Prologue:
"It's not that I don't love you Khushi! You know that!" Shyam knelt at her feet, his eyes searching her face. "Khushi, you're my best friend, I love you more than anything. But I can't do this right now."
Khushi looked away, not wanting him to see the tears in her eyes; couldn't he see she was miserable?
"Khushi I don't want to hurt you."
Too late. Her hands clutched at the chair, wanting this to be over, just say it already.
"But I don't want to get married now, I can't get married now! Khushi, sweetie look at me." She looked up, hesitant to meet his eyes. His eyes softened seeing the unfallen tears, "Please baby, don't make this harder!"
A sob escaped her, This was hard for him? She was the one getting her heart crushed into a thousand pieces!
"Khushi I'm not saying we'll never get married. Just not now!"
She sniffed, promises promises, he should know not to make promises he couldn't keep.
Somehow she found the courage to look straight into his eyes, "It's now or never Shyam, and you know that."
He looked down this time, torn. She scoffed slightly, and then stood up, her mind made. Shyam got up slowly, still unable to meet her gaze. "Go Shyam," she said. His head shot up in surprise as confusion dawned on his face, "What?"
"Go. You're right; this is a chance of a lifetime for your career-"
"Khushi-"
"You should take it, I don't want to hold you back Shyam." He shook his head sorrowfully, lips opening in protest.
"And please don't hold me back either," She continued."I think we should break up."
He gasped, his hands almost instinctively reaching for hers, "No baby."
She gently pulled away; he was the one crying now. "Yes Shyam, neither of us should be forced to wait for the other. I think it's better if we just move on."
"Khushi!"
"Bye Shyam. Just so you know, I don't regret this, and I hope one day we can be friends." And with that she walked away before he could pull her back, back to him, back to his hesitance.
"Khushi!" he shouted after her, "Come back!"
But he didn't chase after her, and that was the last Khushi Kumari Gupta heard of Shyam Manohar Jha.
Edited by naishu - 14 years ago
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