Drishti, through her family's manager, had found out Abhimanyu's location. She was near the ChaiScript book cafe, searching for him, where she saw him and Aashna talking to each other. Soon, as Abhimnyu picked up a file from his car, she stood there, ready to confront him. He stood up, equally bewildered at her sight.
"Abhi." She came closer to him. "Can you help me count how many times I've already told you what I'm about to say now?" She had tears in her eyes as she hit his chest slightly with her fist.
"Drishti." He tried to calm her down. "Listen to me. It's nothing like that." He glanced at Aashna, signalling her to leave them alone. Aashna blinked assuringly and walked away.
"Then? Where were you last night? I remember telling you to go with me to that dinner, didn't I? You didn't pick up my calls and never replied to my messages. We meet the next day and here I see you with another girl. You understand what that means, don't you? You didn't even go home the whole night! Were you with-"
"DRISHTI, STOP IT!" He tried shutting her thoughts. "Listen to me!"
He went on to explain to her the night-out plan and how they had kept their phones away. He thought that being true to her and telling her everything about last night would make her believe him, but she did nothing of that sort. Instead, her anger was fueled. "You think this makes sense? You being away the whole night, and me finding you here with her, all of it- what part of it makes sense? The part where you made new friends? Out of your family relations, on that? Great." She took a step back and with a dangerously calm face, said, "Abhi. You know how much I want to be with you. And yet you engage in all of this. You know, right? That it won't even take me more than five minutes to reveal everything to your parents and have you locked up in your room, WHILE having all of you to myself."
Drishti's words had crossed their limit. Abhimanyu's head jolted up hearing her utter out something like that. He had been holding back a lot. He finally spoke up. "Listen Drishti. I know very well the reason why you want to stay with me. And I am here to support you through all of it. I'm sure you know that too. But if you are planning to behave like this any further than this, we are going to have problems. I am trying to be the best person I can be. But that won't mean I would be letting others, including you, treat me like this. If you want to have support from someone, give them the same. That's how you live with other humans here."
Meanwhile, in the cafe, Muskan was getting restless with each passing second as to what was taking so long for Abhimanyu to get one file. Aashna had already gone to see the matter, but that just made her worry for two people instead. Muskan was already scared because of the stone-throwing incident, and they were not helping at all. Hoping they were fine out there, Muskan got up and decided to go to them and see for herself. She met Aashna at the door of the cafe and asked her the obvious questions. Aashna told her everything, including Drishti's sudden appearance. "I don't know for sure... but it seemed like she hates me... judging by the looks she gave me over there..." Aashna said while wondering for herself. This made Muskan annoyed, Drishti had arguments with Abhimanyu, so she should've kept them to him only. She had no right to drag others into it. That's what Muskan believed and walked out to talk to Drishti.
Muskan had already heard parts of their conversation and was now witnessing an enraged Drishti who had held Abhimanyu's collar and was pulling him towards herself, probably in an attempt to attract all of his attention.
While Abhimanyu was still adamant about his decision, he covered her fists with his hands, trying to calm her down. "Drishti, I've already said whatever I wanted to say, and I've heard whatever you wanted to say. I hate those toxic, hurtful dinners that you plan. You know that. And I've had enough of this relationship. Leave my collar. Leave me. We're breaking up, as you've always been saying." His voice was still as calm as ever.
Drishti, instead, just tightened her grip on his collar. "WHY AM I THE BAD PERSON HERE-"
"Enough now, leave him." Muskan held one of her wrists. "Leave, he said."
Drishti looked at Muskan once, and then back at Abhimanyu. "So now there's more of them. I see." Drishti loosened her grip and backed off from Abhimanyu. She picked up her bag and left the scene, crying and wiping her anger-filled tears.
Muskan left a sigh and looked at Abhimanyu, who was already looking at her. She expected him to be angry and was in favour of the fact that he was right in doing so. "I know I should not interfere. I shouldn't even have suggested the night out thing. It's your matter after all. SO BLOODY KEEP IT AMONG YOU!" She lost her composure till the last part. She pointed a finger at his face and continued, "Do not bring my friends into this. Get it? You better." Just after saying that, she again looked in the direction where Drishti had gone, and immediately realised that it was a terribly wrong choice of words to use to talk to him. She blinked thrice in guilt and opened her mouth to form words. Words that could lessen the damage already caused.
"I'm sorry," Abhimanyu said before she could utter any other sound. "I was very rude to you these past few days. Maybe because I wasn't in the mood to receive any random advice." He matched Muskan's eyes as she looked at him with her softened ones, and continued, "But her... please don't hate her. I don't even know if we're this far into our acquaintanceship, but I can't have you or anyone else hating on her, so I'll tell you this. We have been together since childhood. My parents are very strict when it comes to the selection of people whom I interact with. Growing up, I wasn't allowed to be friends with people my parents didn't approve of, and none of my friends were allowed to have any friends other than me. Many of them felt suffocated and left, as they should have. But Drishti couldn't. She couldn't even go to anyone else so she stuck with me. Now that she's seeing me mingle well with you all, her reaction makes sense. It is not appropriate though, and I'll make sure to handle that. And yes, as you said, it's between the two of us, so I'll again try to keep you all away. Meanwhile, if I could have you not detesting her, I'll be grateful."
Abhimanyu's words merely fueled Muskan's guilt. As she looked down in her thoughts, she heard him say, "I can't meet Aashna right now, please tell her we'll complete the work tomorrow." He said and began settling in his car.
Before he could start driving, Muskan came up to him and said, "Abhimanyu. Please have this one last silly, stupid advice from me- The past is an explanation. It's not an excuse. So stick to what you said, and don't let people treat you like that for their personal reasons. You are not responsible for everyone's misery. Especially when they're not grateful."
- X - X - X - X - X -
On the road, Abhimanyu saw Drishti's car and patiently followed it to her destination. She had asked her driver uncle to stop at a park. That park was her go-to place whenever she would be upset. She would sit on a swing, away from everyone else, and let her body cool down. As she did the same, Abhimanyu came from behind her and sat on the other swing. Obviously, she wasn't in the mood to talk to him. She was angry, regretful, and terribly sad. She wasn't sure if it was really Abhimanyu who was the reason or if was it herself. She sensed Abhimnayu softly smiling at her frequent sniffs. When she looked up to him, he handed his handkerchief to her, which she hesitantly accepted. Her face was full of tears and in dire need of that handkerchief.
"Hey. See. Look at me." He tried grabbing her attention. The moment she obeyed, he continued, "Well, do you think it's time to change the course of our lives?"
Drishti held the handkerchief on her lap and sarcastically laughed. "Huh? That's what you say after breaking up?"
"Oh come on, we have like 8 breakups every month."
"Still..."
"Do you think that's something healthy?" He tried getting back to his point. "We always end our arguments with a breakup. And with no 'sorry's, we get together the next day. I see a tint of toxicity here. Don't you?"
"ABHIMANYU I'M CRYING RIGHT NOW AND THAT'S NOT HELPING AT ALL!"
"It will, it will. Listen to me. You know it very well, and I do too. We're not meant to date. We always end up being toxic to each other. We both are good individually. But we become toxic when we are together. So how about we break our dating relationship, and start anew as friends? I hope that kind of relationship works out between us... Let's seriously break up on good terms, be our individual selves, and stop forcing this dating thing on each other, when we both know that it's not working out. Damn. When did we even start dating in the first place?"
"You're sick." Drishti was having trouble digesting his words. She knew he was right, but it was still hard for her to accept.
"No, really. You too should have new friends from me. Only when we meet new people, do we realise who would be the best for us in the long term."
"Seriously? And what about those human CCTVs our families have taped upon us? Look at that man there." She said and signalled to him to look behind her.
He turned and saw her driver standing outside the car, facing them, to supervise them. He turned back to her, laughing lightly, making her laugh as well. "Ah, now that could be a discussion."
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A/N: Thanks for sticking around and reading. Do Vote and Comment if you're liking the story. See you in the next Chapter!