Ritik's POV:

We can't be together Ritik!

Kiara's sentence echoed in my ears again. Only I know how hard I tried to take it out of my mind. I did everything to ignore it but the more I try, the more it keeps ringing in my ears.

No, I was not sad because Kiara said this to me. I was angry because she refused to tell me the reason. I wanted her to tell me what was stopping her, I even had my own ways to make her answer but before I could do anything Abhi uncle arrived and I had to let go of everything.

"Ritik, Are you alright?" Mom asked. We were sitting on the dining table having our breakfast.

"Yeah. I'm fine." I replied.

"You aren't eating so I thought to ask. Is the food not good? Should I make something else?" She offered. I looked at my plate and then back at mom's worried face. My dear mom, why are you so sweet?

"I'm sorry. I was thinking about something and the food is too good." I said and started eating unwillingly. At that moment I was not hungry for food, I was craving was Kia's reason for lying. Last night I thought about calling her but I was unable to do that so today I decided to go and meet her as soon as possible.

"Why are you eating like you were starving for months?" Aashika asked. Not today.

"Mom, please tell her to keep quiet." I requested and saw mom telling her to shut her mouth.

"Ritik, we have a wedding to attend tomorrow, Will you be there?"

"No mom, I have some work to do. You guys enjoy. Anyway, I'm getting late, I will leave now." I said gulping the last portion of my juice and went to get ready. Sitting there would have caused mom to have more doubts and worries so it was better to leave however before going from there I made sure to say sorry to Aashika as it was wrong to my take my anger on her.

**

Once inside the college, I went to meet Kiara however she was not in their club's office neither were her friends. I called Anika to ask about her and came to know that Kiara was not receiving her calls and Anika was in her class.

Why is she being stubborn?

As I stood outside the football court, I remembered Kiara's face when I confessed about my love. She had a different kind of spark in her eyes. She looked happy but then something happened and a tear slipped down her eye. After that what she said was something I never expected her to say.

"Ritik." I heard Anika call me.

"Tell me what happened." She asked however I was hesitant to tell her everything.

"I want to talk with Kiara. Please." I requested.

"Did you...I mean did she....forget it. I will call her again and inform you." Anika assured and started typing something in her mobile.

"She is here," Anika said and signalled towards the gate. When looked in that direction, I saw Kiara on Sameer's bike. He waved at me and then went to Park his bike while Kiara took slow steps towards us.

"Hi." She said slowly looking at her feet.

"I want to talk with you."

"Yes say." She replied. She very well knew I would not say it in front of Anika yet she wanted me to do it.

"Don't you think I deserve an explanation?"

"Not everything has an explanation Ritik and let's talk end this topic here." She stated, She looked everywhere but refused to look at me.

"Kia," I called.

"We can't be together Ritik. Please try to understand."

"But..."

"Please." She requested and before I could say anything she went away.

"Ri, what happened? Why do you look so sad? And what happened between you and Kiara." Sakshi asked as she came and stood next to me. I was too broke to reply her anything but then again, I wanted to share this with someone. I was getting emotional. Kiara's ignorance and her stubborn nature was hurting me now.

"Where is Viraj?" I asked and came to know that he will be here soon.

"Leave that idiot. What happened to you? And what were you talking with Kiara.?"

"I told her that I love her," I replied.

"You did what?" Sakshi asked, obviously shocked because of what I said.

"You heard it right."

"Wow. I can't believe it. Kiara must be so happy. What did she say?" Sakshi asked excitedly. If only she knew what she was going to hear next, she would never have been so excited.

"I wish she was happy but no, she said We can't be together," I replied and saw Sakshi's smile drop.

"You are kidding me right?"

"No Sakshi, I'm not. Kiara seriously said that we can't be together and please don't ask me why she said that because even I don't know." I replied and saw Viraj coming towards us. Unlike me, he looked very happy today.

"Why do you look so happy?" I asked.

"This idiot just told me that, Three years ago today..."

"Nothing. We will talk about that later." Sakshi said stopping him. I recalled what happened three years ago and realised that today was the day when Sakshi accepted his proposal. I still remember how curious Viraj was to get her answer and how happy Sakshi made him when she said 'Yes'. Lucky guy.

"Ok. Why are you looking so sad?" He asked. I looked at Sakshi and she immediately narrated everything to Viraj. Even Viraj had a smile on his face when Sakshi started and by the time she was done, his smile was gone.

"I don't know what to say. Somewhere I'm happy that you finally realised your feelings and then I'm also sad because of what happened. Should I talk to her?" He offered, resting a hand on my shoulder.

"I really appreciate your help but no, I want to do it on my own," I replied and saw him nod.

"Are you fine Ritik?" Sakshi asked.

"Yeah. Don't worry about me." I assured and saw a happy glint in her eyes like she wanted to ask something so I decided to answer it.

"Kiara always had a soft corner in my heart. When we were kids, I preferred to stay away from girls as I was annoyed because of Aashika's crying however whenever I went to Sameer's house to play, Kiara used to play with us. As we started growing we became friends because of mutual likes and dislikes. She was fun to be with and that's how we became best friends. I never liked seeing her with someone else, I still don't. I was 10th grade and she was in 9th when I started realising my feelings for her are not restricted to friendship, I wanted to tell her everything but then she started ignoring me. She started being with everybody that I hated. Once or twice I warned her about being in bad company but she refused to listen. I don't know why it was but she started to distance herself from me. We talked, even though it was very little, we did talk with each other but then when I was in 12th grade she skipped my birthday. I was hurt and started ignoring her. That was the same time even Sameer started ignoring me and our friendship faded."

"I thought what I felt for Kia was just mere attraction and so I ignored my feelings but now it feels like all these years I was making a fool of myself. Even though we never talked, Whenever she was sad or in some trouble, I wanted to be her saviour like every other time."

"That day when I heard her confess what she feels about me, I was the happiest. I always felt Me and Kia, We both had something more than friendship between us but when she started ignoring me I thought I was overthinking and only I feel about her, she never did. All my doubts came true when she confessed that. I was overjoyed. I wanted to tell her the same thing but I was afraid to do so."

"All these years I kept ignoring her because I thought she is changed. She isn't my Kia, My best friend but I was mistaken. She is still the same Kiara, I loved. All this time I didn't say her anything and yesterday when I did, this is what I got." I replied and stopped. I'm not that weak to cry over small things but I was emotional here. Kiara's statement refused to leave my ears.

Why? Why can't we be together? What's stopping her?

"Ri," Sakshi called as she came and sat next to me.

"I swear I'm fine. We have a family dinner at her house today. I will talk to her." I assured.

"And yes, don't spare him for forgetting the day you accepted his proposal," I said and saw a little smile on her face. I remember this day because it falls after the day of our college foundation day. Viraj is an idiot to still forget it.

"You are literally my best best friend. I really wish your best friend had a brain like yours. Anyway, I love you so much and I really hope things work well between you and Kiara. Tell me if you need any help." She said pulling my cheeks whereas Viraj just rolled his eyes.

"Let's go, we will attend lectures today."

"No, I'm getting back on the field," I replied.

"Ok boy but please spare that ground today. No aggression." She continued like a boss and I nodded.

Kiara's POV:

"Don't you think he is being too aggressive today?" Sameer asked looking at Ritik and then at me. Today he was going to drop me home but before that he wanted to meet his friend and so he made me sit with him. His bike was parked exactly in front of the football ground and so he was enjoying the match whereas I was trying my best to act fine. I was hurt to see Ritik angry. It pained my heart to know that all this anger was because of me.

"Kiara," Sameer called again.

"Yeah. Must be having some tournament." I replied and looked away.

"Maybe but still there is something different in his behaviour today."

I again looked at the field. Can this boy for once learn how to control his anger?

"What do you think must be the reason?"

"I don't know. How would I know why he is angry?" I asked angrily. Oh no, I shouldn't have shouted on him.

"Why are you getting you angry?"

"Nothing. I'm sorry and please ask your friend to come soon." I replied.

"He will be here in five minutes," Sameer answered. From the past fifteen minutes he kept saying the same words yet his friend was not here yet.

"By the way, When I came to call you what was Anika talking about? Who proposed you yesterday?" Sameer asked. Within no seconds I felt my heartbeat raise. Everything that happened yesterday started flashing before my eyes. I swear I was very happy when Ritik said that. It was like a dream come true moment for me but unfortunately, I couldn't reciprocate his words.

"No one," I replied.

"Tell me tell me. Everyone deserves to be warned before falling in trouble and here that poor boy is trying to jump in living hell." He said making me shot a glare at him.

"I'm joking. Sit here I will be back in a minute." He said and went away. That means I will have to sit here for a half-hour more. I wanted to go and meet Anika but knowing what it would lead to, I didn't went there.

"Done avoiding me?" I heard a voice ask. Anika.

"I was not."

"What happened between you and Ritik last night?" She asked.

"Nothing."

"Why the hell did you do that?" Anika asked angrily this time.

"Leave it, Anika, please. I don't want to talk about it." I replied.

"No, you have to talk about it. You said you love Ritik and when he said the same, why are you acting weird. Why are you not answering his question?"

"Because we can't be together. He is smart enough to know the reason, I'm not going to tell him. If I can't be with him, I don't even want to be the reason why he goes close to someone else."

***

"Hi di, how are you?" Aashika asked as she came and sat next to me. Today there was a family dinner at my home but the plan changed suddenly and so we were at Nia's home.

"I'm fine. How are you?"

"I'm too good. How is life going?" She asked. I was shocked to see her talking with me but soon I realised that it was only because Nia was not present here.

"Aashika, Where is Ritik?" Aashna aunty asked. His name brought butterflies in my stomach. When I came here, Ritik was talking with Ruan uncle but after I returned from the kitchen he was nowhere to be seen.

"I don't know. Must have went out." She replied.

"Ok. Please go and call Nia." Aunty requested however Aashika was very much against it. She kept saying how tired she was to climb the stairs.

"I will go." I offered and got up to leave.

"Thank you," Aashika said and got busy with her mobile.

"She must be in her room or on the terrace." Aashna aunty informed.

"Ok," I said and started climbing the stairs. I went to Nia's room but she was not inside so I went towards the terrace. As I was taking steps I heard some murmuring sound. As from the voice, I figured it belonged to Nia. Who is she talking with? I climbed more and was finally able to hear the voice clearly.

'I tried to do the same but it didn't had any effect on you.'

'It feels like if I don't initiate, You will never talk to me.'

'Have I done something wrong? Hurt you in any way?'

'Why are you ignoring me? It hurts Ritik.'

'Don't you know what I feel for you? If you don't know it yet, I don't mind saying it clearly...I love...'

Before Nia could continue I tripped and hit the terrace door.

"Are you alright?" Both Nia and Ritik asked at the same time. Alright? No, I was not. I was not hurt physically but mentally. Hearing Nia say those words to Ritik felt like someone just stabbed my heart. This was the pain I didn't wish to get. This was the reason why I wanted to stay away from Ritik but still, I did the same thing.

I looked up and saw both of them looking at me with concern. Ritik looked tensed whereas Nia looked like she was hurt and was about to cry.

"Yeah. I'm sorry. Nia, Aashna aunty told me to call you downstairs." I replied.

"Oh okay." She replied. We then heard Kriya aunty calling her so she excused herself and went out without saying a single word.

"Kia," Ritik called once I turned to leave. Standing there would have made me cry and so I wanted to leave soon.

"Please don't." I requested.

"And I hope now you know what the reason is," I said and went from there.

                              ****