You Stole A Heart [COMPLETED]

Chapter : Forty Three

AARAV

2 MONTHS LATER    

"Oye Aarav! Hurry up now," Jake's voice dragged me out of her thoughts.

I silently glanced up from my seat and found him waiting at the far end of the backstage, bellowing me to join him before he went onstage to be facilitated with the certificate by the Principal. I mean he was waiting for us to be facilitated.

Sighing, I looked to my right at Kajal who passed me a cheerful smile, gesturing me to go and join him. I smiled a small smile when I traced the minute flaw in her fake cheer. Her eyes failed to muster the happiness like old times. They seemed...lost. Just the way I have been in her memories.

"Go," She said, pressing my hand lightly in hers.

Taking one final look at her, I pushed myself out of the seat and headed out for the stage. Actually our finals had been conducted about four months back and it's been a week since the declaration of the results. Much to my anticipation, this year as well, the College had organised an assembly to facilitate the toppers of the exams. This year two students had ended at a draw with a score of 99.3 percentage in the Science Stream. One of them was Jake.

Reaching Jake's side, I glanced up at the stage and followed him up.

Principal Rana passed us a head nod in acknowledgement and turned back to attend the huge audience that had gathered in the auditorium. He tapped his mic twice and silence befell everywhere.

"This year has been extraordinary for this year we have got a tie among the toppers in the Science Stream," Principal Rana spoke and a light applause ran through the crowd.

"Jake Tyron and Tanya Rathore," Principal Rana announced the names of the toppers, leading to a thundering applause in the entire auditorium.

I felt at a loss of reactions as her name echoed through and I gulped the lump in my throat. Tears threatened to emerge and I gazed up to blink them back. I felt a hand squeeze my shoulder in reassurance and turned to smile at Jake who was looking at me with a small smile.

"I'm truly sorry to say that Tanya Rathore, such a brilliant mind, is no longer with us." Mr.Rana spoke lowly as he moved aside, gesturing for me to take the mic and address the audience.

I don't wanna address the audience! My sister passed awa-...Even thinking about it makes me nauseous.

It's been two months since she left. Two months since I entered her room to annoy her. Two months since I called her 'Oye AK!'. And yet it feels like it was only yesterday that she yelled at me out of sheer annoyance. I haven't accepted her death yet; maybe because I never saw her dead self in that emergency room; maybe because I never attended the last funeral rites; maybe because... she's still alive in me. 

Kajal had been by my side literally every single day. I have lashed out on her multiple times in the past weeks but not even for once did she let my anger have any affect over her. It was as if she understood my chaos and wanted to help bring some calm to it. One day I broke down; real bad; Cried for hours in Kajal's arms while she kept humming soothing words until I turned tired and exhausted from all the crying and slept off.

"Aarav?" Jake's voice reached me as he placed a hand over my shoulder, bringing me out of my thoughts.

Nodding, I took a step ahead and pulled the mic out of the stand and fiddled with it as I looked at the students and faculty members gazing at me from the audience.

"Tanya was the stupidest, most emotional, smart, talented girl I ever came across..." I started, talking about her in past-tense made a sick feeling counter me but I ignored it somehow.

"Not to forget I'm her twin, so she's got all the qualities from me of course," I bragged lightly, earning a few chuckles and smiles from the audience. I looked down at Kajal who also was smiling at me.

"But honestly, I have been jealous of her." I stated, "Jealous of how caring she can be, jealous of how sweet she is. I've envied the way she makes a place in everybody's heart and then leaves...without a proper goodbye..." I spoke, turning the audience silent.

"Today, after so long her demise, I decided to enter her room," I started, looking down at Kajal who had a surprised look dawning over her face.

"I walked in without a knock, just the way I always used to. The only thing that hurt was that she wasn't there in that room to shriek out of shock at my sudden entry like old times..." I said and smiled sadly.

"I looked at her phone which had been left untouched since the day she left. Picking it up I plugged it into the charger and decided to forward some of the old pics from her phone to mine when I noticed that there were three draft emails saved in the device. One of those three had been composed for me..."

"She had typed this message long back when she had been diagnosed with anemia...It was an instruction where she told me to look for a grey parcel in the last drawer of my cupboard which I hardly every used..." I said as I fished out a cleanly folded paper and straightened it out.

"Tanya, my little emotional dummy, had left behind a note for me..." I mumbled into the mic, feeling at a loss of words as my fingers traced over the smooth surface of the note.

I didn't read out the note nor did I tell the audience that of the remaining two drafts, one was addressed to Kajal and the other to...Ayushmann. Talking of him, he hadn't shown up much the past few weeks and the media has been shamelessly displaying his "love life tragedy" without even giving it a second thought. It's like the reporters think of celebrities as some public property and not any human, just like them. Once, few days back, I heard of a controversy where AK had deliberately punched a reporter on the nose when he questioned him about my sister. I guess the sorrow didn't take time to channelize into rage.

I did muster some courage to call him once but when he didn't answer on the second ring, I gave up on the idea of talking to him. I mean what purpose would that talk serve anyway? I miss my sister; he misses her. It'll only worsen the pain.

"She was truly a fighter. Though in life, some battles can't be won..." I admitted with a heavy heart as I looked up at the audience which broke into a loud applause in her memory. I turned to leave when, for a moment, I felt like I spotted her. There she was, sitting there amid the students, clapping like the rest and a smile adorning her face as she looked at me with her approving grey eyes.

Smiling back at her, I nodded and walked down the stage. I knew one thing for sure,

Tanya is alive in me. 

Author's Note:-    

Two more updates left to end YSAH. Can't believe it's coming to an end shortly now.

Stay happy and healthy!
Love,
Arhana.