THIS SIDE THAT SIDE

Truth and Reasoning

Preeti's POV

"Preeti..." I heard Sunaina's voice. Running towards me, I could see the rainwater dripping from her clothes. I knew it was silly of me to pull such a stunt. I was warned by Shawarma a lot of times but for the moment, Sunaina was far important to me. I had to make her listen to me and the only way she will listen is by a few rash actions. I ran towards her and she hugged me immediately. I could hear her loud sobs in the cold heavy rain. She was always a cry baby and even though now I was supposed to be angry on her for her rude behaviour look at me now consoling her.

"There...there.." I said patting her head.

"Why would you do something like this? Did you not realise how heavy is the rain?" She started scolding me in between the sobs.

"I am sorry na..." I smiled hearing her complaints at me gently. My hands still patting her while her grip on me was still very strong. Guess her fear of losing people is coming into effect.

"Let's get inside my van ok Sunaina?"

"Mmm" she mumbled something that was inaudible to me. We both walked slowly inside the van, where Shawarma had already prepared a clean set of clothes. We both got dressed inside the van and dried our heads with a dryer. Just like old times when we had sleepovers and stayed back at each other's house. We both were a lot carefree back then. Now look at us? When did we become so silly yet so mature. We both are dealing with two different things but somehow it leads us to each other. That's how our friendship is. We sat beside each other. I could clearly sense the tension among that is seeping through in between us. I held her hand tightly and called out her name.

"Sunaina...?"

"Why didn't you ever tell me Preeti? Why?" Her eyes getting all teary again.

"Sunaina...it's not like that. Just listen to me."

"I am listening to you Preeti. Tell me. I want to believe you. So please tell me the truth."

I took a deep breath and began speaking. "Do you remember the first time we met?"

"I do. It was at a literary convention. I just went to the table where the book 'Waking up with You' was kept and you asked me if I was buying it or not. Soon we started talking and we found that we had so much in common in between us. Then we started talking and now are besties" I smiled at her description. She still remembers every detail.

"Actually...I went there that day because my book was released that day. No one knew I was the author and so I just went in to inspect the sales and how were the reviews. That's how I met you."

"But then why didn't you tell me anything that you were the author?"

"Because I didn't trust you at that time." I said bluntly. "Sunaina...admit it or not initially we weren't close enough that I will be willing to share my secrets with you." Her mouth dropped at my words but I knew she deserved to know the truth that was not sugar coated.

"Then did you not ever trust me?" Her voice was cracking. I knew all this is too much for her to take up.

"No silly!" I patted a little on her head. "I remember how sad you used to be when you read the book and you were wondering for days the reason why Arjun didn't get a happy ending right?" She nodded.

"I just didn't want you to blame me or misunderstand me. It might sound silly but I knew that you wouldn't have able to swallow the news back then. I had to keep my identity a secret to maintain my normal life." She looked down and I continued. "You knew how my parents are right? They don't want me to do anything else other than becoming a doctorate. She would have immediately asked me to stop all this if somehow my secret identity gets revealed." She listened carefully to every word that I was speaking. I think she was understanding why did I hide it from her.