Chapter 8

🌷Adithi POV

I woke today early in the morning. I had a holiday and applied a few more so I could be with my parents for a few days. Though I was with Meera the whole time I felt homesick and it's been well over a year since I met them. I have packed my luggage yesterday itself. I got ready and went to the kitchen.

I saw Meera making some pasta. Oh! god her pasta is to die for. She makes it so good and cheesy. She looks at me and goes" You are late".I give her a sheepish smile."Am going by a cab anyway."I tell her."But the earlier you go you will get more time to spend with your family" she told while serving the pasta on two plates."I know. But I will miss you."I tell her.

She snorts at my statement."Or more like my pasta ."She answers back."Why don't you come with me?"I ask her. She gives me a you-know-my-answer look."I want to catch up on my drama. The hero left her because his father was hospitalized in America and he broke up with her on phone. You know how intense that scene is?!"She tells that in one breath ."Ok baba, no one will separate you from your drama."I smile at her. After eating I call for the car and I leave my apartment. It's a 2-hour drive until I reach my home.

(A/N: Can you guys guess which drama Meera is talking about?)

It's pleasantly similar to the last time I was her. As I entered my sister Priya wrapped me in one of her warm cuddles. My mom fed me the food that I craved daily. I got to play chess with my dad. It felt so at home.

It felt as if I was on a vacation. Sure I loved my job, but daily the same thing is a bit boring. My room was still the same. My tenth class self would be so proud of me. Sleeping on my own bed felt so good.

But the conversation I had with my parents is what keeps me awake. I went to the kitchen to check what my mom was preparing."It smells so good ma!"I mutter while entering. She smiles at me."Namratha aunty called us. She told me about the talk you had."My mom tells me."I wanted to tell you maa! But I forgot."I tell her. I should have told her this way before our first date."It's ok, now we know. How many more dates are left?"She asks me."More 2." I answer, she nods her head.

"After the rest of the two dates, aunty will call for an answer, we will say yes. Let them decide what they wanna do."I thought about it for a while. Anyhow I and Karthik talked about it. He will say no. There is no point in fighting with my mom."OK! maa."I tell her that and go back to talk with my sister.

Should I have told her I will not say yes? Should I have told no? With these thoughts I just let myself sleep.

It's been 3 days since I have been here. I got to know about many gossips from my sister and my mother. My sister's love for maths god! She thought me trigonometry again so she could revise.

But I get to spend time with her that's all right. It's been three days I wanna call Meera. I take out my phone and I call her through video call.

"Hello!"I hear her answer. The hello is not that cheerful."Hey! How was your shift?"I ask her."It ended an hour ago came now."She tells she looked really pale. What is wrong with her?"Did you overwork yourself?"I ask her. She places her phone against something and nods her head. 

As I was about to ask her something else she fainted."Meera!!! Meera!! What happened ?"I was startled. She fainted! She did something to herself. I didn't dare cut my call. I took my sister's phone. I knew only one person I could call  -Karthik.

"Pick up! Pick up!"I was shouting. Finally, he picked up."Hello!Karthik!"I practically shout."Adithi is that you?"I hear from the other side."Karthik! Meera!"I try to form words. I am still shocked and it's hard to form words.

"What happened to Meera?"I hear from the other side it was Rahul. I calm myself down."I was talking to Meera on phone, She fainted am not at home please see."I was shouting. I was freaking out. She is really important to me and I can't do anything from here.

"Yes, we are going Rahul ran first."I hear from the other side."Don't hang up ."I tell him. I call my sister" Priya!! Come with me!" I call her and take Dad's car. I explain the situation to my parents.

"Di! Rahul came into the room and picked her up."Priya says to me as I concentrate on driving."He broke your door."I hear Karthik from the call ."It's fine just make sure she is ok."I tell him.

"I and Rahul will take her to hospital. Sharath will take care of the door."He tells me."Which hospital?"I ask him."Dad's "he answers back and cuts the call. She shouldn't have done that. She does it to herself again and again. But this time she took it to the worst point.

What can I do? I really hope I don't lash out at her. I reach the hospital park the car. I run to the reception."Rudra! where is Meera?"I ask him ."He looks at me."She is in room 302. Don't worry she is fine now."He tells me with a smile. I give him a nod and reciprocate his smile.

Within no time I and Priya reach the room. I see all the guys waiting outside."How is she?"I ask them."She is fine now. She overworked herself, didn't eat properly. The nurse was saying she ran two shifts without a break. Why did she do that?"Sharath asks me."You know how people cut themselves to forget mental pain, she does that by overworking herself."I tell them I know it's not mine to tell, but after what they have been through for Meera they deserve an explanation.

"Can we know what is affecting her so much?"I can hear Rahul from behind. His voice is hoarse as if he cried."As I already told you it's not my story to tell."I will explain to Meera why I want to tell them. She will accept.

As we were waiting for Meera to get consciousness," Priya you can go home now."I tell her."Should I drop you Priya?"Karthik asks her."I can drive." she tells him. They all looked shocked."That's what happens if you are not in touch with a person for more than 5 years. I am 20 years old, I need to know driving at least."She tells.

"Ok! go now before it gets late."I tell her."I will come back again to take my luggage ."I wave her goodbye. After some time" you guys can go if you want to ."I tell them."No, we can stay."I hear Rahul talk again. Out of all Rahul needs to know. I tell myself. I go and check the room again. I see Meera awake.

"Meera how do-"She cut me off."Where did you come from?"She asks."You were unconscious I need to do something!"I was raising my voice bit."You should have let me die!"She shouts back.

"Why would I let you die?"Now am shouting. Guys outside can hear it well. But that is least of my problems."You don't even understand me, No one does! No one even cares!."She shouts.

"Meera you are talking out of Anger, I know I won't be able to understand you. But I care for you. Don't you dare say I don't!"I blew up on her right now. I see her I eyes tear up, she is crying. She becomes a baby once we shout at her.

I can't be angry with her anymore. I went near her to console her. But she wrapped her arms around me and was crying. I knew she was seeking comfort. As she had her hands wrapped around my torso I ran my hand through her hair. After a few minutes, she composed herself.

She looked at me in the eyes."I am sorry I shouldn't have done that."She was angry at herself."It's ok! you did it out of anger."I tell her."Hey! don't you think the boys need an explanation?"I ask her ."Are they here?"She asks her eyes bulged out."They brought you here, by the time I came."I will tell her later about Rahul picking her up and running with her in his hands. It would be funny seeing her expressions.

"You tell them ."She tells me. I was at first taken aback."How much?" I ask her. She looks at me with small droplets forming in her eyes."It's either they listen to it and stay or leave. There is no point in burying some of it. Eventually, they will know that am nothing but a broken doll beyond repair."She tells me.

I need to do something to help her. I can tell she is not in the right mind. I want to talk to her change her mind but it wouldn't budge. Without knowing what to say I nod my head and leave the room. As I walk out I see the guys standing near the reception talking to themselves. As they run to me with few questions lingering in their mind. I halt in my steps" Come with me ."Is all I say.

Within a few minutes, we are sitting in a café opposite to our hospital."It was too crowded there to talk about this so I brought you here."I say taking a small sip of my coffee. How do I tell them?

"You all have done so much for us. I don't know how to thank you, guys."I say. I hear a snort from Sharath."Your joking right? We are friends we could do anything for each other."I see him end this sentence with a small smile."He is right. What are friends for? Mocking and helping."I hear from Karthik. I smile at them and mutter a small thank you, but they are too fast to brush it off.

"How is she now?"This time it's Rahul."She is fine physically. Actually, I took her permission to tell you guys what she has been through. And why she acted like this."I tell them in one breath. I turn my head and look around all their faces have this neutral expression.

Letting out a huge sigh I continue" She has a lot of insecurities about herself and she feels that you guys are going to leave her. She may have given me the expression she doesn't care, but she cares a lot. Even after being with her for these many years she still feels insecure I might leave her."I tell them.

I again look at their faces it's all neutral and Rahul seems so concentrated as if he is preparing for a life-altering exam."I first met her during my first year of Medical college. She was the happiest, caring, bubbly, and understanding girl I have ever seen. She is everything now I have explained except she was never happy it was a façade she put on."I again look at them still their faces are neutral.

"Will you guys say something?"I tell them raising my voice a bit."We want to hear you clearly that's why we are quiet, we promise we are listening go on."I can see Sharath giving me a you-have-not-changed-even-a-bit look.

"Yeah ok" I stutter a bit."One day, while we were preparing for a very important exam, I had a panic attack, she was my roommate that time too, so she helped me calm down and stayed up with me all night to complete the portion with me. We were a sleepy mess the next day but we somehow passed that exam."I chuckle at that memory.

"That's how we have gotten close. We have spent the next two years until she knew everything about me and you guys too. I was so comfortable with her so I told her everything. After that it was during my fourth year when we had our biggest fight I told her –'you don't even know what pain is like you never understand me' to this day I regret my words. I left the dorm room after saying those words."I can feel tears forming in my eyes.

"I came back an hour later. I saw Meera sitting in the corner of the room in her very vulnerable state. I went near her and hugged her. She said 'I am sorry, I will try to be better please don't leave me.'I was shocked at the statement she passed. I hugged her for a while telling her am sorry for what I have said again and again. It took us hours together for us to calm down but that was the day she told me what she has gone through."I paused in my words without me knowing tears were falling from my eyes.

I didn't want to look at the others. I continued."She was verbally abused by her parents, she was body-shamed by her parents and her older brother, she feels herself as worthless as she could probably feel, she feels she is not good enough. 

The day you asked us for modeling remember, she felt insecure about her body, and also she was guilty she couldn't help. She also got a call from her parents demanding her to send money and also she was made feel insecure again, that's the reason she cried and we wanted to go home. So she took upon herself to lose weight by starving and she overworked herself."I wipe my tears off.

"I shouldn't have asked y'all, I shouldn't have. I just wanted to see her in the dress I made. I just wanted to see how beautiful she was. It's my fault."I hear from Rahul.

"No! Rahul it's not your fault at all. You didn't know all this. It will never be your fault."I try to explain him. But he still isn't convinced.

"I want to make her know how much beautiful she is. I want to help her."He tells me. He looks very determined.

"I too would love to see her feeling beautiful about herself."We make our way to the hospital. We all reach her room. This time we all go in together.As we enter we see Meera just sitting and thinking. She is sad. It is breaking my heart.

She later notices us."Hi! Meera how are you feeling?"Karthik asks her."I am feeling ok."She tells in a low voice. Karthik looks at her with a smile" Will a chocolate milkshake with two pumps of whipped cream elevate your mood?"He asks her while handing her the drink. 

She looks very happy. After some time she looks at me.:" Did you tell them?"She asks me. Before I could nod."Yes, we know everything. Now what! will you sue us?"Sharth asks while laughing.

" It's just that you guys are still talking to me." she tells in a low voice."You didn't hurt us. You were always so sweet to us, why wouldn't we talk?"It's now Rahul's turn to talk."I just assumed..."She trails of her words.

" It's ok you assumed but why do you have to assume it wrong?"Rahul might be going somewhere with his words. It's better to leave those two to talk, I signal Sharath and Karthik that we have to leave. Before I close the door."Let's make you feel beautiful which you are, together."I hear this from Rahul and that's how I know she is with the right person.

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Word count:2563

Hey! I told you right a lot of hangama will happen. This is not the last. More is about to happen. Has your point of view for Meera changed? She is too pure for this world is what I feel.

This is the longest chapter I have posted. The next update will take more time than expected, so please stay tuned. There is a change in schedule and my writing timings are bad. So next chapter will be delayed 

Don't worry I will try to give you guys a double update.

Hope you liked the chapter comment down Where do you think the story is going. Until the next chapter

~Author