Once Upon a Time- Part 2

She stirred the tea again lost in thought.

She hadnt thought it possible for them to be separated,let alone separated the way they had. Definitely not this reason.

It was something very workable Vidhya had thought then. The issue was relatively simple. It was on one of those lazy afternoons after a heavy lunch of macaroni and ice cream at Malvika's place. They were researching for their project when an IM window pops up revealing Malvika to be in a relationship without Vidhya ever hearing about it. Once Vidhya recovered from the initial shock, she had questioned Malvika about it. It had taken time for her to accept that Malvika was in a relationship, a cyber one at that without so much of a mention to her but she quickly convinced herself that she had taken things much too seriously and it was finally Malvika's life and she had every right to make a decision about it. She was her friend, her best friend. She would stick by and try her best to ensure Malvika's happy.

That incident wasnt quickly forgotten but lost its importance over time. A year or 2 things were going great, just like how they were before the incident gave a new aspect to their relationship. Malvika and Rohit had met and things were happy between the two. Soon, Vidhya was on chatting terms with Rohit too. She had wrongly assumed that Malvika was cool with the arrangement since it was Malvika who had introduced her to Rohit. It was only later that she started noticing a few digs, a few meaningless taunts being targeted at her. At that time too Vidhya couldnt quite figure what was going on and assumed there was something wrong between Rohit and Malvika and left it at that.

Then came the blow. Hard, sudden and harsh. A lot of hurtful words were thrown at her. Most of them baseless. Her innocence and friendly nature had been taken for a ride. Malvika had blamed Vidhya for her failing relationship with Rohit. The distance between the two, her stubborness or his temper and her sensitivity didnt seem to strike as the reason. What had struck instead was the acquaintance Vidhya had with Rohit. Perhaps the only fault, if it could be called so at all, was that Vidhya had heard out Rohit's little tiffs with Malvika just as she had when the other told her about it and pointed out the other person's point of view. That is what Vidhya identified as her "fault".

That was it.

Vidhya was willing to work on it, talk about it. She wished to justify herself.Malvika hadnt given her the chance. In the angst of her failing relationship, Malvika hadn't realised that she had not only accused Vidhya of taking her boyfriend but had belittled their friendship and the opinion Vidhya had of Malvika.The accusation, in the light of it itself seemed harsh and the more Vidhya hurted over it, she began to see new aspects of their friendship she hadn't noticed earlier. Her blind trust in Malvika, her absolute concern. her confidence that come what may Malvika wouldnt get her wrong had all crashed. To reality or to nightmare, she didn't know.

3 years had since passed. Last year, Malvika had called up to wish for Vidhya's birthday after trying to contact Vidhya through various channels and finally tracing Vidhya's number through a mutual friend.The first few chats were awkward, abrupt. The wound was still sore for Vidhya, though it had begin to heal with the help of other friends. Their relationship had obviously changed but it still felt as though things could one day be how they were before. However the one thing that had changed for certain was Vidhya's ability to blindly trust and her understanding of relationships.She had made a vow then, 3 years ago that never again would she interfere in anyone's relationships unless they come outright and ask for help. Three years and the vow is still in place.Things weren't back to normal yet, definitely not but at least they were speaking again and here she was to meet the same person for the first time in flesh and blood after the war of words.

With one last sigh, Vidhya gulped the now cold tea and resumed staring at the doorway with the steady impatient tap of her foot giving the background score for the rush of thoughts in her head.