《Short Recap》

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.

●○●

Screw Vinay for being a persistent prick!

That asshole knew I'd go to Roshni's and landed outside the girls' hostel the very next morning. But I desperately needed to sleep. I'd spent half the night crying and I didn't have the energy to deal with my problems face on.

I craved to see him but my pride wouldn't allow me to.

Out of all the things he'd said the previous evening it hurt me most that he expected me to leave everything I had poured my heart and soul into building. For a girl in a grossly male dominated society it wasn't the easiest of achievements and I expected him to understand that.

It probably worked in my favour that men were prohibited from entering the girls hostel premises because if I knew that if I heard his voice I would cave and run outside.

The hostel warden came up personally to kick me out the next day, and scolded Roshni for allowing me to stay over without permission.

And Roshni being her usual spitfire self, talked back to the warden rudely, jumping in to justify her actions which ended up making matters worse. She landed herself a weeklong probation- no visitors in the hostel for a week and a ten o'clock curfew.

"I'm so sorry, Akira." She mumbled guiltily as I made my way out.

"Oh God! No!" I shook my head with a small puffy eyed smile, "That warden is just an authoritative bitch. She honestly needs to get laid."

I hugged her tightly and mumbled a thank you in her ear before making my way back to the flat.

I knew for a fact that Vinay wouldn't be there.

He always seemed to run away when things got hard for him and he definitely wouldn't linger in the flat waiting for me to return. His enormous ego wouldn't allow that. It had taken two massive blows already. Once, when I walked out on him and second, when I refused to go down to talk to him the following day.

The apartment felt abnormally cold when I stepped inside. Maybe it was just my mind playing tricks but the place felt like it had been stripped of all its usual warmth.

Kicking off my flip flops next to the small shoe rack behind the door, I dropped the house key into the key bowl.

The apartment looked oddly different, but I couldn't quite put a finger on what it was exactly. It was probably just a nervous feeling after my argument with Vinay the previous night. I associated everything in the apartment with him.

The couch reminded me our movie nights and cuddle fests, the kitchen was where I saw him first- he said he wasn't into stalker chics. Both our beds housed memories of late night musings and steamy evenings. Even the bloody tiles on the floor held traces of his DNA that could not be erased.

I moved forward slowly, my ears unusually alert. I half expected Vinay to step out of his room and pull me into a deep embrace. I wanted him to. And to tell me that everything was going to be all right. It didn't matter that our dreams and ambitions were utterly divergent. It didn't matter that we were going to be on opposite faces of the earth. That at the end of it all, nothing else mattered and that everything would turn out to be perfect.

But there was no sign of him anywhere.

Slowly, I twisted the cool metal handle of his bedroom door and pushed it open hesitantly.

Gasping loudly, I brought my fingers up to cover my mouth as my knees gave away and I slumped onto the floor with fresh tears rolling down my cheeks.

The bedroom was absolutely bare. All his things were gone. The only trace left of him was the painted quote on the wall above the headboard of his bed which stared down at me in a condescending manner.

Your existence invariably leads you to one choice- Life or Livelihood.

Which one will you choose?

I swallowed painfully, a tear leaping of the tip off my nose in desperation and disappearing in the fabric that shielded my heart.

It was becoming increasingly clear that he had made his choice and I had made mine.

Vinay was truly gone.

●○●

As soon as my eyes were wrung dry of any more tears, I stood up shakily and made my way to my bedroom.

He'd been there. On top of his neatly folded hoodie on my bed, lay his thick leather diary. My hand inched forward to pick it up and devour it's contents but I quickly snatched it away from the diary.

Shaking my head, I walked into the bathroom and switched on the geyser. I would not let something so simple make me forgive him.

After a quick hot shower that helped to ease my numbed nerves, I slipped into a pair of warm pajamas and a full sleeved top. After eyeing the maroon hoodie lying idyllically atop my bed, I pulled it over my head. More for the warmth than the memories it held within it's fraying seams.

As I heated a water to make a bowl of steamed millets, my phone's muffled ringtone snapped me out of my morbid thoughts.

"Hello?" I answered, trying hard to mask the strain in my voice.

"Why on earth is Vinay looking for early flights?" Harsh asked, cutting straight to the topic at hand, "What did you do?"

I groaned. I didn't want to do this right now.

"What makes you think I did something?" I deadpanned.

"I'm sorry, that didn't come out right," he replied earnestly, "What I meant to ask was what happened? And more importantly are you all right?"

"Jeez!" I muttered, "Honestly, your timing sucks Harsh. This is not the best time to be hitting on me."

A deafening silence ensued before I heard uncomfortable scuffling on the other end of the phone line. My sorrow was slowly transitioning into anger and I was sorry that Harsh had to be the first victim of it but I couldn't bring myself to feel sorry about what I said.

I was furious.

"I just wanted to say that Vinay is hurting. I've never seen him like this, so for whatever he has done....well, I hope you can forgive him." Harsh said in a quiet tone, "If there's anything I can do to help, I'd be happy to do it. Take care, Bye."

Yeah, I was totally frolicking in paradise with a bunch of unicorns and a personal rainbow coloured spotlight.

I screwed my eyes shut, doing a couple of breathing exercises I'd learnt in the children's summer yoga I'd been attending every year since I was eight until I finally stopped going when I was fifteen.

I used to hate it because they'd make us wake up early every morning and do a lot of unnecessary stretching but at least something I learnt there was helpful.

Wow, I'm ranting to myself now.

Taking my spicy millet bowl and glass of water I dragged myself to my bedroom and set them on my study table. Plugging my earphones into my ears, I got back to work, my playlist full of Taylor Swift songs ringing inside my ears as I hummed along.

Bunking college did not mean slacking on work for DantelSoft.

Roshni had sent scanned pdfs of that day's work without me having to ask her. I scrolled through it with a small smile playing on my lips. She didn't call because she knew I'd reach out when I was ready and not once did she try to push me to do anything. I really wondered what I'd ever done to deserve a friend like her.

I didn't realise how fast time passed by I continued working. The sun set early since it was winter, bringing with it a wave of cold night breeze that sent chills down my bones.

I stretched forward to close the window in front of me, the stiffness of my body stopping me midway.

With an annoyed groan, I got up and shut the window quickly before switching on the lights in my room. A brief glance at my watch told me it six thirty in the evening and my eyes widened in surprise.

No wonder my stomach was having a growl fest for the past couple of hours. I'd managed to work for seven and a half hours straight without even a pee break or lunch.

And this year's most promising businesswoman award goes to....

Rotating my stiff neck, I released my hair from my loose ponytail and combed my fingers through it before piling them back on top of my head into a messy bun.

I had half a mind to order pizza and a tub of ice cream but I wasn't quite in the mood for it. Instead I made a packet of instant noodles and garnished it with an abundance of grated cheese.

I was halfway through my bowl of instant noodles when it started raining lightly outside, making the temperature drop further.

As the winds started picking up speed, I hurried to the shut the balcony door and all the open window of the house before I froze to a hypothermic death. Honestly, anything below ten degrees Celsius was borderline unbearable for me.

As I fastened the automatic lock of the balcony door, there was a loud crack of thunder and the lights went out.

"The day just keeps getting better and better." I muttered under my breath.

I finished eating whatever was left of the instant noodles, that had now gone cold and left the bowl in the kitchen sink to wash later.

My eyes hurt a bit from hours of working on the laptop and nonstop studying earlier in the day, and all the tears they'd shed, causing me to wince at the blinding brightness of my phone screen as I plugged in my earphones and selected a playlist.

Making myself comfortable on the sofa with a blanket I'd brought from my room I curled up into a ball before closing my eyes, content, and hummed along to the lyrics of the song playing softly in my ears.

I was never one for extraordinarily loud music which meant that even with my earphones on, I could still hear everything else around me. That was quite unlike most people my age but it made me feel in control of my surroundings while being inside my own safe bubble.

Control. That's what I wanted to have right now- control of my emotions that were taking a freaking field trip all over my brain and the freaking lights.

I needed to study for heavens sake!

As I slowly pulled to sleep, lost in a nebula of far flung, mostly unrelated thoughts, my phone began to ring repeatedly against my eardrums. Normally only Ma called so late at night, not wanting to disturb my busy schedule.

I smiled to myself, girls spent their late nights talking to their boyfriends before going to bed. I talked to my mother.

Without bothering to squint at the bright phone screen, I swiped to receive the call. I could really use some girl talk with Ma right now.

"Hello!" I started cheerfully, "Finally remembered me, huh?"

There was a small pause on the other end of the line.

"Akira." a gravelly voice spoke on the other end, one that I instantly recognized. And it wasn't my mother.

I froze, contemplating what to do. Lowering the phone from my ear I checked the caller id apprehensively. It was him.

I felt a pang of sadness mixed with anger as Vinay started talking again.

"I want you to come downstairs." He said, voice devoid of any detectable emotion.

"I'm not even where you think I am." I replied slowly.

"I know." Vinay answered, "I'm in the parking of the apartment complex. I know you came back."

Just hearing that he wanted to meet me had a small happy warmth erupt within my body. To be honest, I expected him to have started plotting my funeral by now. Naturally, I was still slightly wary.

"Why are you even here, Vinay?" I asked with a small sigh, "You already took everything."

"I forgot two things." He replied.

"What?"

"Come down and I'll tell you." Vinay said, almost pleading.

Shaking my head, I shrugged off the blanket I was wrapped in and stood up before cutting the call.

This was probably going to turn out badly, but I clung onto a small flicker of hope.

Slipping on my flip flops, I made my way out into the corridor and down the slippery rain splattered staircase.

Vinay was leaning against his parked motorcycle, playing nervously with his keys when I strode into the parking. The common apartment generator droned monotonously a little distance away.

"You came." Vinay gave me a small smile.

"There's no electricity in the flat." I shrugged, eyeing him cautiously.

I mentally slapped my forehead for my terrible excuseas he raised his brow questioningly.

Vinay looked tired. Not physically- more like mentally exhausted. His eyes were lined with a fading red tint and his voice sounded slightly different.

"You weren't giving me much of a choice." I elaborated, "You told me you forgot some things."

"You always have a choice, Akira." He knit his brow as he frowned.

"Ok, are you here to preach?" I huffed in annoyance, "You already got your bike. What other things did you have to collect?

"Just one more thing." He nodded solemnly, "I want my heart back."

I swallowed, flabbergasted. What does one even say to that?

Biting my lip uncomfortably, I stared at the wheels of Vinay's motorcycle.

"Look, I'm very sorry..." I began but he cut me off.

"I said that to lighten the mood," he frowned, "Shouldn't have."

"No, but I'm still sorry." I shook my head.

"I don't want you to be." Vinay said, taking a tentative step forward, "I realised that it was fucking thoughtless of me to ask you to move to New York with me. And I feel so shitty right now. If I hadn't brought it up we wouldn't be here today."

"You were just being honest about what you wanted." I sighed, my voice starting to crack, "I didn't want you to leave either. But I realised, it wasn't my place to force that upon you."

"At least you kept it to yourself. You didn't let your mouth run awry." He answered, averting his gaze and shoving his hands into his hoodie pockets.

"You had the guts to face me. I ran away from you, the moment the conversation became too heavy for me to bear."

A deafening silence followed, the soft pattering sound of the raindrops diving in to fill the void.

A chortle escaped Vinay and I glanced up at him curiously.

"We're actually talking." He said in response.

I laughed lightly, "Surprisingly, yes."

Hugging my chest I looked outside to see that the rain was dying down. The electricity was still out.

"You're leaving sooner, aren't you" I asked at last.

Vinay nodded silently, with an apologetic smile.

"All the best then." I stretched my lips into a grin.

I realised that I just wanted him to be happy.

"You too." Vinay nodded earnestly.

I stepped forward to hug him, albeit awkwardly and he wrapped his arms around my shoulders instantly. He buried his face in my hair and inhaled, hardly trying to be subtle about it.

"I love you." He murmured against my neck unapologetically and my heartbeat stilled.

After a couple of moments I replied, "I love you too. I think I always will."

Vinay smiled against my skin before leaning in to peck my lips lightly. He pulled away abruptly.

"My flight is day after tomorrow." He ran his fingers through his hair.

I hummed in response before saying, "So I guess that's it then."

"For now." He agreed, before inching backwards.

"Yeah, maybe some day when we meet again...." I trailed off.

Unsaid words hung in the air between us. They were better left that way.

"Yeah." He smiled, swinging his right leg over his motorcycle and twisting the key into ignition.

I looked away, a wave of sadness washing over me languidly, and sighed.

Everything happens for a reason.

As Vinay twisted the handle of the motorcycle I strode forward, my feet moving of their own accord.

"Wait." I said loudly.

With a very uncharacteristic boldness I reached up for Vinay's face and moulded my mouth against his. The kiss was passionate and quick, our sadness and pent up emotion pouring into it as we bid farewell.

I didn't look at him when I finally pulled away. I couldn't bring myself to. Instead, I turned around and bolted towards the lobby.

A lone tear ran down my cheek as I climbed the stairs to reach my floor, but I forced my lips to stretch up into a smile.

Letting go hurt like a bitch. But I was glad I did it.

In that moment, I felt liberated. I felt infinite.

●○●

*flourish of cornets*

That's it. This is the last chapter. I was super tempted to let the previous chapter be the last one but even I couldn't bring myself to be so heartless.

Also stay tuned for the epilog which will be coming soon probably after a few Vinay's POV chapters.
The epilog is going to be totally worth all this pain so don't give up on me!!

Vote, comment, share and don't forget to spread the love!♡

QOTD: Have you ever been in love?
I've never been in love. But to let you in on a secret, I once had a humongous crush on a boy named Vinay XD.