.Priyal.

I opened my eyes. It wasn't new for an insomniac that 2 hours of sleep can't make the person sleepy. I got up from my bed and went to have a look in the mirror. I could see a reflection. It was Darsh who was making a heart in the air by his finger, with Aarush written in it. 

I held my head in between my hands and closed my eyes. I shouted and felt an intense headache. I finally decided to meditate. Although, I am a doctor myself, sometimes I also fail as a specialist. Meditation helped a bit. I preferred to do aerobics, to keep my mind and body active. I was finally in a state of control. So, I freshened up and turned off for the clinic. 

I met Viren there at the clinic. He was concerned for me and even noted that I looked quite pale, even more than yesterday. 

"Ok. Now, you have to be serious Priyal. I am taking your case professionally. You have to do all that I say. I have a degree for both psychiatrist and psychologist, therefore, I will function as a psychologist for you." he said, and I sighed. 

Now, even I psychiatrist needs a psychologist for herself?" I asked being sarcastic. 

"So, what? Aren't you a human being? Don't you need a specialist if required? Doctors are also humans, we're not God." he motivated me and I nodded. So, Miss psychiatrist got a psychologist. 

"And, it doesn't matter. You can treat Aarush now also," he concluded and told me some headers as a professional. He bid me adieu as he had another patient to handle for a few days. 

I walked inside and greeted Mr. Array. But, what he told me was beyond my imagination. Dry tears rolled down my eyes.

"He isn't well. He again faced the most dreaded sight that can be there for a human being and even, a psychopath. He had all again faced the nightmares. Maybe, they were not that scary, but the impact they make can even damage the brain and too, can even snatch lives. What Aarush is going through is again of another stage." he said. And, I don't even want to disclose what else he was saying. 

More and more I was heading in my life, more and more my life was becoming hollow. Sometimes, I even curse myself because all the people who are connected to me always suffer. If I wasn't supposedly on earth, maybe at least half a dozen lives would be saved.

Time and again, I ambled towards Aarush's cabin. What did I do that everyone around me had to face this much? And, there he was, keeping his head hung low, he had shut his eyes quite deliberately. He opened his eyes and then, he took a look at me. His bloodshot and painful eyes had a different sad story. Keeping his eyes closed, he again went on a small hibernation. 

.Author.

"We again had to give him a pulse of current." these words echoed in her ears. What she heard from Mr. Array was not leaving her mind. 

She went towards the shock machine and kept it close to her hand. She closed her eyes and let the shock wave get inside her. She wasn't shouting. Instead, she had tears and a painful smile on her face. She didn't give up till the time she wasn't satisfied. Aarush got up from his hibernation mode and took a view of the scene in front of him. 

He didn't have any tears. She simply moved towards Aarush and smiled towards him. He held both her shoulders and stared at her. 

"You can't be Nits. You're not the one," he said. 

"But, why? Why do you think so?" she asked him. 

"Because Nits can't do this. She can never do this. This isn't her behavior." he simply replied. 

"B-But..." she couldn't complete. 

"You're simply Priyal, a friend of childhood. You're not Nitya. You're not my Nits. And after what I had learned from that yesterday's dream, I know this better." he sounded cold yet calm. His head kept rotating, but he was ignoring it. 

"Sit here. I said, sit here now," she commanded, and he followed her instructions. 

"Don't you dare move, understood?" she again ordered him in a cracked voice. She massaged his head until he felt relaxed. This time, he had tears in his eyes. He looked towards her. 

"Pri" he called her. She was shocked yet happy. 

"Are you fine Aarush?" she tried to ignore. 

"Listen to me. Who gave you the rights to hurt yourself damn it?" this time, his whole face was covered with tears. 

"I am not Pri. I am Nitya, just you have to call me Priyal." she again tried to retort by ignorance. But her inner conscience accepted that she had to admit it next, if, he himself wants to come out of this. 

He didn't listen and held her head immediately. He pulled it closer to himself and kissed it intensely. 

"This is the answer. I have to forget Nitya and I would do so. I have kissed as a promise of this. The forehead kisses are only reserved for you Priyal. I never ever kissed Nitya or any other girl on the forehead. I couldn't do that. My heart and brain now know that you are my Pri." he emphasized.

Priyal nodded through her eyelashes and crashed in his arms. He also held her in his protective embrace and absorbed the moment. But, suddenly, he pushed her a bit. Priyal was shocked. 

"How dare you Priyal? How dare you hurt yourself? Why did you do this? Why did you pass a shock wave to yourself?" he was hell angry and concerned.

"I can't see you in this state. Never. And just like you justified Nitya's behavior, you should know about me." she replied.

He held her hands in his and looked at her, "I can't forget about you. But, why do you always do this? I know that you always understand other's feelings. You feel what others feel. You yourself go through artificial intense pain, just to understand other person's pain. You faced the shock just to feel what I was going through? I don't understand Priyal. How can I person be this pure?" he voiced in extreme cracked tone.

"If you understand everyone's feelings, then why did you fail to understand what I was going through. When you had left, do you even know what I had felt? There aren't any words to explain that feeling." he was really broken. Priyal didn't answer. 

"I am sorry, Aarush." she could only say that. It was years of her departure. Now, the two souls who were inseparable once, but got separated due to destiny, stood in front of each other. 

She just hid her face in his chest and sobbed. 

"You left me and I fell for an other girl. If you had never left, am sure, you would be Mrs. Aarush Sahay by now." this line wriggled Priyal's whole existence. She gave it a thought. She would have never lost her parents, she would have never fallen in love with someone (Darsh) apart from Aarush, and she would be his lovely wife. 

But, was thinking like this also a sin? Was she not supposed to save her precious love, Darsh's memory only?

"I am not a psychiatrist. I can't be one. I have got the job to treat him, but I am myself so vulnerable." she thought.

"No one is God. We're not the perfections of Ram-rajya. We're imperfections of the modern world." he, like omniscient, read her mind. 

"You understood?" she asked. 

"Not even the wide distance of years can fade the bounties of our friendship." he concluded. He pulled her in an embrace and let her hear his heartbeat. 

For Priyal, it seemed as the satisfaction after a decade. His 'lub-dub' was her stress buster. His heartbeats unknowingly attracted her. As if she heard them before. But, where?

"But, be ready to face the possessiveness of this friend." Aarush sniffed into Priyal's ears.

✪♡✪♡✪♡✪♡✪

I know this really might not make sense. I was not connected to this. That's why it turned out to be a li'l broken. 

So, was it even 1 percent emotional read?

And, any suggestions for this oh-not-so-amazing writer?

Please do share this book as much as you can. With everyone, as it is a general fiction now. 

Tagging my awesome readers- 

amruta118 anuliya123 parica_is_love Jasminearun aditi902 mitali_bhaskar

Much Love, Priya