UBC Day 31 - Who? - 29

Priya couldn’t believe her ears. Every day in last one and a half years, she had thought about this day. She had thought of hundreds ways of acceptance and hundreds of denial. She had dreamt that she will kiss him the moment he said so, and thought of slapping him hard. But now that this happened, she was numb.

She looked up to his face. He was busy caressing Navya. He looked just the way she had dreamt of. Handsome, caring, smiling and loving. However, he wasn’t really so and Priya now knew that painfully.

He looked past him, at the man who was busy reading, or was pretending so. He noticed Priya’s gaze and looked up from his book and gave her a warm smile.

There was the person who was there with her without failure. His love was known to everyone than her. She had taken him for granted.

Had she hurt him unknowingly? Maybe she did.

She sat there, comparing the two men in her life.

Nitin, whom she loved crazily. He was right. She hadn’t moved on. She was still as stuck as she was on day one. He was now a changed man. He was the father of her princess. If not her, Navya deserved to get her father’s love. And what he had just said, he was really serious this time. He wanted to marry her, to give her all that she had dreamt off.

Sushant, who was more than a friend. He, who loved her madly. He, who had been there with her without any expectations, he didn’t expect anything from her. He had told her nothing else except that he loved her. He had done so without expecting any reply. He had done so without providing any justification. By telling her so, he was gambling. The relationship could be a disaster. Maybe there wasn’t any future with him. He was due to leave in three days and Priya didn’t know when will she next see him.

Maybe she needed some time, maybe she needed more clarity. She asked Nitin to excuse her and give her more time and left from the café.

On her way out, she paused and asked Sushant if he was okay with giving her some time alone. He offered to drop her home, but she denied and moved out. She hailed a passing cab and gave him the address.