Broken (Wattys2016)

CHAPTER 23

It was the seventeenth day of February when Aaliya had got a call from Poonam informing her about the divorce case being pre-poned. She knew that this was the right time to sit down with everyone and tell them about her plan of going to Australia and starting a new life there.

She was at present at the Vinayak household and was waiting for the Dixits and Yash to turn up so that she could tell them everything. It had been half an hour since she had called them and none of them had showed up till now. Just when she had started to get restless, the doorbell rang and she ran to get them. When she opened the door she noticed Lalita smack Yash's head upside down and Yash smiling slyly as he rubbed his head where Lalita had hit him playfully.

"Well hello there." Aaliya said catching their attention. The two of them hadn't even noticed when Nakul had hugged Aaliya and had walked in. Yash looked up when he saw her and gave her a big smile before hugging her.

"Seems like my best friend finally found some time to hang out with me." Yash whispered in her ear and she chuckled. She then hugged Lalita and let them walk in.

Once all of them were settled on the couch and had talked a bit, Aaliya decided to break the ice. She came from the kitchen and placed the juice glasses on the table before going and sitting in between Priyansh and Yash.

"So, I had a reason to meet you all. I need to tell you all something that I've been hiding from a while." Aaliya said slowly laying emphasis on every word.

"Nothing can be worse than all that has happened till now. So, hit us." Yash said shrugging his shoulders and Aaliya gave a small smile.

"Well you all know that I went to Australia." Aaliya said and everyone nodded.

"You want to give Brent a chance?" Priyansh asked.

"No, no, no not now!" Aaliya said waving her hands in front of them.

"I didn't go to Australia to take a break from this environment." Aaliya said.

"Then?" Nakul asked.

"You guys are not going to overreact. Promise me that." Aaliya said and everyone nodded.

"When I went to Australia, I applied for a job in a university there and I'm supposed to be joining them by mid-March. Brent has also looked up a house for me there and I have booked the flight ticket for the twenty seventh of this month, which is like in ten days?" Aaliya said in one breath.

"What?" Everyone shouted together making her ear drums burst. They had reacted exactly the way she had asked them not to.

"You aren't going anywhere!"

"Why do you need to go?"

"Why didn't you tell us about your plan earlier?"

"I'll lock you in a room if required."

"You could have told me at least!"

And just like that the questions poured in but through all of it, Yash was silent. He hadn't uttered a word and looked real low all of a sudden.

"Will you guys calm down and listen to me?" Aaliya muttered.

"You'll stay with us and you'll not go anywhere." Nakul said in an authoritative tone. Just like that all five of them except Yash blasted on her again, telling her not to go and stay with them. Aaliya tried to put her point forward but they all ignored her and continued with their lecture.

Aaliya closed her eyes and kept taking deep breaths, she had started to lose her cool now, and her head had started to ache from the five of them shouting at her together. A minute passed, then two, then three but they were still shouting and that's when she lost it all.