WARNING: EMOTIONAL TRIGGERS. STRONG LANGUAGE.

Note: Thank you for making it so far. You may or may not like the story I may tell but I promise you this story will be worth your time. The story from onwards will be building on this quote "Sometimes when things appear to falling apart, they may actually be falling into place."

✿ Day 10 (1)

[six years ago]

All she knew that she was somewhere she didn't want to be. There was movement above, a hand slithering down her chest. Her button-up jacket was being tugged away.

The only sound she could hear was the faint rustle of clothes and skin upon skin, blaring pop music, and someone's heavy breaths. She tried making sense of the blur. What was he doing? Why was he on top of her? Why was she lying on the floor? Why was he stripping her? She thought he was her friend. She thought he was a good guy.

She didn't want to be here. His eyes gleamed in the sparse light, a wide-lipped grin on his lips- a demonic grin. She squirmed uncomfortably when she felt hands reach for her trousers. She wanted to push him away.

But her body was frozen. Stiff. She wanted to move but she couldn't. What had he put in her soda? She told him she didn't drink. She told him specifically that she didn't do drugs. What did he mix?

"No." She barely spoke the word. Maybe he'd gotten the wrong idea. Maybe he was still a good guy. "No." She pressed her hand to his arm.

He didn't stop. He forced her hands away and pressed them above her head. What was happening? This must be a bad dream. Tears prickled her eyes. She felt so helpless, so vulnerable, so breakable.

Her bare body was in view for hungry eyes.

She had trusted him. He was her friend. Why would he do this to her?

"Stop. Please." She didn't want to cry but a sob escaped her lips anyways. "I don't you like in that way."

He was breathing heavily, his eyes took in her body. "That's exactly why I must."

Forcefully, a nasty wind uprooted an innocent flower. The flower had been growing in a meadow of beautiful flowers. The flower didn't deserve to have its beauty stolen so soon, too soon.

He kissed her, his tongue demanded control, and his mouth demanded her to comply. A sob escaped from the back of Mira's throat. Even in the half-awake state, the fear and panic hit her with full force.

Move.

She begged her own body, nausea tightening its reigns around her as she felt his nails dig into her chest.

Move.

Legs. Arms. Hands.

Why won't you move?

Why won't you budge?

Body, why won't you listen to me?

You're being violated.

Protect yourself.

Please.

She felt so angry. So frustrated. Why had she trusted so easily?

But most of all, she felt helpless. Why would he do this?

His lips left hers. Her eyes were red from tears. "Please. Let me go. Please. Please. I'll give you anything."

Horrified, she watched him undo his zipper. A dark silhouette towering over her. Mira felt like a child, a small child. She wanted to curl into ball, nestle against her mother's chest. She may have been cruel but she would have protected her. She always had. Her mother had always been scared for her safety. If only she had listened to her...

"Selfish..." Her mother's eyes were distant. "It's a selfish world."

"Mama." Mira screamed with every ounce of strength. She felt him closing in on her. She shut eyes tightly. "Mama. Mama." She sobbed. His hands was next to her thigh.

"I'm so sorry. Mama. I'm so sorry." She cried repeatedly. He was removing her underwear.

The worlds was losing its colors. The darkness of the room was nothing compared to darkness she felt in her heart. The brightness of the sky, the softness of the clouds, the wonderful sweetness of sugar, the feeling of her mother's calloused hands on top of hers, the dreams of a prince charming, the hope for a happy future- all of it was leaving her. Her happiest memory was tinged with darkness. A permanent darkness which won't be erased by the brightest stars.

With a tired shudder, she waited for him to steal everything-to taint her soul and her body against her will.

The impact never came. There was light at the door. Someone was standing in the doorway. For Mira, it seemed like the heavens had parted and an angel had descended from the sky.

"Get away from her or I will chop off your dick."

It was Eliana. Young Eliana. In her combat boots, Radiohead t-shirt, and black tights, she looked deadly enough to kill.

Mira clearly remembered the emotion on her face.

Fury.

She yanked him away from her, pulling him by his hair and tossed him on the floor. She kicked his shins until he was blue all over.

Then she turned to look at her, her clear blue eyes wide.

"Mira. Are you okay?"

✿✿✿

Mira sat awake in bed. Her mind replaying the memory of Eliana saving her. She was just a junior in college then, naïve and gullible. If she hadn't saved her that day, Mira didn't know what would have happened.

The impending headache reminded her that she had been drunk the night before.

She remembered few glimpses from the previous night. She remembered enough to know that she had flirted with Atul, asked him to change her clothes, and pestered him to kiss her in the morning.

To say guilt was eating her alive- would be an understatement. Her emotions were a mess. She was thinking about Eliana, her sick mother, and Yudishter.

Yuv was right. She still liked....no, she still loved him and she didn't think she was ever going to stop. But there was also another truth, a truth Yuv had overlooked. She couldn't imagine herself being with Atul anymore. Yes, she could imagine herself in Eliana's place in her fantasies. But in reality, she couldn't imagine hurting Eliana and she couldn't imagine herself standing next to Atul in the long run.

Something about their relationship had always meant to crash and burn. Atul had different expectations from life. He wanted a glamourous, successful life and Mira just wanted someone to share a meal with. Mira didn't think Atul would be content in her definition of a happy life.

Yuv was a different matter altogether. Mira didn't think she was in love with him. Maybe she was. Maybe she wasn't. But the person he had painted himself to be in their two dates was someone she wanted spend the rest of her life with.

The only question that remained: was that person real or just an illusion on the brink of shattering?

The latter felt like the truth.

Mira was jolted out of the array of jumbled thoughts by the ringing of her cellphone. It was Zainab. One of her few friends from college. She lived in California. Mira eagerly picked up the call. Talking to her always made her feel better.

"Long time, no see- huh?" Was the first thing she heard.

A fond smile glossed Mira's lips. "I could say the same. The last time you called was on Eid, last year. Happy Eid by the way."

There was gentle laugh on the other side. "It's Eid Mubarak, you silly goose."

Mira grinned, sheepishly. The cultural mistakes she made whenever she tried to blend in with her friends were horrendous. Once she had reversed the order of words in Chinese and accidentally told her friend to die.

"Anyways. That's not why I called." Zainab's tone was clipped, slightly on the edge. "I heard about Atul and Eliana."

"Oh." All color faded from Mira's face. She tried keeping her breaths normal.

"Did you know before the announcement?"

"No." This wasn't conversation Mira wanted to have, not when she was hungover. The reason talking to Zainab made Mira feel better was because she understood her like nobody else. At times, it was good thing. But today, it wasn't. Mira didn't know if she was ready for the harsh truth.

"Are you kidding? She had the audacity to-"

"But I forgave her. I mean, I would have done the same thing if I were in her shoes."

"No, you wouldn't have. Mira, I know you aren't that cruel."

"It's not a matter of cruelty. She was scared, Zainab. I kinda get it. She didn't want to lose our friendship"

"Then she shouldn't have dated Atul."

"You don't get choose who you fall for!"

"Mira....Ya Rabba (Oh God)-"She could imagine Zainab, shaking her head at the phone.

Mira didn't want Zainab to hate Eliana. The three of them had stuck together for so long. It would suck if something like this got between them.

Taking a deep breath in, she told Zainab a truth she hadn't pondered upon herself. "She had asked him. Before they started dating. She had asked him if he liked me and you know what he had said, that he saw me as a sister."

"Sister." Zainab scoffed. "Yah sure. Go ahead, Mira. Turn a blind-eye to all of Eliana's mistakes."

"You know what" She massaged her temples. "You know what, I will ignore her all mistakes. After all she's done for me, she deserves to have one mistake forgiven."

It didn't take Zainab a second to guess what she was talking. "Mira." Her tone was much softer now. "You've done countless things for her too."

"It could never compare to what she did that day."

There was silence.

After a moment, Zainab replied with a question that made her breaths halt. "Why did you really forgive her? Was it so you could still be around Atul?"

"No." But who was she fooling.

"People change, Mira. Maybe that Eliana was worth sacrificing a love for." Mira's eyes lingered to the newspaper cutting, the one where Atul and Mira were walking out Silicon heights, hand in hand. "I don't know about this Eliana."

Mira's eyes stopped at the mirror. The starry mirror. The perfect illusion of happiness and understanding.

Even in the fleeting moments they had shared, Yuv had managed to capture her broken heart in his own wounded, bleeding hands.

"I'm not sacrificing anything." A treacherous tear slipped from the corner of her eye. "Maybe I'm just letting go of what was never meant for me."

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Note:

No goal this time.

Just your thoughts and opinion.

Always waiting,

Tallara. 

P.S. New character inspired from a certain reader. ;)