Hello guys!

I said I'll update a lenghty chapter but I couldn't. And am sorry for it.

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Maya's POV:

I took a deep breath and looked at him. Today I want to tell him all the things that I have hidden from him.

"When Aashi scolded and blocked him, I felt peaceful. At that time, I was writing a book called "Longing Hearts" for a competition at my university. It's a short story. And guess what, I won the prize and it was published by our university literature club. Though I'm a member of the club, we didn't know who the judges were. I was literally on cloud nine that day. But my happiness didn't last long."

That's one of the memorable days in my life.

"Did you mean "Longing Hearts" by Mayim_the_Dreamer?" Avi asked me, narrowing his eyes at me.

I could read something in his eyes, but I couldn't understand what that was exactly.

"Yes, by the way, did you read that book?" I asked him, looking into his eyes.

"Yes. Arjun had sent the link to that book to me. I literally became a fan of that book. But why that name? Why didn't you publish it in your name?" He asked me.

"Simple. I didn't want unnecessary attention focused on me. Even in my university, nobody knew that I was the writer of that book, not even Surya, Aashi, and Pranav Anna. I have sent the soft copy of that book to our literature club head with an anonymous mail ID. And surprisingly, it got the first prize out of 250 books. Mostly, I didn't want my parents to know about me being a writer. It's not that they wouldn't encourage me, but I just wanted to be an anonymous person to the world. And coming to why that name. In Hebrew, Maya is thought to mean "water," derived from the word "Mayim," of the same meaning. And in Sanskrit, Maya means "dream or illusion". So that's why I chose that pen name, Mayim_the_Dreamer. " I wanted to share this with him for a long time. I knew he would be happy, but he would definitely tell Arjun Anna, and that boy wouldn't sit silently.

"Are you not in touch with Aashi?" He asked me out of nowhere.

My face paled listening to it. And my eyes pooled with tears thinking about Aashi. My soul sister. I gulped the pain and told him.

"She met with an accident a year ago and is in a coma. She lost her parents in that accident. I don't know how she will react when she gets conscious. You asked me right, why I didn't come to meet you on our birthday. I was with her in the hospital that whole week. She was getting treated in our hospital. So I used to freshen up in our orphanage and spend some time there with the kids. Every week I used to go to see her once and meet her grandparents. They were shattered and heart-broken. Of course, it's not easy for them. They lost their only son and daughter-in-law, and their one and only granddaughter was lying in bed lifelessly. They were returning from their relatives' wedding when their car broke down. They pushed Aashi out of the car and their car rolled down."

"I still remember that dreadful day, Avi. I got a call from the care-taker of their house that they had had an accident. I and Pranav Anna immediately left for Chennai for the next flight. We weren't even able to recognise their bodies." I shut my eyes in pain.

How would Aashi react if she awoke? All these years, she waited for them to spend a little time with her. Now how would she take that news that her parents went far away from her?

"Surya reached the next day. That's the first time I saw Surya after our graduation. We completed the last rites, and I was in Chennai for fifteen days. Sarala Dadi fainted out of shock and was bed-ridden for a week. Dadu was heartbroken to see the condition of his little family. Later, with the help of Anitha Aunty and Janu Maa, we shifted her to our hospital. She got a major head injury and was operated on twice. She was fighting for her life, Avi. She made so many plans for what to do in my marriage. She has always believed one day we would be together. That idiot used to tease me hell with your name." A smile formed on my lips as I thought about her teasings.

It's after the completion of our 2-1 semester. I stayed in Aashi's house for two days as she was nagging me. We were sleeping in Aashi's room, and with Aashi cuddling me.

"Bestie!"

I was sleeping peacefully when I felt someone shaking my torso and calling me. I turned to the other side and was sleeping, hugging the teddy, when I felt someone pulling my hair. I got up and sat on the bed looking at my best-friend who was glaring at me angrily.

"What happened, Aashu? Why did you wake me up at this hour? Is everything okay?" I asked her groggily in my sleep. Don't blame me; she woke me up in the middle of the night at 2 a.m.

"How many kids do you want to have with my brother?" She asked me.

"Huh! What?" My sleep flew away listening to her stupid question. I looked at her in disbelief as if she had grown two horns. Like seriously, this idiot wanted to know about my future kids at 2 am. "God! Why me?" I pouted, looking up.

"Arey! Tell na." She said, poking my cheeks.

"Did you hit your head anywhere, Aashu? Damn, it's 2 o'clock at midnight, and you want to know about my future kids? Are you mad, Miss Aashi Suraj Kapoor?" I yelled at her.

"Arey! Why are you scolding me? See, I've been babysitting you for a year, and in the future I've got to do it for your kids too, right. That's why I'm asking you now only so that I can plan my schedule from now on only." She said, pouting at me and battling her eyes innocently at me.

Did she just say she was baby-sitting me? I glared at her while she gave me an innocent look.

"Ayyo! If you have two boys, then we will name them Motu and Patlu. Nah, I guess Golu and Molu will be the best. And if you have a boy and a girl, we will name them Bunty and Bubbly. If you have two girls, then we will name them Elsa and Anna", she said, dreamily.

I could only gape at my best friend, who was blabbering about my future kids. Did she just name my kids? Oops, sorry, sorry, my future kids the names of cartoon characters that we both watch? I slapped my forehead and sat there, sacrificing my sleep to listen to her cute banter.

My eyes pooled with tears thinking about the time I had spent with her. Her cute banter, her naughtiness, her pranks, her boldness everything about her reminds me of my childhood. I hope she recovers quickly. I know she will beat me for marrying in her absence. But what I fear the most is how she will take the news of her parents' death.

"Don't worry, Maya, she will recover soon. I know she will be shattered when she comes to know about her parents' death. But we are there for her, right? We will take care of her. Don't worry, everything will be fine, hmm." He said, kissing my forehead.

I have noticed that he is calling me Maya. He only does it when he is angry with me. And, he definitely has every right to be angry with me.

"So where am I? Yeah! I gave a party for my friends and my favourite book got the first prize. We four went to our favourite restaurant. Actually, I put some lines from that book on insta as a status for promotion of that book as I'm a member of the literature club at my university. I didn't know how that status reached him. We were having our dinner, happily teasing and pulling each other's legs when I got a call from an unknown number. I just declined it for the first time, but once again I got the call from the same number. Aashi lifted the call and put it on speaker."

"Hello! Kaun hai?" Aashi asked, answering the call. (Who is this?)

"Arey! Hindi baby lifted the call. Where is that innocent and bitchy friend of yours?" He asked with a tipsy voice.

"Mind your tongue, Mr. How dare you call her a bitch, you bastard? You are just messing up with the wrong person," she said, with anger dripping in her voice.

"Aley (Arey), Hindi baby is getting angry. Give your phone to your friend. I want to talk to her na," said Rajesh.

"Aap usse kya baat karana chaahate hain?" Aashi asked him. (What do you want to say to her?)

Maya showed her hand to Aashi and spoke, "What do you want, Rajesh? I have told you right. I'm not interested in any relationship. Then why the hell are you bothering me unnecessarily? Can't you understand in simple words?"

"Arey! Calm down, sweetheart. Why are you getting tense? What's wrong with me? I'm from a good family and I earn quite well. Oh, no!I got it! I'm not handsome and rich like that, Surya and Pranav, right! Tch, tch! You could have told me, na, sweetheart. By the way, are they satisfying your needs? I thought you were different from other girls, but you were also like those bi**** who go behind rich and handsome men. And, haa, please remove that status of yours from insta. People like you don't have the right to talk about love," said Rajesh.

Tears flew from Maya's eyes as she listened to his disgusting words. If he was in front of her, she wouldn't mind killing him with her bare hands and going to jail. Surya and Pranav were controlling themselves not to blast, and Aashi was murdering the table cloth with the knife in her hands. Thank God! They are in a private room. Otherwise, the situation would have been worse.

"Mind your tongue, Mr. Rajesh. Just because I am not speaking anything doesn't mean you can speak whatever shit you want. I do know the value of love. And I don't need to learn lessons from a person like you who doesn't know how to respect the feelings of others. I do know the relationship that I share with my friends. And I don't need to prove it in front of some roadside rogues. Before pointing at my character, think about your character. And now talking about trapping rich guys. I'm way more rich and powerful than you and your family. If you forgot, it's not me who traps rich guys, uses them, and throws them out their life after their work is finished. It's your sister. So think before using such foul words. Next time I won't hesitate to chop that tongue of yours and feed it to the dogs. I forgot. What can I expect more from you? Your sister is a witch who trapped my brother with her charms, and now could I say the same that you are trying to trap me for money? And, what did you say? You earn quite well and come from a good family. Mr., that's a recommendation job which you got because of my brother. And your salary is not even equal to my pocket money and part-time job salary. And coming to your family, a boy who doesn't know how to behave with girls and a girl who uses boys for her own benefits. What a great family? Your sister got saved just because she is a girl; otherwise, she would have faced hell for playing with my brother's feelings and for putting false blame on his character. It won't take me a minute to destroy both your personal and professional life. So think a thousand times before you speak to me," Maya said, sternly and cut the call.

She threw her phone on the ground, breaking it into pieces. She hugged Aashi tightly and cried in her embrace. She might have talked bravely with him, but the moment she cut the call, she couldn't control herself and broke down in her best friend's arms. It's not that easy to forget his words. They pierced her heart like a needle. That man pointed at her character and demeaned her self-respect. She will never forgive that man in her life. All of them went to Aashi's house and stayed there for that night as it was already late, and also they didn't have the mood to go to the hostel.

To be continued.....

A

Keep smiling and take care :)