The breakup

Dhruv had never broken up on phone for two reasons. First, he thought it was too shallow to break up on a phone. Second, he had never been in a relationship before to know how it felt to break up on phone. He and Ria were in a relationship for 2 years. He was an old school guy who never much believed in short term relationships and one night stands but ending his relationship with Ria was inevitable. Ria was a tomboyish girl who always wore her signature clothes to college-Black tshirt and torn jeans. Her black hair was always unruly and had red streaks which she thought gave her a rockstar look. Not to mention the guitar which she carried with her to every place. She could have been attractive if she tried to but whenever Dhruv looked at her, he always got the feeling he was looking at a wild rockstar who had just escaped her crazy fans. If it would have not been for her stupid and silly childhood crush, he would have never said yes to her. Boys proposed girls  but it had been Ria who had proposed him 2 years ago.

2 years before.....

"I love you Dhruv" Ria shouted from their college building's terrace in front of the entire college.

Dhruv had frozen at his place near the college gate. All the students, teachers and staff had turned their attention from Ria to him. Rohan, his friend had come out pushing the crowd to pull him by his arm in to the crowd.

"What the hell is Ria doing" Rohan said impatiently.

"I dont know man" Dhruv replied anxiously.

Rohan shoved them through the crowd so that Dhruv can be in Ria's vision.

"I Love you Dhruv" Ria screamed again when she spotted Dhruv's white t shirt and blue jeans amongst the crowd.

"Do something" Rohan said.

"What should i do?"Dhruv asked.

Rohan was pinching the bridge of his nose which meant he was in deep thought. 

"Tell her I love you" he said calmly.

Dhruv could feel the crowd telling him to do the same thing.

"I dont love her" he shouted so that the crowd could hear what he had said.

"Dude, do you want her to jump down from the terrace" Rohan said.

"What do you mean?"Dhruv asked.

"You remember what Krish did last month"

How could he forget that one incident. Krish had done the same thing. He had gone to the college terrace and blackmailed Trisha that if she did'nt say I Love You to him, he was going to jump off the terrace.

Trisha had gotted so frightened that she had  forcibly shouted the three words to him. Only then had the b*****d come down from the terrace.

"But she is not threatening me, she is just saying I Love you" Dhruv replied bleakly.

"Why do you think she went up to the terrace to tell you this? She could had told it to you anywhere"

Dhruv had started sweating. The crowd behind him had already started pushing him to say the three magical words. He took a deep breath and tried to count 1 to 10.

"Ria! Do you think you can get down from the terrace" Dhruv shouted.

The crowd behind his fell silent. They expected something else from him.

Ria looked at him and smiled. The building was only four storied so he could make out the grin on her face.

"Ria, can you come down.....please" Dhruv shouted again.

"Sure" Ria said and started descending down the steps. The crowd had expected drama but since Ria had agreed to come down, they dispersed to their respective places. Only a few nosy kind stayed behind.

Ria came down with the same grin she had on the terrace. It took Dhruv all his self control to stop himself from shouting at her. 

"I love you" she said again.

"Ria, just what do you think you were doing at the terrace" Dhruv asked, his voice angry and frustrated.

"You were not their in the class nor in the canteen. I searched for you every where but i could not find you. I was so desperate to tell you that i had no option than to shout it from the college terrace because i know you would have not been able to ignore it" Ria said smoothly without a trace of guilt.

Rohan sensed that they needed to be alone so he stealthily escaped and drove away the remaining eavesdroppers.

"But I dont love you" Dhruv replied.

If he thought she would be sad, then he was completely wrong.

"I know that you dont love me" Ria said with a dazzling smile.

Dhruv was now confused.

"But I know that you care for me" Ria continued with the same dazzling smile.

"Then why did you tell me that....that you love me?"

"I just wanted you to know"

"Come on, I know you since we both were toddlers. You wont do a thing if you dont get back results"

Ria was biting her lower lip now. He knew what that meant. She was searching for words.

"I know that you dont love me but we can have a relationship"

"What"

"You dont have to love me. It's just that I want a relationship and a boyfriend"

"If you wanted a relationship, you could have asked me. Their was no need to do this entire drama"

"No,No...You are getting it wrong. I do love you bit because you dont love me....."

"Can you please tell me whats on your mind quickly, i am loosing patience"

"If we get into a relationship, we will spend a lot of time together and then you will be convinced that you are in love with me"

"But I do spend a lot of time with you"

"No....being around me as a friend and being around me as a boyfriend are two different things."

Dhruv was shaking his head now. Ria was his childhood friend and he had always taken her for granted. This new development looked so out of place. Ria was a friend but beyond that he had not given even a single thought to her.

"Look...everyone in this college has a boyfriend or a girlfriend apart from you and me" she said slowly.

"Now I get it" Dhruv said enthusiastically as a realization hit him.

"You don't want to be single and you thought i was the only one available"

"Come on Dhruv. Look at me. Do you thing i am so desperate to change my facebook status from single to committed." 

He thought for a second. Ria was weird and a friend and he was convinced that she was not desperate but how could he say yes to this relationship.

"Dhruv, I have loved you from the day i understood love" she said softly.

He could see the glitter in her eyes whenver she said she loved him. The glitter was soon replaced by mist as tears trickled down her cheeks.

"Ria" he said automatically moving closer and taking her face in his palms.

"I have loved you since i was thirteen. I waited for you to realize because i was scared of ruining our friendship but i cant wait anymore now and not with that Natasha trying to hit on you." she said as she pulled away her face from his palms and was starting to leave.

"Wait!" he almost shouted gripping her left arm as she turned her back to him.

A hundread thoughts were crossing his mind. He had never hurt a girl before and hurting Ria was more like hurting himself. He could still recall her face when she had accidentally poured ink on his school uniform in the third grade and instead of complainig it to the teacher, he had accepted her sorry even though she was not offering it directly in words . It had been the beginning of their friendship. It was true that every other girl in the college was trying to hit on him. The bolder ones tried to seduce him with skimpy clothes. Everyone tried to figure out why he was single because they thought he was the incarnation of a greek god. 

His honey colored eyes made girls drool and his athletic body trimmed by intensive gyming was something which every woman wanted to explore. Even the rumor that he was gay didn't save him much. If he said yes to her, he would be burying all the suspicions and could breath without girls trying to hit on him. They would be surprised, of course. Perhaps not because of Ria's little stunt. He was so engrossed in his thoughts that he didn't pay attention to the tightness with which he was holding her hand till she let out a small shriek.

"Damn, you are hurting me"

He immediately let go of her arm.

"Sorry, Mr. Hercules. Consider what happened as a joke and perhaps i'll join you with your friends when you tell them how good an actress i was today. It wont take long to convince them." 

"Okay but before that you will have to convince my friends that you are good for me"

"What do you mean" she asked suspiciously.

"You can change your facebook status" he said with a sly smile.

Her eyes grew wide. 

"Does that mean....."

"Ya, that's what it means"

"Really" her face brightened as a kid who had been purchased his favorite chocolate.

"I am willing to give it a try" for your sake he completed in his mind.

She threw her arms around him and pulled him into a hug. He returned the hug formally and whipered in her ear

"The day I feel it's not working, I will pull out of it"

A chill went through her body. She didn't want to ruin this moment. She will think of it later even though she was convinced that at some point he will start loving her the way she loved him.

Their relationship was nothing to have been engraved in history. Their were no kisses, romantic dinners or movies. Sex was a subject which never touched their minds. They continued like friends for a long time even though for the world and even for themselves, they were something else-boyfriend and girlfriend.

Ria had been overly concerned since then. Getting into the relationship was not as she had expected it to be. Dhruv had layers around him like onion. He never put down his guard in front of her, never talked about their relationship, never suggested romantic ideas. It did not take long for Ria to get convinced that he had jumped into the relationship for namesake. He had done it to save himself from the hunting women who were after her with the pretext of taking in care of her feelings.

Reviews

[Trevor Jay Bloodworth]

Getting to know someone so that you can eventually fall in love with them. The different between being together as friends and being together in a relationship. Spot on. Good job.

[Ankur Sharma]

Love van make you do some crazy thing and in this story it is represented well. keep writing Meera.