Anguish & Affection

Part 4

Diya questioned Atharv, her eleven-year-old eyes narrowing in accusation. "You showed him the wrong answers to guarantee Vijay would fail, didn't you?" He shrugged and looked away, his face covered in a film of sweat.

"I know it was you! I spotted you writing in his notepad!" Her eyebrow rose as she spoke.

"If you already know, why bother questioning me?" He kept looking off at the cricket match being played by their neighbors from the gated community as the sun began to dip beneath the horizon.

She sighed angrily. "That was mean! What did you do that for? He even cried when our tests were handed back!"

"It's because he dumped water on your answer sheet last time," he said, his tall body dwarfing her short frame as he faced her. "Don't you remember how upset you were because of that?"

The girl with two pigtails shrugged her shoulders in satisfaction. "I left some spiders at his desk to make him pay. It was a great way to get back at him and have some fun!" Her mischievous grin and the glint of danger in her eyes made him laugh as he shook his head. "Oh no! Guess I'll need to apologize. But he still deserved it, for messing with your marks!"

"You're right, I won't transfer the bitter gourd curry from my plate to yours this weekend as a reward for being nice!" Atharv took a deep breath in relief. "Phew, thank goodness! Who on Earth would make their friend sign a contract stating they'll share some of their bitter gourd curry if they keep quiet about money they borrowed?"

She raised an eyebrow at me and asked mockingly, "You mean to say that you filched money from your mom's wallet when she was preoccupied?"

"Yeah, okay!" I retorted. "But who cares when I got a whole week of freedom out of it?".

Diya laughed at her friend's obvious exasperation, flicking her hair for extra effect before she and Atharv continued on their way to the playing field. Atharv's concern for her warmed her heart, even though it would almost certainly bring disapproval from both their families.

She gave Atharv a small smile before turning to the captain of her team. The sun shone brightly on his face, and Diya wanted to capture the beautiful moment in her memory forever.

Her friend's decision had robbed her of every ounce of strength she had left. Crying so intensely that her chest heaved, her nostrils flared and eyes shot daggers at him through the thick lattice of her eyelashes. The food he brought for her remained untouched; to fill her stomach seemed too far away right now in the sea of despair she was drowning in.

He had loathed bitter gourd with every fiber of his being, and yet he was still able to shovel her portions of the repellent meal into his mouth after their six month pact had been completed. Now, all these years later, an outpouring of acrimony was like second nature to him as he effortlessly overlaid her life in bitterness.

The mangled state of his hands left her speechless, the bright shade of red spilling onto his skin like a flood. She felt swallowed whole by an overwhelming wave of revulsion and deceit, seeping through her pores until it threatened to drown her in its own darkness.

Jaw tightly clenched, she stared at him, searching for even the slightest hint of pleasure in his features, yet all that remained was a piercing silence and the twitching fingers that betrayed his every emotion. Her unconditional trust had been met with nothing more than contemptuous indifference.

Atharv spun around with a snarl of pure rage. Her eyes flashed and her jaw tightened as she fought against the urge to unleash her fury on him. How dare he appear defeated when he had started an inferno in her soul? How dare his shoulders slump when he had made the stars in her sky dim and extinguish out of existence?

She trembled with rage, her voice hot like molten lava as she screamed at him, "We were best friends! What sick kind of game are you playing, Atharv? You just abducted me and expect everything to be okay? I'll never forgive you for this!" She grabbed his collar in both hands and shook him viciously, fire blazing in her eyes as if a storm raged within her.

A thunderous rage spread across his face as Diya hurled her accusations. Clawing through the pain of his battered hands, he snatched hers and tore them from around his neck. His blazing eyes connected with hers, both smoldering with the fury of two raging infernos.

His voice shook with unwavering determination as he spoke, "This is not a game, Diya. I will have my revenge no matter what the cost." He grit his teeth and his eyes shone like fire, determined that nothing would stand in his way.

Diya's brows furrowed as a flash of fiery rage coursed through her veins. Her eyes burned with the need for revenge, and the clench in her jaw was tight enough that it seemed like she could crush diamonds with her teeth alone. She glared at him, demanding to know what he meant by his words. "What revenge are you taking about?" Her voice had an edge that was sharp enough to cut glass.

Atharv was filled with a sudden dread that stole his breath away as he gazed upon her accusing eyes, filled to the brim with the tears he had caused. His mind whirled with an agony of remorse in an abysmal vortex that threatened to pull him under a relentless deluge of regret. He felt himself drowning in a sea of guilt and sorrow, unable to break away from her steely gaze.

The tangled, unbreakable threads of vengeance had bound him to the cruel stem of retribution. He longed for release, to be able to plunge into the infinite sea of regret and disappear forever; but his fate was sealed. He was doomed to remain in this endless pit of despair.