is forever a myth? chapter no. 1

SEQUEL TO THE CRUSH OF MY LIFE

         IS

FOREVER

A MYTH???

.......Or Does It Really Exist?

To the eternal bond that we share

Zindagi ko badalne me waqt nahi lagta,

Par kabhi kabhi waqt ko badalne me zindagi lag jati hai!!

DEDICATED TO MY CRUSH.

If this story isn’t for her,

Then this story wouldn’t be.

Prologue

We all have that one person in our lives in whose absence our existence seems utterly meaningless.

For some people, that person is a friend—a family you choose instead of being forced into liking. No

matter how much you argue with your friends over little things, ultimately you love them for exactly

who they are. None of those petty, expensive gifts or sweet words mean anything if one can’t appreciate

the little things that matter.

Varun was lucky enough to have the best of both: a friend to live for and a love to die for. A friend

who would confidently lie to his parents just to go out with him and a girlfriend who was slowly and

discreetly penetrating his heart and soul.

It was the evening of Varun’s relationship anniversary. Varun had left for his girlfriend Aakriti’s

place and his friend Hitesh(me), too, was on my way. Varun had made all the preparations for a perfect

evening. As he took out his mobile phone from his pocket, he scrolled through Aakriti’s pictures in

his gallery for a while, then read the text message he had received, and started typing a reply:

You will look ravishing covered in my kisses. Let me tell you the

truth today—no one can be compared to you, my love. I love you so much and I wonder to myself why? You know what they say

—when you know why you like someone, it’s a crush and when you can’t think of a reason or explanation, it’s love.

He read the message once again before pressing the send button. He then thought of deleting the text

message from his phone. After all, it had only been a day since they started seeing each other. He feared

whatAakriti would think about him. But the best conversations are those that never take place, like

the messages that we never send.

Varun reached Aakriti’s house and knocked on the door. She let him inside, though something had

changed this time; earlier he used to visit her to learn French while now he was here to teach her how to

French kiss, if the stars favoured him. He called me to ask him where I was and how long I’d take

to reach.

‘I am on my way. Will reach in half an hour.Extremely sorry, buddy. I am still stuck in traffic,’ I

lied.

I was not struck in traffic but caught up in another meeting—one with my best friend likewise Varun. A girl can be

your best friend, your worst enemy, or your worst nightmare. It all depends upon how you treat her.

I treated her like a princess but always asked her when would she start looking for a guy to fall in

love with to which she would reply, ‘I don’t need someone so mature that I can’t act immaturely around

him. What I need is someone who adores my immaturity and maturely understands me.’ We’d end up

fighting over issues like these and would stop talking to each other for days.

She was supposed to travel back to her hometown that night, all by herself. I never liked the fact

that she travelled alone. But she loved adventures and it was beyond my control to win an argument

with her.

I was about to reach Varun’s place when suddenly I took a U-turn in high speed. The other cars

came to a halt the moment I took the sudden turn and sped away. While I was waiting for the

signal to turn green, I received a message. I immediately called on the unknown number and before

the person on the other end could explain the whole thing, I ended the call. Suddenly, I felt numb—

like my whole world had come crashing down. I couldn’t believe my ears. It was, by far, the worst

news of my life.

My hands shivered as I accelerated the car. After a few minutes, I got a call from Varun again.

‘Where are you? Stop following girls and come here right away.’

‘Varun, I’m not coming. I am extremely sorry but I need to see someone urgently. Please don’t take

this the wrong way,’ I said with a heavy voice.

‘What happened?’ Varun asked sensing the gravity of the situation.

Without uttering a word, I disconnected the call and parked my car. I got out and started

walking when I realized that I’d forgotten to lock the car, yet again.

‘How many times do I need to tell you to check whether the doors have been locked properly or not?

You are so careless, Hitesh. This is unacceptable.’ I remembered her chiding me and a tear rolled

down my eyes.

All the crazy moments that we had spent together came rushing back like a flashback in front of my

eyes. I remembered our long drives and the way she tickled me sitting beside her in the car. An

empty smile, unspoken words, and a broken heart; it was killing me. Our relationship did not flourish

as intended. Perhaps, it would go somewhere better. All the good memories and the precious moments

we had shared with each other had been scattered in a fraction of a second.

Sometimes we play with our lives, but when the time comes for us to get serious, life plays with us.

Varun was expecting me to celebrate his newfound happiness with him, but now even Varun was

worried for me. Aakriti was confused by the way Varun was acting and wanted to know what had

happened.

Whenever he faced a difficult time, she would be the first person to be by his side. Now I was

missing that support of hers. I was missing the support of my best friend, Kavya.

CHAPTER 1

A Slightly Insane Friendship

Mid July

‘Kavya, what are you doing here at this hour? You act like my mom. She also had this habit of

waking me up early in the morning for no reason whatsoever. It’s so annoying!’ I muttered still half asleep.

Kavya was kicking my butt in an attempt to wake me up.

I and Kavya were both colleagues in Chandigarh. But today we were in Delhi for a meeting. Since it has been long we met Varun so we decided to meet him.Living in Varun’s room,

“I wanna make up right now, nana…wish we never broke up right now, nana…”

the song was playing on repeat on the stereo and I slept without a care in the world. Kavya pick

a duplicate key of Varun’s room every time we visit him with her precisely for situations like these.

If it were up to me, I would sleep all through the day.

‘You can never get up on your own, can you? You should throw away your alarm clock. It’s of no

use,’Kavya complained shaking me up.

Kavya was a tomboy, completely extrovert in nature. She made friends easily unlike me and loved

playing sports and riding a bike. Although slightly plump, she carried herself with grace and was always

full of energy. She never wore anything that would make her look like a slut. She was a hardcore foodie

at heart and loved to experiment with her taste buds. Her favourite hobby was teasing boys and she

didn’t spare me whenever she got a chance.

Kavya stayed in Kothrud, Pune. She was extremely bold and forthright, and did not care if people

took her the wrong way.

‘How can you kick me in my own house?’ I looked annoyingly at Kavya with his eyes half open.

‘Oh please! This is not your house. This wouldn’t even classify as a “house”. Look at that dirty

underwear of yours hanging on the rope. It’s so old it’s covered in holes! And those socks of yours?

They stink so bad that I need to carry a room freshener with me every time I come to your house,’

Kavya said with an expression of disgust on her face.

I barely made note of her complaints and went back to sleep, asking her not to disturb him for

another 15 minutes.

I was a smart and witty boy, with an extremely good sense of humour. My only vice was that I

was extremely lazy. Kavya would try her best to talk me out of sleeping so late, but I wouldn’t listen.

I always wore a stubble on my fair skinned face and the style helped me to woo girls. Like Kavya, I

would never bother myself with what people thought about me and were never ashamed to express

what I felt. Though I would take my time to befriend people, I was never outrightly rude to anyone.

I knew how to charm everyone in my presence and could talk to anyone with ease.

I met Kavya in the same office and we hit it off instantly. She tolerated me and adored me

while I had her back, always. All the other girls? Well, they were friends. Friends with ‘benefits’.

‘Get up, you kumbhkaran. Look at how late it is. I hope you remember we were supposed to go

shopping today,’ Kavya said and went into the kitchen to prepare breakfast.

By the time she entered the bedroom, I had taken a bath and was getting ready.

‘That is so sweet of you. That’s why I call you my best friend,’ she said pulling my cheeks.

‘Stop sugarcoating me. I said I’ll come and I always live up to my promise. So let’s go,’ I said

adjusting the collar of my t-shirt.

‘Wear your pants, at least,’ Kavya said pointing to the towel wrapped around my waist.

‘Stop instructing me on the proper dress code when you aren’t dressed in salwarkameez either,’ I

laughed looking at the skirt she was wearing.

‘Who do you think you are, a stud?’ Kavya asked.

I ignored the question and grabbed a comb from the dressing table, eating my breakfast

simultaneously. This annoyed Kavya. To set me straight, Kavya knew just what to do. I had a few

oversized shirts in my wardrobe that I had never worn before.

‘What are you doing?’ I asked her when she picked up one of the oversized shirts and went to the

washroom to change.

‘You’ll see in a minute,’ Kavya replied cheekily as she closed the door of the bathroom. What excited

Kavya was a nightmare to me. When she came out, she was wearing nothing but an XXL size shirt

with a waist belt. The shirt barely covered her thighs.

‘Have you lost your mind?’ I screamed.

‘If you can wear those tiny boxers of yours and roam around freely in the house, why can’t I go out

shopping like this? Doesn’t it look sexy?’ Kavya asked checking herself out in the mirror.

‘I am not coming with you if you are going out wearing that. Tell me, you are kidding, right?’ I

was completely baffled.

‘Don’t you dare challenge me. If you lose, tonight’s drinks are on you.’

Saying so, Kavya pulled me by the hand and took me downstairs. She refused to go via my car and

ignited her scooty. I was completely embarrassed. I looked around to see if anyone was watching

us. Kavya was enjoying my embarrassment and couldn’t control her laughter. While driving,

Kavya’s shirt would slide up a bit, and I would try and pull it down for her, much to Kavya’s

amusement. Whenever the scooty would halt due to heavy traffic, we would become the centre of

attraction as all eyes would be fixed on us. All I could do was hide my face under the helmet.

‘Kavya, this is not done. Can’t we just go back to our room?’ I pleaded.

Kavya was in no mood to listen and continued to drive until we reached Paciffic mall.

Even the person who handled their parking ticket in the mall took his own time to check out Kavya.

‘You son of a bitch…’ I was unable to control his anger but calmed down when Kavya pinched

my thigh.

I had never witnessed such an embarrassing situation before in my entire life and decided not to

wear my tiny boxers, not even at home. Their was a crazy relationship where nothing was off limits.

‘It’s not over yet. We still have to go shopping inside the mall,’Kavya winked at me.

I had no other option than to comply with her wishes. From the security guards to each and every

person in Paciffic mall, everyone stared at us, probably because she looked weird to them or because

they wondered why I was on the verge of crying even when I was with a sexy-looking girl. Kavya

was enjoying herself to the fullest. She was happy that she had won the bet and that I would now

have to foot the bill. We shopped for her and unsurprisingly, I took a keen interest in selecting her

outfit so she couldn’t humiliate me again.

‘Are you enjoying, darling?’Kavya said pulling my cheeks as we stood by the billing counter of

Westside.

‘I will respond suitably when the odds are in my favour,’ I replied as Kavya smiled looking at me.

We left the mall and rushed back to my apartment. This was not the first time that Kavya had

messed around with me. She could do so repeatedly because we shared such a strong bond with each

other. Isn’t this what true friendship is all about? Doing all those crazy things that you can’t do with

anyone else? Once we entered my flat, I andKavya burst into laughter. We were completely

crazy and loved being with each other. Our connection was above time and space.

‘Kavya, tell me something…didn’t you feel awkward this morning when you went out in that outfit?’

I asked.

‘I did feel awkward, but that’s fine. Paagalpanti is the trademark of our relationship. Moreover, I

could only do so because you were there with me in your boxers,’ Kavya winked.

~

We all were enjoying drinks at the Swig lounge after our official meeting with a client that day. I had lost a challenge I

had never accepted in the first place. But you can’t win an argument with girls, can you? Swig was one

of the coolest places in Delhi where you could just lose yourself in the crowd. With an amazing

ambience in the evening, the place was an attraction to youngsters and the college-going crowd of the

city. It had a prominent bar right at the centre, with wooden tables and chairs, and beautiful stained glass

lamps that hung above each table, creating an ambiance of warmth. Varun,Kavya and me loved coming to

this place, especially on Tuesdays when most drinks were served at discounted prices during ‘Happy

Hours’.

‘Cheers!’ I said raising a toast to our friendship. It was my fourth glass of the evening.

‘Tell me seriously, who was that girl you were talking to yesterday? I’ve never seen you with her

before,’ Kavya said giving Varun an odd look.

‘Are you talking about the girl who was wearing a blue dress?’ he asked trying to recall.

‘Oh, so you even remember the colour of her dress! You were getting so close with her that I

thought…you know…’

‘Oh, shut up. I spoke to her for the first time yesterday. I had my reasons. Her name is Aakriti. And

anyway, I have decided to be serious now. I mean not with her but…you know…I want to be in a

committed relationship now. No hanky panky,’ Varun stammered.

‘Oh really? Is it you talking or the bottle?’ Kavya laughed.

‘I am serious, Kavya. I was talking to her to confirm whether she would be teaching French to me

not.’

‘Ok, so then?’

‘Then what? She would teach me. She is an expert in using that language and you know how pathetic I am. So I thought

maybe she could teach me?’

Kavya and me couldn’t stop laughing at the thought of Varun and Aakriti in one room learning French kisses rather than French language. We didn’t know if

We were imagining things due to the effect of alcohol or was Varun seriously in love. Varun had never

been serious about a relationship before although he had dated many girls in the past. So it was quite

strange for us to hear from Varun that he was actually getting serious about love. The only serious

relationship he had was with me. But it was pure friendship. We decided to ignore his ramblings till

he sobered up. Wewere a bit high as well and decided to leave the matter be. Generally, friends get

serious about something or someone in a drunken state. Varun was no different.

Meanwhile he got a call and left us for a meeting.

I called for the waiter.

‘Can I get you anything, ma’am?’ the waiter asked politely.

‘Ma’am my foot. Tell me, are you giving birth to the chicken? It’s been more than an hour since we

ordered the dish. Where is it?’

The waiter immediately left to enquire the reason for the delay while I kept staring at Kavya after

her sudden outburst. The waiter brought out the dish the very next moment and I was about to ask

for the bill when Kavya shouted again, ‘Manager, see the oldie there. Oh god, I think he’s dead.’

A middle-aged guy in his mid-30s was sitting adjacent to them and was resting his head on the table

after having a drink too much.

Kavya thought of annoying the guy and continued, ‘Manager, I am serious. See this old uncle here?

He’s dead.’

I was used to her antics, especially when she was drunk. We laughed as the people sitting

aroundus started looking at us as if we had come from a different planet altogether. After

sometime, when the situation was under control and that oldie had left the place, she insisted they leave

the lounge without paying the bill. I didn’t agree in the beginning but then thought of trying it for

the thrill. We tried to act casual so that the waiters didn’t catch our attention.

‘I am going to quietly move out by pretending to be on a call. Once I leave, you can join me in a

couple of minutes. You can even come later as they don’t really question girls.’

Saying so, I moved outside pretending that I was not getting network coverage in the room and

slowly walked towards my bike. When I saw no one was noticing me, I sat on the bike and ignited it

so that they could run away as soon as Kavya came out. I kept the ignition on just in case we had to

make a quick escape. After some time, Kavya came out and casually walked towards the bike as if

nothing had happened. As she came closer, she increased her pace.

‘Fast…sit…sit…sit…’ I whispered.

She quickly sat on the bike and we sped away. She turned to see the guard running out of the lounge

with the bill in his hand. But I raced the bike at bullet speed.

‘How did you get out so smoothly?’ I asked.

‘I asked for directions to the washroom and slowly slipped out instead. The manager seemed to doubt

me, but I maintained my cool and walked at a casual pace so that the guard standing outside wouldn’t

stop me.’

We high-fived each other and screamed loudly in joy.

Friendship isn’t about who you have known the longest. It’s about who came and never left your side

even when you committed a crime. In this world where everything seems uncertain, only one thing was

definite: Mine and Kavya’s friendship…beyond words, beyond time, and beyond distance.

After returning from the lounge, we went to FC road as I wanted to eat chocolate paan. Kavya saw

a man selling soap bubbles on the road.

‘Hitu…even I want to blow those soap bubbles,’ Kavya said in a childish manner pointing towards

the vendor selling them.

I obliged to avoid the similar chaos that had occured a few minutes ago at the lounge. I knew

she would create havoc if I didn’t buy her those soap bubbles. Little did I know that there was no

stopping her and that she would go wilder with each act. As soon as he purchased it, she started blowing

bubbles on passersby and troubling them. It became difficult for me to control her but even amid this

chaos, I couldn’t help but laugh at her childishness.

Eventually, I took her by the hand and dragged her away from the scene before she could make

life miserable for other people. She continued blowing the bubbles sitting behind on the bike. She saw

two girls on a scooty parallel to them. The bad girl in her awakened and seconds later, she started

bothering them.

‘Are you lesbians? You want to try a threesome?’ she teased the girls.

‘Yeah, please take her along with you. Make her sit between you. She is in a real need of a

threesome,’ I added and started laughing.

Without speaking a word, the girls raced their scooty and ran away. Me and Kavya had fun eveteasing

all the bikers we crossed, till we reached Varun’s apartment.

‘What a day it was. I will never forget this my entire life,’ I sighed as I parked the bike.

‘Seriously. We had an awesome time together. We should do this more often,’ Kavya laughed trying

to walk properly. The effect of alcohol was taking its toll on her. I helped her by holding her hands

and taking her upstairs.

‘You are staying here tonight. I am not letting you go to your hotel in this condition.’

‘No, I have to go. Bye,’ said Kavya trying to push me away.

I threatened to inform her parents. I took her inside and made her sit on the couch. She relaxed

a bit and started laughing again, without a reason. I freshened up and decided to make some Maggi

for the two of us as Varun was fast asleep. Kavya always loved herMaggi with a seasoning of oregano. She never missed an

opportunity to eat it whenever she stayed back with me. While I was in the kitchen,

Kavya opened my laptop to browse through the folders.

‘Hitesh, where are my Accounts assignment’s pictures?’ she asked.

‘Now why do you need them at this hour? Don’t tell me you are going to write it now,’ I shouted

from the kitchen.

‘No, I just wanted to see them.’

‘They are in the Daily chores folder, E drive.’

I poured out the cooked Maggie from the saucepan into a dish and was about to put ketchup on

top when I realized that the folder contained some B-grade movies. I kept the ketchup aside and ran

into the bedroom to stop Kavya from accessing the folder in time. But it was too late!

‘So these are your daily chores?’ Kavya teased, turning the laptop towards him.

I tried to snatch the laptop away from her but even in her tipsy state she wouldn’t let me take it

easily, and put up quite a fight.

‘Kavya, this is not fair yaar. Some things are really personal and even you should not touch them,’ I

pleaded.

However, Kavya didn’t show me any mercy. She in fact insisted that they watch one of the movies

together while eating Maggi. I flatly refused but ultimately gave up when I realized that arguing

withKavya would be futile. I made himself comfortable on the bed, next to Kavya, and played a

random movie from the folder.

‘I don’t want to watch this one. Play the other one which had…’ I stopped her short saying all

movies had the same content and it didn’t really matter which one we watched.

With every noodle she slurped, she watched the movie with more curiosity. It was the first time she

was watching anything like this and was enjoying herself thoroughly.

‘See, this guy looks like you,’ she said pointing towards the hero of the movie.

‘Shut up. Look at the girl; she looks exactly the way you were looking in the morning wearing that

sultry dress,’ I laughed.

Before Kavya could finish her Maggi, I fell asleep. She shut down the laptop and smiled thinking

about all the fun we had together. Though Kavya behaved like a kid, I loved the child in her. She

would always say, ‘I don’t need anyone who is mature enough to stop me from acting immature. What I

need is someone who can adore my immaturity and maturely understand me.’ No one, except for me,

would be able to tolerate Kavya’s childish behaviour post drinking. Similarly no one could tolerate

my untidy nature but Kavya. We were perfectly made for each other; friends who did silly stuff

together, laughed at each other when we fell, and lived life our way without giving a damn to the

people around us.