9 A Glimpse Into Their Life

"Here it is!" Tarun said as he slipped the helmet off his head after stopping his bike in front of Shanaya's house.

"Thank you, Tarun!" She said after getting down.

"And Congratulations! I'm so happy for you." She hugged him which he returned by wrapping his arms around her.

"Thank you Shanaya. It wouldn't have been possible without you." He said softly looking into her eyes which were looking into his own. They stood there just like that for a moment or two before she stepped back and tucked the stray strands of her hair behind her ears shyly.

"By the way, you should take Nitya out on a date. You two haven't been on one yet and now that you two are in a relationship, you should spend some time together." Shanaya suggested excitedly.

"That's a good idea. Will you help me plan something out?" Tarun asked, rubbing his nape with one hand.

"Sure. You don't have to ask, Tarun." She said before she pulled him inside her house to begin planning.

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"One water please!" Prashvi lifted up a finger to signal the bartender. Feeling light-headed from all the dancing and the amount of alcohol she'd consumed tonight, she grabbed a barstool before managing to pull herself on it clumsily. That was her life. Drinking and partying hard. For everyone, she was a rich party girl enjoying her life to the full every night. Except her friends, nobody knew that she drank to forget; to forget her parents who didn't give a damn about her, to forget the only boy she'd loved only to discover that he was cheating on her since the beginning of their relationship.

No, she didn't love Rushabh anymore but it's true when they say that some people do continue to affect you even when they aren't a part of your life anymore. That was what Rushabh was to her. Like a thorn sticking out of her heart, he was a constant reminder of the hurt and suffering he had subjected her to. But the pain which she had managed to suppress for quite a while came back in full force on the night of Apache[1] when she saw Rushabh and a new girl that he'd recently taken fancy to, engaged in quite intimately at his house.

The anti-depressants she carried around with her at all times were the only kind of relief, be it short-lived, to the heartache that she had received. Although she had reduced the frequency of popping pills from three- four times a day to a maximum of one per day in the past few months after she began receiving treatment in a rehab centre, the urge to return to her past ways had intensified by large now. In order to curb her cravings, she had turned towards her another best friend, alcohol.

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Vivaan sat alone on his hospital bed staring into nowhere. Manav, his boyfriend and also his professor, refused to answer his calls after the fateful night of Apache where their relationship was cruelly exposed for everyone to see by Rushabh. Till then, everything seemed to be all fine. They had both calmy accepted their relationship in front of the whole college and promised to be by each other's side through thick and thin. However, after being beaten up pretty badly by the goons arranged by Rushabh, he had not heard from him again since then. Compared to him, Manav had suffered only minor injuries and was not even admitted into the hospital. Yet, he had not even visited once during his stay in the hospital.

Even his 'Cool Mom' refused to accept the fact that he was gay. He had always prided in the fact that his mom was a modern woman who will accept him once he came out of the closet. He had believed that though his friends might take a little while to accept his sexuality but his mother would understand him. However, the reality was so different from what he'd once imagined.

Moroever, his friends were involved in a mess of their own. Nothing seemed to be going good at present for anyone of them.

But maybe one needs to witness darkness first to come to appreciate light fully. Life never runs on the same course for everyone. While it serves lemons to one repeatedly, it showers the other with cherries. Sometimes, one forgets that there always two sides to the same coin. Light and dark, good or bad-- everything exists in pairs. Only when has been through one, can someone appreciate the other. Just like the beauty of the moon is rarely described without appreciating its spots! Just like a rose is incomplete without its thorns!

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The next morning, Nitya could feel his eyes on her as soon as she turned around the corner to enter her classroom. There he stood, leaning by the wall with his phone in his hand and eyes stuck on her. Nitya smiled a little inwardly and clicked her fingers in front of his face.

"Done checking out your buddy's girlfriend, Mr. Avyan Oberoi?" She asked teasingly.

Avyan had reached the college a little early today in hopes of talking to Nitya. He couldn't contact her via phone because he knew she wouldn't talk to him properly and may even hang up on him or even block him. So, he decided to confront her outside her classroom.

But what greeted him on her arrival was something unexpected. Nitya looked different today, a good different. She looked beautiful in everything but today, she looked more like a lady instead of a girl. Though she was a eighteen year-old young girl, the charm and aura she exuded was somewhat alluring for him. The red camisole paired with wide-legged pink pants lent an adorably cute yet sensual vibe to her. His only complaint was her hair that were tied into a high ponytail. He would've preferred them free falling down on her back, for him to run his fingers through them like he used to earlier.

[1] Apache= the music festival from where the story begins.