A Journey to Trust and Heal

71- Love isn't logical

Suddenly I wasn't feeling so brave to hear what she wanted to tell. It wasn't my intention to hurt anyone of them but now I did something.

Before I could think of anything more, Maitri spoke out.

"You haven't hurt me. Infact, I will be one hurting you when you come to know that I am in love with your boyfriend. I am so sorry, I didn't mean to be a betrayer. It wasn't in my hands but I promise that I would never come between you and Rudra", Maitri kept on apologizing.

"Wait wait wait, who told you that Rudra and I are a couple?", I asked in shock, interrupting her in mid sentence.

"It's obvious. You two are so close. I have seen the way, you two care for each other and he is the only one whom you trust", Maitri said with furrowed eyebrows, not understanding my interruption.

"He is not my boyfriend. Yes, we are close. He is my bestie, my guide, my coach, my strength, one of the most important person of my life....", I started saying but stopped when Maitri let out a laugh of disbelief.

"He is all this and yet you don't love him?", she asked in an incredulous tone.

"Well looking at the facts- he deserves to be my love but love isn't logical. It doesn't see the practicalities before falling for someone. What to do if I don't have any romantic feelings for him? Why does someone has to be your life partner for you to love them, why can't I love him as my best friend?", I asked her with a soft smile.

"What can I say to this? You are right. Just to be sure- you don't have any problem with my feelings towards him, right?" she asked hesitantly.

"Of course not, infact I would be really happy if you two become a couple", I said smiling happily.

"Thank God", she muttered letting out a sigh of relief.

"Do you want me to ask him for you?" I asked feeling it was my duty as they both were my friends.

"Oh no! I will talk to him myself. Whether he accepts or rejects, I prefer the answer to be said on my face. Like you said, I am quite a straightforward person.

I would have acted on my feelings a lot earlier but I thought I would be betraying and that wasn't okay. I go by the motto- Sisters before misters", she denied my help.

I chuckled hearing her.

"You don't know how happy I am to hear this. Though I feel bad that you were hurting for a long time but seeing your care for me....I don't know what to say", I stumbled off in mid sentence, feeling emotional.

"Alright enough of all this. I can't handle all these sentiments. Go home now and don't tell anyone about this. I will inform them tomorrow", Maitri spoke in her regular sass as being emotional was a crime for her.

We bid each other bye and left for our homes happily.

                         ~~~•~~~
Next day:
I reached college to see Trio standing near the gate with depressed looks.

I moved towards them and asked, "What's wrong?"

"I asked Rudra out, before coming to the college",Maitri answered in a dejected tone.

I looked at Jiya and Shanaya with an alarmed look.

"Don't panic. They know about my feelings. I called them yesterday night and told them everything", Maitri said looking at my wide eyed expression.

"Yes everything, a lot of other gossip too. Do you remember the time when you wrote down your nightmares for the first time and we all accompanied you by writing our fears. Well not everyone seeing I just made doodles but you get the point, right?

So that day, Maitri kept her letter a secret. Do you know what was written inside?", Shanaya asked wriggling her eyebrows suggestively.

"Any other day, I wouldn't have been able to guess but seeing the topic we were discussing, I think the letter was about her feelings for Rudra", I answered with an amused smile.

"Correct. She will even lit that paper on fire, hoping that her feelings would go away", Jiya contributed to the conversation, with an amused smile as well.

"Hahaha, if you all are done picking fun at me then we can come to the main point?", Maitri said with an obvious fake laugh.

"Yeah, sorry", Jiya apologized for all of us.

"Why are you saying sorry, Jiya? Infact we should be angry that she hid this from us for so long", Shanaya spoke with an angry pout.

"There's a time for everything. We will discuss this later. Let's talk about what happened with Rudra", Jiya scolded Shanaya.

"Was he rude to you? Tell me, I will go now and beat him up", I asked Maitri, ready to hit Rudra if he made fun of her feelings.

"He wasn't rude nor did he rejected me", Maitri said rolling my eyes.

"Then why are you so sad?", Jiya and I asked in unison, feeling confused.

"He hasn't accepted me either. He needs time to think. He took my teasings seriously. How stupid can I be to fall in love with someone whom I called brother?", Maitri said feeling pathetic.

"It was a joke and it's not like he is your real brother", Shanaya said rolling her eyes.

"I know, let's see what he says and not assume anything", Maitri muttered. While her words were optimistic, her facial expressions were total opposite.

"Where is your phone Sia? I am sure Rudra must have called you several times to talk about this", Maitri asked in confusion as she expected me to know about what had happened from Rudra.

I took out my phone from the back pocket of my jeans to see that there were 10 miscalls from Rudra.

"Ah shit! My phone was on silent. By the way, how did you know that he would call me?", I asked raising me eyebrows.

"You know little things or habits about a person you love. Now don't waste your time here. I have these two with me, you go and talk to him. I am sure he must be freaking out", Maitri answered and shooed me off.

I shook my head at her behavior and called Rudra to know about his whereabouts.

Looks like I was bunking my classes on the very first day of college.