Between The Pages

Chapter 23 & 1/2

Confessions, Riya found out, were such a tricky thing. You feel like letting them all out but at the same time, you know you can't. Day by day they pile up and you keep holding them all in. Soon they start to blend with your dreams and cuddle with your thoughts. And once they do that, they start to melt in the warmth of your thoughts and that lava suddenly dares to boil out of you.

They say that when a volcano erupts, all it brings with it is destruction. Not for Riya though. She felt her heart lighten a lot after writing that little letter to Natasha. She actually felt good.

No, she didn't just feel good, she felt like a warrior who unleashed her army of words in the battle of friendship. Though, she didn't know if she was a good leader or not because she hadn't bothered to check if the battle was won or lost. She had just fled away from the field unable to face her friend, her enemy. However, there was no arguing to the fact that she felt good.

Yes, the battle was done, but the war was still on.

Sometimes, fighting a real was would seem easy just because you know what end you seek. Unlike that, the war of friendship has never been easy. Victory or defeat, there's always something to be won and something else to be lost. Finding the right balance between both is the most treacherous thing. And when that friend is a virtual one, it changes the rules of the game completely.

After reading that Unsent Letter which Tanmay wrote to Miss Magician, Riya just didn't know what to talk with him. The worst of her fears had come to life. He had drawn out the conclusions he was never supposed to. He had started to walk down the forbidden path and she had absolutely no clue how to push him back to the safety of a pavement. Unluckily, or rather luckily, she had herself to blame for all the misadventures.

When you're really into something, you tend to get lost in it.

It was amazing how one little line had the power to influence the lives of so many. It had misleaded Tanmay, terrified Natasha and destroyed Riya. And to get back on track, the only way Riya saw was to win this virtual game of friendship as well.

At no cost could she afford to lose a friend like Tanmay over a silly misunderstanding. She had to sort it out. Yes, she knew what needed to be done. All that was left was to find out how.

How should she tell him that his thoughts were catching the wrong train? She debated writing a letter just as she had done to Natasha, but somehow it just didn't feel right. Too formal, she waved the idea off.

Shall I vanish like Nat?

That was the extreme limit which her brain could come up with. Even though her mind kept on weighing it at a more logical option, her heart would take none of it. Tanmay might be just another person she met in that virtual world, but the most important thing was he was a friend. Friend! That word alone forbade her from disappearing just like that. And then there were other things to consider too.

After that letter, Riya was sure that sooner or later Natasha would visit the world of wattpad again and when she does, she will make contact with her Mr. Adventure. If she decided to vanish right now, she could only imagine the disastrous thoughts which Tanmay would engulf himself in. When MissMagician went away, Riya showed herself. And now that MissMagician is back, Riya vanished. That'd lead Tanmay to only one conclusion, Riya is MissMagician!

No, she can't allow it to happen all over again.

What shall I do then?

She thought over it again and again but her mind came to a complete block. She would have loved a comma or even a semicolon for that matter, but all she had was a fullstop at her disposal. She had to tell Tanmay that she was not Miss Magician, but then, she would have to tell him who the real miss magician was too. There was no other way how she could defend the fact of knowing that dreaded line.

Her situation was like that engineer who was asked to build a robot to pick and place a pipe, but the condition given was that the lizard sitting on the pipe shouldn't feel the movement at all.

It was next to impossible.

If Riya revealed the truth, she had to reveal her acquaintances as well.

Choice had to made, and it had to be done quickly.

***

18th August 2017

"There are always some confessions to be made. What matters is how and when you decide to make them."

***

Choices are never easy, are they?

If I see it from Riya's point of view, I think it was easy to reveal it all to Natasha as compared to Tanmay.

The reason is simple, Tanmay is after all a virtual friend. When you talk about such matters, expressions are equally important. But in the virtual world, all you have is words at your disposal.

It hinders you somehow.

If making friends virtually is easy, then maintaining that friendship is equally difficult.

What do you think?

What route will Riya choose to solve the matters with Tanmay?

Will their relationship be the same again?

Well, stay tuned to find out...