Nature in Hiding

71- Happy and Guilty

Gyaan, who had been searching for Ahana all over the pack, sighed in relief when he finally found her sitting on a rock near the waterfall. He jogged towards her to see her throwing pebbles in the water aimlessly.

"What's wrong?" He asked, sitting beside her, gathering a few pebbles himself.

"What's right?" Ahana questioned back harshly. She sighed, before apologizing to him for her tone. "Sorry, I am just in a bad mood."

"Did something happen?" Gyaan asked with concern. As far as he knew everything was going alright. They were settling down fine with their jobs, and were even getting along with other werewolves.

"I am just feeling guilty," Ahana muttered, throwing a pebble with such force that it ended up clashing with and breaking Gyaan's pebble.

Gyaan's eyebrows raised in alarm at the sight. "Why are you feeling guilty?" He questioned with hesitation, not wanting to suffer the same fate as his pebble.

Ahana rolled her eyes at his frightened state. "Relax, you are safe," she said, while dangling her legs.

"I am just thinking about other elements. They laugh and smile before us, but it is clearly a facade. Neer has been continuously questioning and second guessing himself since he came back from meeting Maanvi.

"Sameera has decided to not let Ravi know about her as she wants him to move on. But she cries for him every night when she thinks we are asleep.

"And Avan, the kiddo hasn't been himself since the day we saw our innocence getting proved in that theatre. He is studying well, he is making new friends, and is polite to everyone. On the outside, he is definitely the same kid, but there's some strange kind of aloofness in him now. He somehow feels cold now."

Gyaan nodded, Ahana's words hitting hard. Now that he thought about it, elements were actually acting a little strange. "I can't believe I didn't realize this before. To any passerby everything might look okay from the surface. But that's not the reality. Others might not know, but at least we should know their pain."

"Exactly!" Ahana agreed. "That's why I am feeling so guilty that we both are happy while others are suffering. Our love life is great and unlike them, we have everyone we care for near us."

"You aren't...you aren't going to break up with me, right?" Gyaan asked, looking at her with wide scared eyes.

"What?!" Ahana exclaimed in shock, before looking at with disbelief, "Where did that come from?"

Gyaan shrugged, "I thought you might want to do it to accompany the elements in being sad."

Ahana looked at him as if he had lost it. "You are crazy, absolutely crazy," she muttered, questioning herself about her choice in love.

Gyaan chuckled, looking at her getting peeved on him. "Sorry, sorry," he apologized, raising his hands in surrender.

"Go. Don't talk to me if you are so eager to break up with me," Ahana grumbled, pulling her knees up and resting her face on them.

"I never said I wanted to," Gyaan said defensively, "I was just afraid that you might do it thinking that our relationship was pouring salts on their wounds."

"Don't tell me that you were actually scared thinking I would do such a thing," Ahana asked, raising her face to look him in the eye.

Gyaan turned his face to the water, avoiding her eyes.

"Hey! Look at me," Ahana said, turning him forcefully to face her by his shoulder. "Don't avoid the question."

"I was for a second," Gyaan answered truthfully, before smiling brightly at her, "but now I am not."

"Idiot," Ahana punched his arm, before saying, "don't ever think like that. I am going to annoy you for your whole life."

"Oh the horror!" Gyaan acted scared, before laughing out loud, rightfully earning another punch on his arm.

They both chuckled, shaking their heads at themselves, before Gyaan suggested, "Shall we plan something to uplift everyone's moods?"

"That's...," Ahana pondered over it, before saying, "That's actually a good idea."

"Now the question is what should we do," Gyaan said, looking at Ahana sheepishly, who was looking at him in annoyance.

"I thought you must have known that before suggesting the idea," Ahana muttered, before trying to rack her brain through for some ideas.

"Hritika," Gyaan yelled, waving his hand to call her over when he saw her passing by.

"Oh hey!" Ahana waved her hands energetically, happy that they found someone to help them plan.

"Me?" Hritika questioned, pointing towards her in shock.

Gyaan and Ahana glanced at each other in confusion at Hritika's strange behavior, before they decided to walk up to her instead.

"Of course you, who else is here," Ahana replied, with a short laugh, before asking bluntly, "Why are you behaving so strangely?"

"I was just surprised that you are still willing to talk to me after Neer broke the friendship with me."

"What?!" Ahana yelled, causing Gyaan to wince and rub his ears.

"When? And why?" Ahana then asked in a normal voice, still bewildered by the situation.

"You don't know?" Hritika asked, looking at them with raised eyebrows.

"My ears would have been alive if that was the case," Gyaan muttered, as his one ear was still ringing.

"Stop it," Ahana scolded him, before looking at Hritika with concern, "What happened suddenly?"

Before Hritika could answer, Gyaan guessed, "Don't tell me that you confessed. And Yara's warning about him not liking the fact that you became his friend despite the feelings, came true."

"I did confess," Hritika nodded, letting Gyaan know he was right about that part, "but he wasn't angry about friendship," she informed, before sighing and muttering, "It would have been easier to digest if that was the case."

"Then?" Ahana questioned curiously, wanting to know what made her twin so angry that he instantly broke friendship with his best friend.

Hritika rolled her eyes, more annoyed by the situation than being hurt. "That guy thinks that I don't really have feelings for him. He said that I am doing this out of sympathy. Just because I witnessed his heartbreak in person, I faked the feelings to help him. He thinks I am doing charity," Hritika almost yelled while saying the last line.

"He didn't," Ahana whispered, her fingers curling into a fist.

"He did," Hritika said, looking equally exasperated.

"Just wait here," Ahana told her, "Don't go anywhere," she shouted, before running off.

Gyaan stood there, palming his mouth to muffle his laugh.

"Is my situation that funny?" Hritika asked with an eye roll.

"Nah! I am just visualizing Neer's fate," Gyaan answered, as he moved his hand near his neck in a killing gesture. "He is gone. Totally gone," he said, bending and holding his stomach as the laughter became too uncontrollable.