Revelation

It had been two months since the trip to Maldives, and Varun called Arjun. "Hey Arjun, I have very good news for you!", Varun seemed very excited. "What is it, Varun?", Arjun asked. "Your brother is finally gonna get married!" When Arjun heard these words, he felt as if a bolt of thunder had struck him in the middle of his heart. Somehow, he was not able to give up on Navya, but he also cared for his friend Varun and didn't want to lose his friend. Arjun gave a hollow laugh and said, " I am really happy for you, Varun.", to which Varun replied, "Just being happy for me won't do the trick, you need to be there at my wedding, it has been scheduled two months from now in the month of January."

As the wedding date got closer, Arjun became more depressed thinking that he would have to lose the love of his life once again. He started drinking heavily. There wasn't a time of the day when he was sober, always drowning himself in bottles and bottles of alcohol. 

The wedding day finally arrived. 

Navya wasn't able to focus or think straight, her mind always wandered towards Arjun. She tried hard to control her raging emotions but failed. The fear of hurting Varun by telling him her true feelings weighed heavy on her heart. Yet she mustered up the courage, took Varun to a private space where no one could hear them and told him everything that happened in her past and at the Maldives. 

Varun was shocked to his core, raw, unadulterated despair seeping into his being. At first he refused to believe whatever Navya was saying and told her to stop the joke, but when he saw that tears were streaming down Navya's face, he just sat down in a corner and wept for sometime.

After showing this momentary weakness, Varun resolutely got up, faced Navya, and said, "Navya, I wish you had told me about all this sooner. I am calling off this wedding, and Arjun shall be here at any moment. We will sort everything out and then you can decide with whomever you want to spend your future with. I will always wish that you stay happy wherever you go." Navya's being was wracked with guilt upon experiencing such selfless love and affection.