Running Away

Chapter 4

Rahul's P.O.V.

Did I really see Avni or was I hallucinating? Did I or did I not just talk to her? She was here, right? I hope it wasn't an illusion. She looked so real and really pretty too. Her innocent little dark-brown eyes, her straight black coloured hair, the wheatish complexion of her skin. It all looked so calming. Oh god, I admit that I missed that face. And her voice, I cannot even begin to explain how long I have waited to hear that sweet, melodious voice of hers.

I leave out a heavy breath.

It felt nice to see and hear her voice but a few questions still continue to haunt my mind. And I can't seem to steer clear those questions. I even had a group of friends with me, but they left when they realised that I wasn't in mood for any company. My attention has been solely focused on Avni. And the unexplainable reason as to why did she show her face if she had nothing to say? Why did she come? Why now? Why after five long years?

The more I think over it, the more frustrated I grow.

"Hey, what's going on? And who was that?" I hear Aryan ask, in a soft concerned tone. He is the only one who stayed back.

I don't look up to face him. My gaze is fixated on the off-white tiles beneath my feet. Just the way it has been for the last forty minutes or so.

Avni has been ruling over my thoughts. I feel disturbed and aggravated by her sudden appearance. She shouldn't have showed up if she didn't have anything to say!

"That was Avni," I mutter distastefully.

If an outsider looks at me right now, they will say that I look like an upset toddler who has been refused for another piece of chocolate. Because that's exactly what my posture depicts at the moment. I am slumped against the sofa, with my arms crossed over my stomach and my head is slightly bent down. My eyebrows are furrowed, and my lips form a tight thin line.

"The girl you drunk talk about?" Aryan asks, confused and unsure.

"Yes. That's her." I confirm.

"Wow." Aryan exclaims lowly. "She's hotter than you describe her, bro!" Aryan states after a few seconds of heavy silence, happily and pats my shoulder repeatedly.

At this, I look up to face him and shoot him a disapproving look. My eyes stay narrowed at him.

The smile on his face disappears and he retrieves his hand from my body. Leave it to Aryan to say the most unlikeliest of things at the worst of times. Though I can't even get angry at him, because I know he always means well. He just doesn't know how to express it properly.

"Right. Sorry about that." He says, composing himself.

And just like that I go back to staring at the floor.

"So...umm... why... was she...umm... here?" He asks, slowly while he properly crafts his next words. Trying to do this best to not say anything inappropriate.

"I don't know. She didn't say." I grumble out.

That is what is bothering me so much. She should have said something more than sorry and that showing up here was a mere mistake.

"Did you have any expectations?" Aryan asks.

His question starts another lane of thoughts in my mind. Was I expecting anything?

I don't know.

Maybe.

Yes?

I mean, I do have some made up scenarios about how our meet would go if we were to meet again someday. Though, all those fictional scenes I had created came nowhere near reality.

My imagination of our little reunion was a little more calm and collected. Where we actually talk things out, answer each other's questions, do our best to understand and then move on together.

And that's definitely not what happened right now. Things blew up. I yelled at her and I know that was inappropriate. I shouldn't have done that. The feeling of hurt cruised through me the moment I saw her. The years of unsaid feelings erupted and I couldn't control myself. She had left without a word. How was I ever to deal with that? Not knowing the reason, never knowing why she left. She never even said goodbye. She simply wasn't there one morning. And when I tried calling her and getting in touch with her, it all failed. She never replied. She never responded. She had done her best to ignore me. Why you may ask? I never got to know the reason. And that made me angry. She left me hanging. No explanation what so ever. She was my best friend and she left me and ignored me. On purpose.

I was deeply pained by her actions.

At the very least, I deserved to know the reason.

But she robbed me of the opportunity too.

I even tried to ask Shelley the reasons. Avni must have told her, they were close, she must have shared something with her. But unfortunately that discreet little lady never opened her mouth. Whenever I would ask her, she would only say one thing, 'When she does contact you, give her the chance of explain.'

That's all I got every time.

That was frustrating too. I wanted answers, I didn't want to wait.

For many days I kept replaying and rewinding all the things that happened between us the few days before she left. And the most I got out of it was that she left because of something I had said when we had the big fight. But I didn't know what part of it she was mad at me for. We had fought about numerous things. And to figure out what upsetted her the most was almost impossible. For most of the part, I don't even remember our fight to its every word. I was just so angry at her that day.

You know, there are times I regret that day so much. I let my anger get the worst of me. I wish I wasn't angry that day. I wished that I had talked like a well groomed person. I wish I remembered every word of the conversation.

At least then I could understand the unsaid reasons.

I did not even stop shouting at her when tears started rolling down her cheeks. I acted like a real asshole. And I never got the chance to redeem myself for treating her so badly.

A treacherous realisation hits me. A sense of deja vu. I had made the same mistake again.

I let my anger get the worst of me and I yelled at her and she ran away. Again.

"Why the hell am I so stupid?!" I cursed myself and groaned out loud.

Why do I always act so relentlessly? How could I make such a mistake again?

I feel like banging my head against a wall for being so dense.

"I need to talk to her." I state.

I have to talk to her. I can't let her slip away again. Now that she had finally contacted me, I can't let her go. I need the closure I never got. I need to know her reason for leaving, at least that would help me move on, even if she decides to leave me again.

"Okay, but how are you going to do that?" Aryan asks.

"I don't know. She just have been long gone by now."

"Where do you think she would go?" He questions. "She must be staying at someone's place. Or maybe not. I think she had like two bags with her or something" He finishes with uncertainty.

She had bags with her. Why would she have bags with her? Why would she come here with her bags? A normal person first drops of their bags where they are staying and then comes to confront the past.

Than it strikes me. She had no place to stay. And that clears out another thing, she must not have gone very far.

"But why did she come here with her bags?" I ask, though I don't expect a reply.

Though I have Aryan with me. So obviously he had to give an answer. He is not the brightest of kids, but he is caring.

"Maybe she was hoping to stay here," He says nonchalantly and walks off in the direction of the kitchen. For what? Don't really want to know, I have other priorities that need attention.

That's it.

This is Avni we are talking about. She is impulsive and she doesn't do problems or anything unpleasant. Now that I think about it, she even looked a little distressed when she showed up. Something must have been wrong with her.

Avni, the girl who did everything to ignore me, out of the blue shows up, wanting to mend relations? I seriously doubt it. Avni isn't the most courageous of persons. She feels immensely conscious when it comes to taking responsibility for something she did wrong. She feels so guilty about her mistakes that she ignores the person she wronged like a plague. She would do her best to ignore, than go apologize. She always feels that the person wouldn't want to talk her again and that they hate her for the things she did. She would rather ignore than face the hatred and disappointment.

I remember, once, Avni had forgotten to wish me on my birthday and after that she ignored me for almost a month.When I finally got the chance to confront her about it she said, "I felt bad for not wishing you on your birthday and then I didn't know what to do the next day. I also figured that you would be mad at me. So, I stayed away."

So, one thing is now clear to me, she didn't come here to mend relations, that would be very unlikely of her to do so.

The next best theory I can come up with is, that she ran away from home, because of some sort of problem. That also means she doesn't know where to go.

She had come to me, hoping she could stay the night, but series of unfortunate events made her leave. So, this means still might be in search for a place to crash for the night. So, she should be around here somewhere.

I quickly get up from the sofa and rush towards the door. I have to find her.

"Hey, where are you going?" I hear Aryan ask.

"To find Avni! She must be around here somewhere." I reply.

"Okay, wait up! Even I'll come along."

I press the elevator button and wait for it to arrive on my floor. I get inside the dull blue coloured elevator along with Aryan and dab the ground floor button.

Please be around. Please be around. I keep chanting in my brain. I have to find her.

We reach the ground floor and the elevator door pings open. We step out and the slightly chilled air settles over us. We start fast walking towards the main gate of the society when my phone starts ringing.

I fish out the phone from my back pocket and take a look at the Caller's name.

Shelley

Why is she calling this late? Is she okay? Did something happen at her home again? Is Dhruv knocking at her door again?

I answer the call without wasting another second. She is my friend, and I need to be there for her if she needs me. Just the way she always has my back.

"Hey, what's wrong?" I ask, curtly.

"Hey Rahul. How are you doing?" Shelley asks.

I am a little baffled by her question.

"I'm okay. Why?" I reply, casually.

"Avni told me she met you. So, I wanted to check up on you."

My breath hitches.

"Avni? She's with you?"

"Yes. She is."

"All right. I'm coming over. I need to talk to her."

"No. Don't. Leave her alone for the night. It's been a long day for her."

"But, I need to talk to her!" I declare.

"I know that but not tonight Rahul. Come over tomorrow." She says, firmly.

"But why not now?" I demand.

I need to talk to her and this is the moment Shelley chooses to act difficult and stubborn?

"Go home and sleep. Talk to her when you are in your senses. She doesn't need you to give her a more difficult time at the moment." She states, finality coaxed in her voice.

I heave out an exasperated breath. I take a few deep breaths to calm down my wildly beating heart and my over accelerated anger.

"Do you know why she is here?" I ask her after a few seconds.

"She ran away from home." She says, quietly.

I was right.

"Why?"

"That I don't know. She didn't tell me."

"You better be telling the truth, Shelley." I threaten.

"When have I ever lied to you, you idiot?" She asks, offended.

"Right, sorry. I'm a little too worn out at the moment. Anyway, I'll come over first thing in the morning, okay?" I ask.

"Okay." She replies.

"All right. And thank you for letting me know." I say, appreciatively.

"No problem. Good night and sleep tight." And with that Shelley hangs up.

I take another deep breath.

Tomorrow is going to be a long day. And hopefully the day I get my long awaited closure.