Chapter 13 Cupid’s Game

Meant to be…

The real love story of the unreal 21st century!
By, Veera.

 

God has not given us this beautiful life as Humans just to regret upon the struggles and challenges and to quit.
He has given this life to us because he knew that we would be strong and capable to finish this race in style. I myself, I was suicidal and only Bhuvi knew this part of me. I was suicidal because of my family wound not understand my dreams of pursuing Cinema and Photography. But she did, and so did my friends, they were supportive in every way possible. Shaina, she would encourage me by being competitive, we both we used to take pictures just to prove who was better but I would always win but she never accepted her loss. Somewhere or the other, the universe was proving me again and again that I should not let of go her; Shaina, my first love.

 

“Man, I have no idea either but I just want to know if she survived”, I said while my eyes kept searching for
Ragu.

“Don’t be such a pessimist man”, said Bhuvi even though he knew the courteousness of the situation.

“And don’t be too terrified by Riya’s father, if anything’s gone wrong, then it’s for me not for you or anyone else so calm down. I just want to talk to Riya once”

Every one of her relatives was inside the hospital and around. I just needed a word with her. Why did she do this? Was it because of the embarrassment that she got out of that slap? Or is it because of the fact that “I” said no? I need to know. And to my goodness, I saw Ragu. He was seated right outside the room where Riya must have been admitted supposedly. Our principal, her father, her uncle, her whole family was out the verandah discussing seriously. I was clicking my tongue. I need to meet her and talk to her once. On seeing us creeping through the back entrance, Ragu headed straight to us, now that I was  scared what if he knows what had happened?

“Guys, Riya drank poison because her father scolded her on scoring low marks”

He was clueless, that was for sure. I didn’t ’t exactly know what to do, to be happy that no one knew what had happened or to feel guilty because I was keeping a terrible secret from my friend. I finally told everything to Ragu. I could not hide anything anymore.  

“There is nothing wrong that you have done Sri, but I’m glad you told me this but don’t be petrified anymore, she is ok and we will be going home tonight”

I was happy and I felt fortunate to have not lost this friend of mine. I couldn’t be happier on a bad day like this to realise that the ‘bad’ is off the hook.

“But I must say, Shaina is one lucky girl Sri, you really love her”, said Ragu.

I smiled hiding the my thought 
‘I haven’t had her, ever nor will I ever have her’
But with that, I begged Ragu that I had to meet Riya and to sort things out with her.

“Sri, you haven’t seen my uncle, he is as tall as you and his one slap equals to John Caen’s shot so listen to me clearly, don’t try to near Riya here, I will take you to her house or I’ll somehow do something but I need you to be careful here, if anyone here comes to know the truth, we will be buried then”, said Ragu in his most relevantly courteous tone.

Though I was pretty shook, I tried to talk to her in every way possible. It suddenly had started raining, man! Everything around me reminded me of her, stupid me.

‘If she was with me right now, I would pull her close to me, have a strong hold of her hips so that she stays close to me, look right into her eyes and I would serve her sharp jawline with a heavy uppercut for troubling me so much with the memories’ I had wished, many times.

And to give a pause to the memory lane, there she was Riya, getting inside the car, while her dad held the umbrella for her, his eyes were moist. And I was the one who had caused such agony to her and her entire family and I still wonder,
“Am I that handsome?”

I surely couldn’t go that far to Riya’s house to talk with her because then it would become late as it wil lead her father to bury me in his garden and my Mom will kick me out of the house. I needed to sort things out that day else, I felt like wouldn’t sleep. We, well myself, Bhuvi and Ragu we were hiding behind a huge banyan tree resting on some bikes, anticipating a chance to talk to her. And right in front of me, her car went away, I was in deep sigh.

“Sri”, I  had heard a feeble voice calling me suddenly.

When I turned, it was her, Riya. Her eyes were restless I could see them, her cheeks still were red, her lips were dry. I didn’t know why I cared. I could not utter a word but I had said in a cracked voice,

“I.. I’m.. I’m really sorry, I shouldn’t have slapped you. That caused you to hate your own life, I’m sorry”

“I hated my life because I could not see you in pain, when you slapped me, I understood how serious you are about Shaina but it also makes me worry about you, how loyal you are to someone who left you so easily and realising the fact that you would rather love her, than me; was frustrating and right that moment I could not think of anything else but to quit this life. You have nothing to be guilty about. I will be okay. Don’t blame yourself for anything ”, she had said that with teary eyes but strong voice.

I could clearly see the love she had for me, my heart actually melted. Bhuvi was thunderstruck, Ragu was dammed. Their jaws dropped just like Shaina’s when we met in the exam hall. And yes, I could not get rid of her even then.

“Riya, I’m nowhere near the phase where I can forget Shaina and move on. But, I will try to do so. I will be a good friend to you from now on and a well-wisher who you can look up to”, I said in the most respective tone ever.

And then, she went back to the car lieing to her father that she went to take her shawl that she forgot to pack back in the room.

It was 10 PM and it was still raining and I almost feel like I’ve got the best reason to forget and move on from Shaina. Ragu was happy that everything was sorted and I was too. Bhuvi dropped me off and I, almost after 46 minutes of begging, had convinced my Mum to cook dinner for me.

‘Maybe ‘I could’ move on from Shaina. Riya, the ‘Regina George’ of our college who has it all was into me!’ I had thought.
Cupid was definitely having fun looking over my life.

“Ping”, I received an instagram notification. And it read,

“Message request from

“Shaina_princess”

“Hey, Sri how r u doing”

“I heard that you shifted, I mean to Chennai”

 

“You didn’t even care to let me know this. On the day of the party I was waiting for you. It would have been a  special day in our lives but you didn’t show up. I was waiting there with my cousin, he even enacted me how you would present me a bouquet but it didn’t happen for real. I was devastated. What were you thinking after all, when we literally shared moments, but it seems as though it never mattered to u”

I had been, a moment ago manipulating my mind to somehow commit to Riya so that I would move on from Shaina and I thought that I actually deserved some love. Only one sentence came right in my mind and that was,

“Is this Cupid drunk?”

What am I supposed to do now?

---

**© V.Shilpa and https://shilpasrecitals.wordpress.com/, [2019]. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to V.Shilpa and https://shilpasrecitals.wordpress.com/ with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.**

---

 

Advertisement