Silent Whispers

Chapter 32: Absinthe

"Do you want anything else madam?"

Khushi looked up to see the server, waiting patiently for an answer. She turned blankly to the stone-faced Akash in front of her, unable to find her voice.

"No," Akash finally grunted, with a small shake of his head.

The waiter nodded and left.

Silence overtook them once again.

It was a chilly Monday morning in Delhi, which was bustling awake in preparation for the upcoming week. However, in the small coffee shop amidst an unimportant corner of the city, there was nothing but a pricking stillness, threatening to consume them all.

Khushi had sat there for over thirty minutes now, having come early to feel better prepared for what she had to do, but from the moment Akash unfeelingly arrived, it was as if her throat seized up altogether. No matter how much she tried, she couldn't speak, forget letting out what she had been bottling up for the past five months now.

Akash on the other hand, remained as aloof as ever. He sat stubbornly across, refusing to even look at her, until the waiter came, asking for an order. It was then that he finally spoke, briskly ordering two coffees, before settling back into his shell. But his tone was enough to send Khushi scurrying for shelter. 

She couldn't do it.

She couldn't break his heart, his trust. No matter what she felt, he was her best friend, and there was nothing in the world she wouldn't do to not be in this position.

They were interrupted by Akash's phone, which like him seemed to buzz angrily with incoming messages. He briefly glanced at them, before turning off his phone and finally looking into her eyes.

Khushi gulped.

"I don't know why you called me here," he said gruffly. "Though I have a pretty good guess."

She looked down at her clasped hands on the table.

"Whatever it is, I don't want to know. I just came here to tell you that" –he took a deep breath– "it's over. Whatever was between us is finished... for good."

Khushi felt her heart sink. Sure she had planned to say the same thing, but it sounded so much worse coming from him.

"I'm leaving for Jaipur tonight. And it's best if we keep those 300 kilometers in between us."

Akash then pulled out his wallet and placed a few bills for their coffees in between them. He was just about to stand up when Khushi could finally talk:

"I get it that you are mad... but you have to understand why."

He stared at her hard. "I know why Khushi. I'm not as stupid as you think."

"I couldn't hurt you," she said, not blinking from his gaze. "I said yes to keep you happy. I lied to keep us happy. I didn't betray you."

He snorted. "You said yes to keep yourself from getting lost. The truth is, you used me Khushi. You used me to make yourself feel better, to run from the reality of your life."

She felt his words stab into her like knives.

"But I'm not mad for that reason. I did the exact same with you. But at least I had the decency to stay faithful, to make this work. No matter how many problems we had, I didn't find solace in another woman."

Khushi closed her eyes, knowing that she deserved every word he was lashing out.

"So yeah, I'm mad because you cheated on me. I'm upset because it was with my brother. But most of all, I'm hurt because you couldn't trust me with the truth and instead decided to go behind my back. Is that what I really deserve for being your best friend for the last two years?"