Nash and Vaish left our WhatsApp group, leaving Chanch behind with me.

While I had breakfast, the next morning, at around 11:50 a.m., I gawked at the notification in sheer disbelief, as I wondered what drove them to do that. I understood that I was wrong on my side, but I made an earnest effort to repair the damages I invited; what more did they want me to do? Somewhere, I could understand Nash's anger towards me; I was the reason why her beliefs were questioned. But I didn't know what I did to Vaish; was she merely following Nash's footsteps, or did she hold something against me? I kept my toast aside, and dialed Nash's number, right away; I listened to every outgoing ring, keenly, and somewhere around the sixth ring, Nash answered the call, but remained silent.

"Nash? You left the WhatsApp group", I said, and I could hear how hurt I sounded. "I know, I did", she accepted. "Nash, why?", I questioned, and she did not answer me. "If you're still holding onto negative feelings, I apologize. I'm sorry, so sorry, for what I did yesterday", I apologized, but not even a whimper aroused from her side. "Nash? Say something. Everyone's treating me with silence. I made a mistake, and I've understood. Just don't give up on me, yaar. You're not saying anything. Vaish has left the group. Chanchal—is in another world. Darshan isn't talking to me. You know that I can tolerate everything, but I cannot take it when my people drift away from me. I know that I'm stubborn and adamant and I hesitate from accepting my mistakes; but, I'm coming to terms with my flaws and I'm trying to change my ways", I explained.

"Dityaa, listen...", Nash breathed out, eventually. "...I don't exactly hold anything against you, alright? But I need time to absorb the situation and understand what has happened. I need time to get over whatever I was faced with. I need time, because I'm mentally disturbed; this may mean nothing to you, but I've had my beliefs questioned and my Hijab ripped off, which is a big deal to me. Dityaa, not everyone can continue living life from where they left it, after a turbulence; not everyone can be you. I take things to heart. The smallest of small things affect me, so can you imagine how I must be feeling right now? I need to recover, and until that does not happen, I cannot face you, or talk you, as though nothing happened; I don't have the strength to do that, and that's who I am", Nash said. "But Nash, running away is not the option", I told her. "I know what I'm doing, Dityaa", Nash said, softly, and I couldn't argue further, even if I wanted to. "I left the group, because I don't want to talk to anyone. I need to shut down, that's it", she said. "But why did Vaish leave the group?", I asked. "Ask her. I didn't even know she left the group, until you told me. Please don't think that I brainwashed her, or something", Nash straightforwardly said. "Okay", I exhaled, and cut the call.

'Hey, Vaish? Why did you leave the group?', I sent a personal message to Vaish, on WhatsApp, while she was online. But she took three whole minutes to open my message, and even longer to revert.

Vaish: Just felt the need to.

'Fine. Cool', I texted back, utterly annoyed. I was sick of knocking on everyone's door with an apology, asking for an explanation from them, and explaining myself. There's a limit to everything, and they crossed that limit; I didn't feel the need to fix anything anymore. I cornered my iPhone on the dining table, and looked up at the ceiling, breathing in and out, slowly.

"Bad day, even before the day started?", Kavya cued, lightly, and kept a mug of coffee on my side of the table. "Friendship breakups. Kind of", I wrinkled my nose, and smiled at her. "Ouch! They hurt a lot", she whispered, loudly, and drank her coffee. "It hurts even more when you think that you have fixed the damages, but nothing changes", I said, absently, tracing my finger over the warm coffee mug. "What's worse is, when everything changes for worse and equations get disrupted, before you could do anything to mend the relationship", Kavya added, and I agreed. "My mom says that, you need to be careful with relationships because they're not pipes that could be fixed, when it cracks or leaks. But if you ask me – I think that some relationships resemble broken pipes; they can be fixed, if the other person makes an effort, too. You cannot make amends alone, and you shouldn't; because when you mend a relationship, on your own, you increase your own chances of surviving in that relationship, but the other person may not make am equal effort to stay, or keep things the same. When it's broken, you need to fix it together, you need to invest into the process together; because logically, you value something more when you have invested a part of yourself into it. Like, when you spend your earnings on something expensive, you'll be careful with it; the same way, the ones who value relationships are the ones who have spent themselves in it. When you're in a relationship, you'll have to cover half of the distance to get to the top of the bridge, and your partner, or friend, should cover the other half. It is a partnership. Climb the bridge, but don't cross the bridge; wait for your partner to meet you on the bridge, and if he, or she, does not show up – walk back, because if people want to stay with you, they'll make an effort", Kavya said. "So, I can simply make an effort and cross the bridge, right?", I shrugged. "If you're going to do all the hard-work, the other person will never learn to value your relationship", Kavya said back. "I'm terrible at understanding relationships. I'm so hopeless", I shook my head to the sides, and Kavya giggled. But maybe, I was that person who wouldn't climb the bridge at all, or I'd simply cross it – I didn't know about the art of waiting for your other half to meet you at the top, and perhaps that's why I felt I was being used and thrown away.

On the way to my office, a message from Darshan flashed on my lock-screen, which read – 'Hey. I need to talk about something. Come to Starbucks near my building?', and that was enough – more than enough – to evoke the curiosity in me, which I couldn't fight or silence.

'On my way', I messaged back and ordered the cab-driver to take the left, because I didn't have a good feeling about his message. Throughout the ride, my heart pounded against my chest and my mind drifted from one disturbing thought to the next. Deep inside, I prayed that he called me over for a casual conversation because of the rough time we had, together, but my prayers couldn't calm me down because Darshan wouldn't call me over, out of nowhere, without a legitimate and serious reason. I didn't know what destiny had in store for me, and I was terrified.