mean, I know what you're thinking. At the end, if they're together, then what they've been through doesn't matter and blah blah blah... which is right to a lot of extent.

It didn't matter to them.

But it did matter to me.

Because I played a key role in their story.

They're best friends or going on dates or whatever.

But where am I in this?

No where. Absolutely no where.

Not that I mind. They're my best friends and I have to be happy for them.

But that doesn't change the fact that they both used me. Not intentionally, but they did. Aarav said he likes me just to hide his feelings for Ruhaana from her. It wasn't his fault that I heard. Ruhaana pushed Aarav towards me to ignore what she felt for him. It wasn't her fault that I churned up feelings towards him too.

I'm not blaming them. At all.

All I'm saying is, in all this, I started developing something for Aarav. And now I feel like a fool.

I am embarrassed for a lot of obvious reasons. And I hate how I let my heart fall again.

I like him.

And I am happy for both of them. Very happy. Atleast they finally found the peace they were looking for.

But it leaves me with two things.

First, guilt. Guilt for fucking up Ruhaana. She was always there for all of us. And she was right. I became so self indulged that I forgot she was there too. Because of me, she felt so ignored. She felt alone. And then because of me, she gave up on her feelings for Aarav.

Second, unrequited, unrequited feelings for Aarav. They are slight, but they're there.

And now, the guilt and the unrequited feelings are fucking me up.

It's been a month since I spoke to Ruhaana. Or to Aarav. Or to Myra. Or Abeer. Or Ishaan. I distanced myself from them.

Aarav tried calling me for a long time, maybe he felt guilty about what happened between us. I left him a message saying it wasn't us, I just needed time alone. He left calling me after that. He gave up.

I haven't heard from anyone else.

And I feel alone. I feel lonely, unsocial. But then I remind myself that I deserve this.

Although I know I don't deserve this, I keep reminding myself that I deserve this. This was my punishment.

For what? I don't know.

Maybe for what happened all those years back.

For what happened with Karan.

When I was in ninth grade, Karan was new to the school. He was rich, handsome, popular, and the most perfect image of a wattpad bad boy. And I fell for him.

And he harassed me.

Even after I said no, he stripped me down.

Even after I begged him to leave me, I felt his touch on my skin.

I cried. He laughed.

Even today, when I close my eyes and think of him, I can feel his touch on my arms and my stomach, his lips on my skin, his laugh, that smirk, my pleads, that dark night, a drug party, that proud feeling of being a sixteen year old girl and having the most popular boy in School as your boyfriend. He wanted sex. I definitely did not.

And I got punished for saying no.

I was almost naked, crying, begging him to leave me. Being unable to move with all the drugs he mixed in my mocktail.

I just wonder what would have happened if Krishh hadn't entered the room that day.

Krishh, yes Myra's senior.

He was Karan's elder cousin brother. The party was at his place.

It was he who entered he room. Who called my Dad. Who stood with me in the police case. Who became the witness even after his family not to. They said 'blood is thicker than water'. He said 'a girl's self respect is thick than blood'.

But I lost a part of me that day.

I was ashamed, to even meet my own eye in the mirror. I changed drastically.

No one knows about this incident except my parents and Krishh and Karan's family. And I wanted it that way. I did not want anyone to know, not Cabir uncle, or Aryamman uncle or Manik uncle or anyone else. Not even my own friends.

I lost a big part of me. My own self respect.

I tried reminding myself it wasn't my fault.

And after that incident, it's been an old habit of mine. To keep punishing myself in situations I don't deserve to be punished.

Krishh and I became strangers after that, I thanked him, he offered to be friends but I could see it straight in his eyes- sympathy for what his brother did to me. I hated pity. I said no. I wanted us to be strangers. I said I didn't want anything around me that reminded me of Karan. And he said he understood.

But I lost a lot that day. A new me rose after that incident, a me I wasn't very fond of. I was bolder, more extrovert. My parents didn't tell me anything, but I knew deep down, they miss the me that cared out loud and was shy and spread love.

This me was different.

And I hated that.

I tried everything I could to be happy again, smile more, to not change.

But everything in my life changed for the worse.

I wiped a small tear from my left eye before it could escape.

Even today, whenever I think of this incident, I feel like crying my heart out.

I remind myself everyday that I am strong, strong enough to overcome it, but truth being said, I never can be.

I got up from the seaface, walking back towards home.

But that's not all.

There's one more person I have to apologise too.

And no that's not Ruhaana.

It's Ishaan.

Ishaan had a thing for Ruhaana when we were kids. Even when he left for London. And they were pretty close.

I told him she liked him back.

He confronted her.

She told him no.

She rejected him, told him she has a thing for Aarav instead.

They became awkward.

Barely spoke after that.

He never held it against me, dismissed it saying he knew I was just thinking to help him.

When they came back, I made sure Ishaan and Ruhaana talk it out. I told her it was my fault and I was the one who told Ishaan that she liked him.

But that's not it.

Ishaan thought I was helping him. Ruhaana knew me better than that. She knew that I knew she didn't like Ishaan. She wanted to know why I did that.

I stood back at the sea face, left my coffee aside.

The truth of my life is, I was jealous. I felt inferior. I felt jealous of what Ruhaana and Ishaan had. I was jealous of what he felt for her. I was jealous of everything she had, good looks, Ishaan's friendship.

I was jealous of the love she had.

Maybe this is why when I got to know Aarav likes me, my desperate heart craved for love. And I fell for him.

But back to my mistake, I was jealous of Ruhaana. She and Myra were best friends. She was pretty. She had her life sorted. Ishaan liked her so much. Everyone loved her.

I didn't know at that time that she's going through so much too.

I hate when people judge me or the carelessness behind my smile yet that's exactly what I did. I judged Ruhaana. I spoilt so many relations in her life.

I felt responsible for everything wrong in her life.

And for the first time, I could feel how vulnerable she was. She felt ignored. She wasn't happy too. She was just better at hiding what she feels.

I love her. But the jealousy... it's unexplainable. It's like when you have a little sibling, you love hem no matter what, but you're often jealous of how your parents give them more attention, or how they're the centre of everyone's attraction.

That's what happened with me.

And I regret everything so much.

As I stood on the bandstand, lost in my thoughts, the strong breeze took me by surprise and the coffee dropped from my hand.

I tried catching it midway and it was almost in my hand when another hand gripped my hand and pulled me down from the raised surface. I almost fell.

"I saved your life for the second time," I heard a familiar voice.

"I was saving my coffee, not commiting suicide asshole," I turned towards him.

I knew him. Krishh Oberoi.

"And now my coffe's gone," I hissed, looking at the coffee that was draining into the sea. Do you have any idea how much I love my Starbucks?

"Shit!" He cussed.

"Yeah... shit," I agreed.

"Let me.... let me buy you another coffee?" He asked sheepishly, rubbing his hand on the back of his head.

"No thanks," I said, "You've already done enough for me."

Giving him a small smile, I walked away.

"C'mon Kaira... one coffee. That's all I'm asking," he pleaded, "And that too to make up for the lost one. It's not like I'm asking you for a date or anything. Just take the coffee and free me of the guilt."

I turned to face him, irritated.

"I don't want your coffee. I've got money to buy another one. Chill!" I said.

"And I've got money to buy the entire Starbucks. So what? I'm just asking youfor a coffee. Plain, simple, coffee," He asked.

It wasn't really a big deal, was it?

"Okay!" I said in a bored tone, "But not right now. I've got work to do."

"I'll pick you up in an hour?" He asked.

I gave him a pointed look.

"Guess 7 it is," he smirked before walking away.

Argh. I hate boys so much.

But right now, I had something to do.

Apologise to Ishaan.

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