In a lovestory, when are problems ought to surface?
Before falling in love perhaps with the push and pull and pinning and waiting, with the confused and conflicted feelings, with a little hesitancy and anxiousness nibbling at your skin.
Or maybe a...
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• present •
Sahil couldn't be here to apologise, could he? It was the first thought that Rhea had when her Dad said he was outside. And how could it not be? It was so human to find and cling onto a thin thread of hope no matter how dire the circumstances were.
"What are you doing?" Her forehead creases with lines of confusion watching him park his bike.
"Returning what's yours." His voice was so devoid of emotion that she couldn't even recognise that it was her Sahil, the same Sahil she had fallen for and the illusionary thread of hope broke.
"It's not mine," she manages to say amidst the tumult of feelings weighing heavy.
He doesn't say a word as he keeps the bike keys over the saddle and turns to leave. He hadn't even spared Rhea a glance since the time he had been here. Agitated, she grabs his arm and harshly pulls him back, forcing him to look at her. His empty eyes meet her hurt ones.
"What's wrong with you?" She wanted to yell but instead her voice comes out strained, almost broken.
Neither could he say a word nor could he take his eyes off her. A moment of conflict, a wretched helplessness clouds his thoughts. Before coming here, he had held onto his bitterness, his anger because it was so easy to put the entire blame on her, to make her the villain of this shattered relationship but one look at her face and he stood confounded. She was suffering too and he couldn't ease her pain. Who was she to him now anyways if not a stranger again?
"I'm just returning what belongs to you." His voice is a murmur, audible only to her.
"The bike was a gift," it was surprising how her tone was sharp, stern despite the constant anguish pricking at her insides, a dull ache never leaving her alone. "You don't return gifts. I'm sure you must have had friendships that have ended, did you return those gifts too? Friendships end, relationships end but you don't do this." She tries to reason but the words sounded weak, hollow, like she wasn't able yo articulate herself well in all this mess.
"I don't want to keep such an expensive gift of yours with me which would be a consistent reminder of your presence in my life."
He made sense yet he didn't to her. Nobody would want to have a memory in front of their eyes that reminded them of their past, a past that ended ugly. Rhea stared at him for a while, looking for a hint of remorse but there was none and it bothered her because she was finding it so hard to letting everything go while he seemed to be doing it easily, almost effortlessly.
