One night, I was sitting in my room, doing some office work, when I received a call from an unknown number. I received the call.

“Hello.. who is this?”

“Aarav, I am Pooja, Rihana’s friend.”

I had started hating Rihana’s friends as much as I had begun to hate her, because they had never told me about her reality. Hearing Pooja’s name, I immediately disconnected the call.

She called me several times, and I disconnected every time. Finally she sent me a message – “Rihana is not in this world because of you, Aarav.”

This message fired me up. I was the person most pained by Rihana’s death, and she thought I was the reason for her death? I couldn’t tolerate it, and called her back. As soon as she picked the call, I shouted,

“How dare you talk to me like that? She herself left me, I didn’t kill her. Do you understand?”

“I know you didn’t kill her. But don’t you want to know why she gave herself this punishment?” she said.

“No. I don’t want to know anything about her. I hate her, just hate her.”

“Wow Aarav, is this how much you loved her? Even after spending so much time with her, you couldn’t understand her.”

“What do you mean? What do you want to say? Say it clearly.” I replied in anger.

“I will come to meet you at 6 pm tomorrow. Meet me at the park in front of your house. I will tell you why she did it.” And she kept the phone. The whole night I kept thinking what could be the reason.

Next day at exact 6 pm I reached the park. I was sitting on the same bench where I used to write my Novel. After sometime I saw Pooja enter the park. Maybe she knew I would be sitting here, so she came directly to me.

I got up from my seat, greeted her and asked her to sit in the chair in front of me. We were both silent. Maybe she was thinking from where to start. So I initiated the talk.

“I am sorry I was rude to you last night.” I said.

“No Aarav, you have a right to be upset. But I couldn’t do anything. Rihana had forbidden us to tell you the truth. She wanted you to love her, not her wealth.”

I didn’t know what to say. This was not the answer I was expecting.

“Last night you had said that Rihana was not in this world because of me. I want to know the truth, why has she done this to me. Today I hate her more than I loved her.” I said.

“You won’t be able to hate her after knowing the truth, Aarav.” Pooja said.

“I have come to hear that truth. Tell me, what is the truth.”

“Ok, listen. A day before your birthday, Rihana had gone with me to buy a gift for you. She was very happy that day. She had planned to tell you the truth about her life, and fulfill your dream of becoming a Novel writer. That day she was going to talk to her father about your Novel. She was confident that her father would never say no to her, because he always fulfilled all her desires. After her mother’s death, she was everything to him. She was waiting for him to return home at night. When he came he was in a bad mood. But she didn’t know why he was in a bad mood. She told him about you, and that you were a very good writer. She told him that you have written a fantastic Novel, and he should publish it. She promised not to ask him anything in future, ever. 

But Akbar Khan was already aware about you and Rihana. One of her friends, Sahil, had sent your Nainital pictures to him, and told him everything about your relationship.

He asked Rihana whether you were just friends, or more than that. Seeing her father’s angry mood, Rihana did not have guts to say that she loved you. She said that you two were just friends. Akbar Khan showed her you pictures and accused her of lying to him for a cheap writer like you. He was aware that both of you had gone to Nainital alone, and your relationship was more than just friendship. He tried to convince her that you did not love her, but his wealth. But the truth is that you were not aware about her background. Rihana told her father that you did not know she was his daughter and that you only knew that she worked in a Call-centre. 

Akbar Khan did not want his daughter to maintain any relation with a poor writer. He told her never to meet you. Rihana promised to break relations with you on the condition that her father would publish your Novel. Akbar Khan promised to publish it.

Rihana called me from her room, and told me the entire episode. She told me that she was very happy that her father had agreed to publish your Novel. This was the gift she wanted to give you on your birthday. She was very sad that she would never be able to meet you, but was hopeful that one day she would be able to convince her father to marry both of you. As she was telling me all this, she heard her father talking to someone on phone, asking him to kill you. I was still on the call and was able to hear the entire conversation. Rihana told her father that she had heard his plan to murder you, and that he would never publish your Novel. Akbar Khan told her that you had made the mistake of loving his daughter, and had to pay the price. Rihana said that if she had any idea that you would have to pay with your life, she would have never loved you. But Akbar Khan was not willing to listen to any argument. Rihana said that if this was his final decision, then she would end her, as she did not want to see you dying before her. And she jumped from the balcony. This was the reason why Rihana punished herself by ending her life.”

After knowing the reason behind Rihana’s death, I started hating myself. She had paid a huge price for loving me and for fulfilling my dream. I could never repay her debt. All my hatred towards Rihana had vanished.

“She wanted me to become a big writer?” I asked.

“Yes Aarav. This was her last wish before she died. She wanted you to become a big writer.”

“I can’t bring Rihana back in my life, but I will fulfill her last wish at any cost. I will do whatever is required to make this happen. This would be my prayer to give peace to her soul.”

“I have a thing which she had got made to give you on your birthday.” Pooja said.

“What?”

Pooja took out a gold locket which had my name on it, from her bag.

“Take this Aarav. She had ordered this before she died, but couldn’t give it to you. This will always remind you of her.”

“May I tell you one thing…. My heart is full of pain. But this pain always reminds me how deeply I loved her.”