Beyond borders: When filter coffee met Chai

The reconciliation

Nitara glared at Rehaan, her eyes blazing with fury.

"Is he your friend?" she demanded, her voice quivering with a mix of sadness and anger.

"Nitu... I just wanted you both to..." Rehaan began, but Nitara cut him off. "I'm going home. You don't need to drop me. I'll go by myself. And don't try to call or message me."

As she turned to leave, Saket gently took her hand, stood up, and gazed deeply into her eyes.

"Please stay, Nitii... Let's just talk for a moment," he implored.

"It's Nitara to you. And what's left to discuss, Saket? We barely know each other now," she retorted, her voice trembling as tears filled her eyes.

"That's exactly why we should talk, Nitara. Let's reconnect like old friends," Saket replied calmly, though his eyes too were starting to tear up.

For a moment, they stood in silence, staring into each other's eyes.

"Please, just listen to me," Saket pleaded.

"Fine..." Nitara said, reluctantly sitting back at the table.

"I'll... I'll step out for a bit... You two need to talk," Rehaan stammered.

"It's alright, Rehaan. You don't have to leave," Saket insisted.

But Nitara remained silent, not even looking at Rehaan, feeling betrayed by him. The fact that he had tried to reunite her with Saket despite knowing everything only made her angrier.

"No, Saket. This is your time to talk. I'm the outsider here... I must leave. Nitu, call me when you're done talking, and I'll come to pick you up," Rehaan said, trying to mask his heartbreak.

As Rehaan left, Nitara's eyes silently pleaded with him not to leave her alone with Saket, but he didn't notice as she wasn't facing him.

"Nitara?" Saket attempted to start a conversation.

"Yes... How are you, Saket? How's life?" she asked, trying to steady her voice.

"Why are you pretending to be fine when you're not? Since when did you start hiding your emotions? The Nitara I knew was the most expressive person ever... Nitii, I'm sorry. We shouldn't have made that decision in haste. I'm sorry..." Saket said, taking her hands.

Nitara broke down in front of him, finally releasing all the pain and emotions she had been holding back.

"I'm sorry too, Saku... for overreacting yesterday at the ice cream parlour and even now... I thought I was angry with you and that I hated you... But now, seeing you here in front of me, I realise I can never hate you. Our decision was mutual, but I still held a grudge against you. I'm sorry, Saku. I'm really sorry," she sobbed.

"Aree... Please don't cry like this in front of me. It hurts to see you like this. Whatever happened was just fate. Do you want to know what happened after our fight that day?" Saket asked, gently squeezing her hand.

Nitara nodded a yes.

"That day, after our argument, I had a minor accident. My phone was damaged, but I logged into my socials to inform you about the accident the next night. By then, you had blocked me everywhere," Saket explained.

"I was heartbroken, Saku... Do you remember how bad our argument was? We talked about splitting up due to cultural differences, how I said our constant arguing was affecting your studies? After that, none of my messages reached you. I assumed you had switched off your data to get some space. After much introspection, I blocked you before you could block me. And then, suddenly, eight years later, you're here in front of me," Nitara replied.