════ ⋆★⋆ ════

"You are taking advantage of me!"

.

"Just because I am nice doesn't mean you can touch me like this!"

.

"Oh, hello, madam. Sun b rahi ho?"

.

"Sona!"

.

"Abhay is here!"

"What?" she screamed finally, her ears only seem to decry a single name. Abhay. They had grown so sensitive to it that her brain had already processed her to scream in fright and her legs to automatically run to the opposite direction. Aksith saw her ashen face and sighed in dejection, pulling her wrist from running away as they stood in a queue.

"Our chance will come soon," he pointed at the entrance of the park. The only another reason the place was so crowded except for the fact it was peak season was because of them. The college students. They were littered everywhere, from the shallow valley to the mountain peak, and even though that was an exaggeration it held a little bit of truth.

"I don't want to go," she mumbled under her breath, her Abhay-fright seemed to have simmered a notch. 

"Wake up, madamji," he knocked on her head. "Your head is completely empty, see the sound it's making."

"Shut up, Aksith!" she growled at him which sounded more like a meow of a cat. "I am so paranoid."

"I don't see that at all," he said sarcastically that made her glare at him. "Well, you do realise that you are making people stare at us, no?"

Alas. When words finally reached her brain that's when Sona decried her surroundings, her eyes were just a show piece after all. Yes, people were staring at them and that too hard. That's also when she realised she was holding Aksith's arm like a stuff toy and she immediately let go of it.

"Oh my god why is my life such a horror movie," she painfully whispered to herself as she turned around, trying to hide her face as if she was saving her dignity. "I want to run away."

Then her brown eyes widened as she whipped her head towards Aksith. "Bye!" 

Just like that she dashed off, breaking the queue with no remorse. The mountains didn't entice her a bit, the cold snow only reminded her of the doom she might encounter if she fell face first on it. There were so many people around, Rimple ma'am would not notice her absence would she?

Tarni was busy with Vikrant, however absurd it might be to say there definitely was something going on between them but Sona had not taken a close notice, her Abhay-fright had kept her on edge. 

While she didn't want to get lost in an unfamiliar land she didn't want to lose herself in this place either so she dashed towards Mall Road and into the big market. She regretfully pulled out her inhaler and shook it, taking a puff when she reached a muffler store. 

"Bloody hell, Sona. Why do you run like that?"

Her inhaler slipped from her hand and she turned around to see a breathless Aksith. His amber eyes sparkled with mirth as he saw the shocked expression on her face and spoke very obvious words. "You thought I wouldn't follow you?"

"Of course, you idiot!" her jaw dropped, "You followed me! What will the people think now?"

Sona didn't understand why this boy was making her life hard. They were just casual friends but he was making her feel more frustrated than ever. What the hell did he actually want? Sona didn't even have to ask that, she knew the answer to herself. It was Tarni.

"Sorry, dude. Tarni already likes Vikrant. I can't help you. I know one sided love is so difficult----"

"Sona?"

"Huh?" she blinked her eyes in daze as she turned around, her inhaler which had being rolled away to gods knows where was now thrusted under her nose. Her cold fingers grasped it and when she looked up, her red face turned pale as a sheet of paper.

"A-Abhay?" 

No way. No way! He was here and he was standing right in front of her. His dark eyes filled with vexation as they drifted in between her and Aksith. He pursed his lips, running his hand through his hair, sporting a new muffler that matched his black leather jacket.

"Aren't first years suppose to be going to the park today?" he said sternly, his hooded eyes narrowed into anger. Sona was melting away from his stare, wondering why was he so angry. Did looking at her face itself brought him many years of bad luck?

"O-Oh. . . " she gulped, her mouth blurting words she never wanted to say. "I-I don't like you."

"Fuck," Aksith cursed under his breath as his eyes grew in shock. He looked rapidly in between the frozen Sona and the now confused Abhay who only seemed to be growing perplexed as every second ticked by.

"What?" he asked, treating Aksith like he was thin air with his eyes solely focused on Sona.

"I-I don't like you, okay?" Seeing a horrendous damaged had already been done she spoke more confidently now. "So I don't understand why you act so, so r-rude to me! I-I don't appreciate the way you spoke to me y-yesterday!"

The hard exterior build around Abhay cracked bit by bit, he rolled his tongue inside his cheek, his finger grazing his ring. "Sona----"

"I-I know!" she cut him off, "I mean I don't k-know! Why do you act s-so, s-so like a douchebag! When I didn't even do anything. I don't irritate you or annoy you anymore, na? W-Why do you talk s-so rudely?" The sweet Sona was now on verge of tears. She could feel immense emotions plunging inside her stomach as she looked at the tall boy in front of her. She didn't want him to hate her. She didn't want him to think of her as any other girl who crushed on him.

Abhay looked visibly flustered as his lips parted but before he could say anything his friend, Dev chipped in their conversation. He was laughing unrepentantly as he slapped Abhay on his back, almost looking breathless.

"Dude, did I see someone rejecting you?" he howled.

Sona turned red from the embarrassment and from the cold. She didn't want him to feel embarrassed because of her, that would be horrible. "N-No. . . Abhay-y. . . ."

 "Shut up, Dev," Abhay in response clapped his friend on the back twice as hard, making him wince in pain. Dev's lower lip rolled out, his forehead creased as he rubbed his back, all his laughter had being digested back in his stomach now.

"I-I wasn't rejecting him!" Sona thought it was important for her to jabber out those words.

"I will have to ask her out for her to reject me," he said. Sona flinched, why did they hurt her heart? "Also, Dev you go with the others I will---"

"No!" Sona cut him off hastily, the weather was so cold but she was sweating. "Y-You go, I won't disturb you!" she turned around and walked away.

Abhay didn't stop her anyway.

🦋🦋🦋

"Avoidance is bliss, Sona!" Aksith was trying to cheer her up bit it wasn't working. Sona looked like a flower that was trampled by the person that grew her, her soft petals crumbling and losing colour. She was kneeling on the ground, her arms wrapped around her knees as she looked beyond the railings.

"How long will you stay like this, madamji?" he kneeled beside her, knocking her head but she ignored him as she sniffed. The coldness of the place was seeping into her skins and bones, stuffing her lungs as it became harder for her to breath. So she tried to clam herself down by breathing in and out.

"I don't think Abhay hates you, Sona," Aksith whispered softly.

And that's when the barriers were unfastened and in came the thunderous tears. Sona wailed, her voice muffled as she bit onto the skin of her knee, her shoulders were shaking as she finally let her emotions out.

"S-Sona. . . . " Aksith grew flushed as he saw the girl cry, especially her. Was she crying because of something he had said. . . . ? "I am sorry."

But she didn't reply, only cried more and more. She felt pathetic, why was she even crying? Was the love she had for Abhay hurting her so much? Why had she acted so. . . so not like Sona? Why did she call him a douchebag? A douchebag! Abhay wasn't a douchebag at all!

She felt someone patting her back awkwardly as she let out an amused chuckle in between her tears. "Sorry, Aksith."

"Umm. . . when will you stop crying?" he cringed at his own words but that only made Sona laugh more.

"You are scared of girls crying, huh?" her tear stricken face was pulled into a smile.

"I am," his amber eyes held all the sincerity there was to offer in this world.

"I am so stupid," she self depreciated herself as her eyes moved back to the horizon, to the mountains covered in a thick white blanket of snow. "H-How can I say I don't like him when I obvious do?"

Aksith didn't know what to answer, he just scratched the nape of his neck as he squatted beside her, his eyes fixed on hers. "I know what that feels like."

Sona twisted her neck towards him. "I guess you do ,too," she gave a sad smile as she thought of Tarni running behind Vikrant. "It's probably more painful for you," she cried out.

"Don't say that," he gave a miserable smile. "You can't measure pain or love."

"Why?" she asked herself, "Why do I love him when he doesn't even care for me?"

"Of course he cares about you," Aksith chipped in. "That is for sure. Why would he be worried about your health if he didn't?"

"When I look into his eyes I see no warmth," she said quietly. Her heart was bursting to let out all the feelings she had for him, it had carried the pain far long alone. She clutched her necklace, the small butterfly locket that Abhay had given her when she was a kid. Why did she still wear it? Why? Why was she so stupid? 

"I hate myself," she sniffed again, rubbing her eyes harshly with the sleeve of her sweater. Aksith only patted her, not knowing what else he could do to ease her pain. "I am stupid to like him. It was suppose to be a small crush. Then why does my heart still beats fast when I look at him?"

"You can tell me if that helps, Sona," he soothed her with his words.

And she did.

Sona told him why she liked him in the first place. As a 15 year old she thought it was horribly wrong to like her best friend's brother but she couldn't help herself. His deep voice, his dark eyes and his dark hair had magnetised her towards him. He walked with so much confidence, he did everything with confidence something she lacked and was attracted too. She told him how he was so nice to her when they were little, how kind he was to always help her.

"Then what changed?" he asked.

But Sona didn't answer.

"Sometimes I think I like him only for his face," she confessed heartbrokenly, "But that's not true. When I think of him the first thing that comes to my mind is his smile."

Silence was bestowed and Sona clenched her arms around her knees, the cold wind tingling her nose as she sneezed. "This is so embarrassing," she confessed yet another one of her secret. "But I-I write poetry on him."

She expected him to scoff or laugh but he did nothing, instead he seemed to be staring far off in the distance like she was.

"You love him," he stated, his voice wavering with emotion.

"But he doesn't," she said sadly.

"How will you know if you never tell him?"

What do you think of Sona's confession? She finally let it out verbally to someone? Did she make a good choice? Also about her encounter with Abhay? She lied to him so he wouldn't hate her :(

Also last exam today, honestly kinda scared lmao

@sidneet_mylove_ would you believe me if I told you the only reason I published this chapter was because I wanted to dedicate it to you?🥺🥺🥺