Break up - Story

"Oh you are already here? I am coming" she hung up her phone and rushed to the door.

"Amma" her own voice hit her reflecting from the wooden door. She continued, "He came. I am going, amma" 

"Enjoy yourself" 

"Thanks, bye" 

Her heart had never felt ticklish before. She was nauseated but was it for the smell of the rain outside? She stepped down the stairs that would eventually lead her to the apartment's gate in three turns. She reached the first turn and paused, smiling at the memory of Abhay. 

"Arre! And you punctured all the four wheels?" He exclaimed.

"I am a very generous person, alright? I must've spared her one wheel" she smirked.

He burst laughing while both of them continued their walk on the street. Bags hung over their shoulder, he lost balance and lightly dripped over Malini's arms. Their fingers brushed. She was coy. Our self centered hero unknowingly walked. 

Malini got down the stairs to reach the second turn. The sensation of nausea was rapidly killing her confidence. "सब ठीक होगा" she adjusts her tight heels. She wants to remove it yet she doesn't. She feels something not going right, although smiles and moves on. 

"क्यू भला?" said Abhay, "Flat slippers, oh no" 

"Never worn anything other than them. Although where does it matter?" her tone was still seeking his validation.

"Then do it, na!" Abhay leaves her behind and walks faster. She stands there with the pressure of pacing up that leaves her in bewilderment. She felt something wrong about him, yet she decides to hide and move on. 

Third turn. She was much engrossed in her fears that she paused in the middle. Her father's loud and sharp words and her mother's argument was strangely audible in her head.

"Papa, he is a nice guy" 

"कालेज इसलिए भेजते है क्या" his voice scared Malini, "Look at what you have become" 

"Aarush" Malini's mother screamed in the argument, "You left us, remember? It is me who stupidly tries to bring you back. Please leave, now forever from our lives" 

The door slammed. Poor Malini had no choice but to stand and see her father walk away behind the closed door. Her mother consoled her, yet she could only act like being fine.

Four more steps that will lead her to the gate. "Shouldn't have lied to mummy" she thought to herself and kept walking towards the gate. She locked the gate and waited. She leans on the wall that continued with the gate. The cold was biting her and the mosquitoes pinching her. Her phone vibrates.

"Sorry. Let's call it quits." 

It was not shocking but heart aching. Had she invested herself all these days for this?

The door opens and she can see her mother standing in front. She timidly walks to her and as she felt her aura merge with her mother's, she cried loudly sinking in her arms. 

She pushed her mother to the chair. Her tears seeped in her mother's sari. She was ashamed of herself. 

"Papa was right" Malini broke the silence.

"Easy, baba. You can be better than this... You have loved someone, इत्नी बडी कब हो गयी मेरी मालिनी? The next time you will love someone, he will be worth it. But make sure he loves you back. Because he will deserve you only when he will genuinely loves you. He will be your dearest friend. And whomever you love, I will accept him for you." 

Her caresses eased Malini's pain. Malini was embarassed how she had drained herself all this while in a relationship, mistaking her masking herself as sacrifices for her love.

"No love truer than being authentic, my dear. Implies to you too." 

She had stopped crying long back. She fell asleep unknowingly in her mother's arms.