Entangled Lives

Chapter XXV

MARRY.

"Will you marry me Prachi?" Prachi stared down at the boy who was her best friend, the same boy who was still on his knee and had just proposed to her. The question reverberating in her mind.

Propose........... Will you Marry me?............ Marry...... MARRY!........... Being someone's............... Being someone's for life......... The whole life............... Being someone else's......... Someone who is her friend............. Just Friend............

Being someone's that is NOT Ranbir.

Being anyone's that is not Ranbir.

Ranbir!

Prachi's head snapped up to look at the face of her 'the one' looking at her with the most broken look ever. No, it wasn't his face that conveyed how broken he was. It was those chocolate orbs that she had lost herself into so many times. The eyes that had been her anchor in adverse situations looked lost. The eyes that had given her hope looked at her dull.

Prachi's heart felt a jab when she saw his lower lip tremble. The unshed tears in his eyes were like a dragger through her being. All she wanted was to run to him, hug him and assure him that she was his, only his. To kiss that look out of his eyes. To hold him so close that he could hear her heartbeat that screams out his name. But her feet were rooted to the spot. All feelings and control striped from her body.

Her heart pierced as she saw his crestfallen face. She bore the weight of breaking his heart, but can she handle the burden of defying her best friend as well?

"No" Prachi gasped out loud, taking a step back. Looking straight into Ranbir's eyes.

"What?" Most asked, not hearing what she said.

"No, No I- I can't- I can't do this." Prachi muttered over and over, taking a step back. She stumbled as her knees turned weak and someone held her in the nick of time. Aarav hurried to his feet, stepping forward but stopping in his track as a tear dropped out of her eyes. Her eyes still trained on those chocolate ones.

"Prachi-" Pragya started but Prachi cut her short.

"NO." She said in a final tone, looking at her mother.

"And YOU" She turned to Aarav who sported an unreadable expression. Her eyes blurry with tears as she realized that she might lose one of her best friends today. 

But when she remembered how broken those earthy eyes looked, everything else just jumped out of the window. Just pure anger residing in her conscious being. Anger on the one that made those lively eyes look dead. Herself included.

"How could you? How dare you?" She scream asked the quiet boy who was just looking at her, mum after uttering those five words.

"What were you thinking Aarav? Were you even thinking something?"

She knew that she was doing wrong and is crushing another part of her heart. But the sheer hurt she was feeling was blinding her to even see anything rational, let alone think.

"You are my best friend Aarav, You, you were there when almost no one else was. You always knew how I feel about you, and you knew what I will feel when you will say those words to me. You are a beautiful part of my life that I cherish as an important one. You are my best friend. Then why? Why did you have to go on and ruin everything?" She heaved as ceaseless tears run down her blush-covered cheeks. 

"How could you even think so?" She asked, her voice breaking as she held her forehead with one hand and closed her eyes to clear her eyes as well as her head.