fourteen: friends? forever.

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'5 May 2024'

After what felt like the longest 26 hours of his life, Vedang landed at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Airport, Mumbai: Terminal two. He was coming back home with another friend from university- Amit. The duo room their bags from the conveyor belt and made way towards the exit, the heart beating with anticipation of meeting their families. Amit lived in Mumbai, so he didn't have to travel ahead much (though Mumbai traffic can be horrible), Vedang felt exhausted just at the prospect of sitting in a car for more three and half hours.

As he stood in front of the exit, his eyes wandered around, searching for his parents.

"Aai, Baba" he whispered to himself as he saw them. Even with the trolley in his hands, he ran to them, just like how a lost child would run to his parents after finding them.

"Aai!" he hugged her tightly, as he had missed his mother's warmth. His mother, a little emotional, hugged him back, as she had missed her kid. Vedang's father smiled at the duo.

"Kay re, Bapachi athvan aali ka tula? Ka nahich?" (Did you ever miss your father?) he joked and Vedang chuckled, leaving his mother.

"Nahi aali athvan ajibat!" (No, I did not miss you at all) he replied as he hugged him. His father patted him on his back as they hugged.

"Bhook lagliye na? Me parathe banavle ahet!" (Are you hungry? I have made parathas!) his mother said.

"Khup bhook laagliye, Aai" (I am famished, Mom!) he replied honestly.

-

When the family reached home in Pune- every bone in Vedang's body was tired from travelling for 30 hours. As the familiar place came in sight, Vedang felt a rush of emotions. Joy, comfort and a slight nervousness, for she still lives here.

It was around 7:30 p.m. when they reached back home. Kids were playing, the teens were walking around, the senior citizens were chatting. It was a very pleasant atmosphere. Almost everyone said "hi" to him with excitement as they were seeing him after a long time. That was the thing he loved the most about his society: they were all like a small little family. Some people were close to each other, while others despite not sharing the same bond, cared.

"Aye kisi ko bhi andar aane dete hai" (They let anybody in) he heard a voice. Swanandi. He tilted his head to see Swanandi and Tejas standing, and he grinned.

"Abb lag raha hai ki mein waapas aaya hu!" (Now I feel that I am back home!) he commented and the three shared a laugh.

The friends chatted and caught up a bit for five minutes, not long since Swanandi and Tejas could clearly see that Ved was tired.

"Uh..where's Lavanya?" He asked before he left, his voice laced with hesitation.

"She has this important test tomorrow, she'll meet you after the test" Swanandi said.

"Alright"

_____

'6 May 2024'

"Aai, me khali jaatoy!" (Mom, I'm going downstairs!) Vedang yelled as he wore his floaters.

"Bara! Lavkar ye!" (Okay! Come back soon!) she yelled back from the kitchen.

It was around 9:30 p.m. it had been an entire day since he was back home, but Lavanya had not texted him. He even texted her "Hey, I am back in Pune, when are you free to meet?" But she hadn't opened the message. It made him feel angry and hurt at the same time. He needed to go out and clear his mind.

'berange the din...
berangi shaame,
aayi hai tumse..namkeeniyaan'

He walked in the society premises while listening to songs. Mild winds were blowing, even in Summer- which was a thing special to Pune. And while walking, he saw her. She was wearing a lavender coloured t-shirt and black track pants.

Why is my heart beating so loudly?

He smiled at her, and she returned the smile.

"Hey" she said, in a soft voice.

"Hey" Vedang greeted her with a tight lipped smile, confused on what he was supposed to even say.

"Should we sit?" She asked, hoping to talk to him.

"Sure" he replied. The two sat down on chairs, sitting face to face.

Vedang sighed.

Fuck it, I'm saying it.

"Lavanya, I really don't feel like talking to you right now, but let's just clear the air" he said.

"Okay" she said, sitting up straight, and he saw her tense a little.

"I don't know what I do so wrong that you have been ignoring and avoiding me for the past couple of months, but whatever it is- I don't really care now. We have always been honest with each other and you could have just told me why you don't want to talk to me. I wouldn't have forced you to forgive me, but at least I would have known what wrong I did. But, you never talked to me." All his anger burst as he said everything coldly. And just at the end, his hurt came out as croaked a "Why?"

He looked at Lavanya, she looked like she had a few tears in her eyes, or maybe it was his own tears, clouding his vision. She didn't say anything, but let out a sob before hugging him.

"I am sorry"

"I am so sorry, this is all my fault. All me" she said between sobs.

"Hey, calm down. It's- it's okay, d-don't cry" he whispered in a soothing voice. But the stutter, it was all because the girl he likes a lot was hugging him.

She left him, facing him.

"I was messed up, I don't know what I was thinking. And I hurt you, I hurt you when you were so far away. I haven't been feeling myself since some time, and I just haven't been able to," she sighed in between, too overwhelmed. "I am not trying to justify what I did, I am just explaining why I made these mistakes. I'm really sorry, Ved. Could you forgive me? I won't do this again" she said.

All Lavanya said was true, except she couldn't say one thing- that she tried to move on from him, and was extremely unsuccessful. But that wasn't all, the last few months had been troublesome, she wasn't performing well in studies which had caused her stress, she felt exhausted all the time, and hadn't even been able to talk to Swanandi and Tejas properly. She herself didn't know what was happening. But, she knew that she had hurt Tejas. And if he didn't forgive her today, she was scared that her coming days weren't going to be better.

He flashed a small smile at her and said,

"Listen, I am still hurt. But that doesn't mean our friendship ends, Lava. We are friends, always have been and always will be. Let's just try and forget all of this"

Lavanya let out a sigh of relief.

"Thank you so much, Ved" she whispered.

Ved smiled as he remembered something, and showed his pointer finger and middle finger to her, a thing from their childhood,

"Batti?" (Friends?)

"Batti!" (Forever!) she said happily, joining her own middle finger and pointer finger to his.

Thank you to every single person who read 'khat'. I'm grateful that you chose to read this story, which is really close to my heart. I always wanted to write something from a guy's perspective and I hope I did justice to Vedang and also Lavanya. I hope I was able to convey their emotions to you all, because that's what I wanted this story to be. I wanted it to feel raw and real. I wanted it to feel like something an eighteen/nineteen year old would write, not something really poetic but rather something with abbreviations and wrong grammar (hated doing both).

Anyway, I would love for y'all to drop some reviews on this one- I'm learning and trying to improve, and your feedback would be really helpful❤️

- also, all images were taken from Pinterest.