《Short Recap》

His back was facing me and I thought he lingered in the kitchen for a few seconds longer than he intended to.

I don't know why but all of a sudden Vinay seemed to be on edge about something. My mouth dropped into a faint frown.

He turned around to face me slowly, still standing next to the kitchen counter.

"Akira, we need to talk." He said, his face hardening and instantly masking the emotions that clouded his eyes.

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I folded my legs on the couch and shifted so I was facing Vinay as I anxiously watched him sit down on the other edge.

He offered me the glass of water he'd brought which I graciously accepted, I needed to calm my uneasy nerves.

Honestly, nothing good ever came from 'we need to talk'.

It was probably one of the most awful conversation starters in the history of mankind and usually ended up in more destruction over anything else.

It was like America calling Japan after the atomic blasts in Hiroshima and Nagasaki and saying gravely, 'Oh did I just wipe out two of your cities? Damn! I'm terribly sorry for that. But seriously, we need to talk!'

I wondered if Vinay had cheated on me. It seemed factually plausible because he used to have uh...a pretty active sexual life before we started dating, to put it simply, and I hadn't been around for a long time now.

Not once had I checked his phone since I'd known him because I didn't want to be the kind of person who nags their boyfriend all the time but now I was beginning to think that maybe I should have.

'What the bloody heavens are getting at Akira?' a soft voice asked at the back of my head.

'It's self preservation.' Another voice inside my head countered.

Vinay cleared his throat and I was pulled out of my train of suspicious thoughts before they managed to turn into another cranial disaster.

"So, I have been thinking..." he started in a soft voice, "I'm leaving in three weeks and I really need to know where our relationship is heading."

I pulled my legs close to my chest and hugged them for extra warmth.

"We have time to figure out what we want." I said vaguely.

I knew that I didn't want him to leave. But that was hardly an option.

"When?" Vinay scoffed.

"You said it yourself." I answered with a small frown, "We have three whole weeks to do that. Can't we just enjoy this evening?"

I honestly did not take the evening off from work to deal with such heavy issues. Right now I didn't have the emotional capacity to do it and I didn't even want to.

Why couldn't Vinay just be like every other normal boy who was afraid of commitment and shied away from heavy topics?

"No, I want to know right now." he said stiffly, "The thought has been plaguing my mind for a while now and I want to know what's going to happen to us."

I combed my right hand through my hair agitatedly. My only consolation at the moment was that Vinay hadn't mentioned anything about infidelity. Yet.

"Why don't I lay down the facts then?" I huffed in a frustrated tone, "We like each other, at least I know that I like you a lot. We live under the same roof, eat the same food and the frequency of our minds resonates in ways that cannot be explained simply. You're leaving. I'm staying. And we're both clueless about what to do next. We cannot get married and you have dreams to follow. I think that sums it up."

A ghost of a smile played on Vinay's lips as he listened to me.

Rolling my eyes, I asked, "What?"

"Nothing." He shook his head.

"Vinay, I swear to God I'm going to kill you if you start acting adorable now." I narrowed my eyes, "You wanted to talk. Well, I'm talking now and if we don't figure out shit in the next half an hour, I'm going to bed. This is not what I came home early for."

"Calm down Akira." He stifled a laugh and I shot him a poisonous glare.

"Talk." I commanded.

"Right, so I'm going to New York for the next four years and I don't think my budget will allow me to come home every year. I'll probably come home only for two summers out of four." Vinay started, a speech that was clearly rehearsed, "And if there's anything I know about long distance relationships, it's that they have an acute tendency of failing. Lack of communication is a major aspect and..."

"There's this application on your phone that's called video call, Vinay." I interrupted him, "The things you can do with technology today are limitless."

"But for how long?" he asked with a sigh, "Ten minutes across a virtual screen is not going to be enough. The emotional disconnect and lack of proximity is going to catch up before we know it. I could be fucking shagging someone behind your back for all you know, and you'd probably never ever find out."

I raised my brow questioningly.

"I'm just saying that it is a remote possibility, although I don't promote or support cheating in any form." Vinay said hastily.

Closing my eyes, I exercised my stiff neck.

"What do you propose I do about that then?" I asked, my eyes still shut, "You've clearly thought a lot about this before."

There was a pregnant pause before Vinay said, "I want you to come to New York."

My eyes shot open and I stared at him incredulously.

"Are you kidding me?" I questioned, "You want me to leave everything I have here, pack my bags and go globe trotting with you?"

"Stop twisting it, Akira." He replied simply, "I merely want you to come study with me in Cornell. You're smart, you can easily get admitted by next semester or maybe next year. Take a moment to think about it calmly."

"And what about DantelSoft?" I shook my head, perturbed, "There's no way I'm leaving what I started halfway. Did you even think about that?"

"You can expand overseas, maybe?" Vinay tried to reason, "I'm sure Neel and Harsh can manage things here for the next three years."

"You don't get it Vinay." I shrugged, "You're being a selfish fool right now."

"I don't understand how I'm being selfish if all I'm thinking about is being with you?" Vinay shouted, his tone rising notably.

"Stop shouting!" I hissed.

"You're the one who fucking started it." his mouth twisted into a scowl.

"Oh, stop blaming me." I fumed, "You should have thought about how I'd react before asking me to freaking give up my dreams."

I felt like a bloody hypocrite saying the last part.

I wanted him to stay here too. I'd literally been plotting ways to root him next to me at the back of my mind.

I knew it was whimsical to think that, but why on earth couldn't he be happy doing his reading and writing along with his engineering?

The moment that thought crossed my mind, I instantly regretted it. Years of mental conditioning from living in a traditional Indian household about the general frivolity of all arts was catching up with me, now of all the possible times. That's not the kind of person who I wanted to be.

Vinay walked up to a wall and hit his clenched fist against it furiously, as though the superficial pain would help to downgrade the splicing pain in his heart.

A lone teardrop leapt off the edge of my cheek and wetted the front of my sweaty t-shirt. Only then did I realise that I was crying.

"I think it's best that I leave." I mumbled in a quit voice after what felt like eternity.

Standing up shakily, I made a dash for my bedroom- hastily pulling open my closet door and stuffing some essentials from my neatly arranged closet into an overnight bag.

I eyed Vinay's maroon hoodie painfully before picking it up from my pile of woollens and placing it on my bed for him to find if he came inside after I left.

Vinay wasn't in the kitchen or the living room when I stepped out of my room.

I let out a sigh of relief before picking up the brown package containing the chocolate banana cake and making my way out of the apartment.

My mind remained blank the entire way to Roshni's dorm in the college hostel premises. It was a route I knew like the back of my hand and I walked slowly, the weight of my overly stuffed bag making itself known every time I tried to speed up.

I rapped on Roshni's dorm door weakly and waited for her to open it.

"I don't have any laundry to give this week!" she shouted from the other side, "How many fucking times do I have to tell you that?"

"Roshni?" I called out, confused.

The door opened instantly, my best friend standing flabbergasted, looking almost comical in her red and yellow french fries themed pyjama set.

She quickly ushered me inside and sat me down on her bed, staring at my distraught face.

"What happened?" she asked gently.

"I think we just broke up." I mumbled incoherently before burying my face in my palms and I started crying again.

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Ok, I'm sorry! Please don't kill me...I'm too young to die!

If it makes you feel any better, I've been bawling my eyes out too :'(

Do vote, comment, share and don't forget to spread the love!

I promise I'll try to make it better.

QOTD: What do you think will happen next? Let the speculations begin!