Chapter 2

It had been 7 years since they last met. The world around them had changed considerably. Both were officially adult now. The pangs of adolescence had died out. They lived in a world in which they were completely responsible for one another. He didn’t know where she was. No idea about her whereabouts. But, he couldn’t help it either. The Vinay affair had caused it all. When she left, she had Vinay’s diary with her, which talked about everything. Everything that had happened in the past. It included the backstabbing episode. It was one of the most disastrous things Vinay had ever done. It had been the stepping stone to many of his future mistakes. The buddies, pals of yore, didn’t even know where one another were. The asylum could be the only answer.

As the flight landed in Delhi, Rahul’s thoughts centered on Anjali and Vinay. He had last seen Vinay in the asylum, and that was three years back. As for Anjali, she came to know of Rahul’s feelings for her, through Vinay’s diary. She felt this was a betrayal of sorts. She couldn’t accept the fact that a friend of hers had feelings this deep for her. She severed all ties with Rahul, and sent him into a shell. A world of his own. A world, which only Shreyas shared. During their tenure in Bangalore, Shreyas and Rahul had become best friends. Shreyas had done everything he could, in order to get Rahul out of this. To the extent that he begged Anjali to get back to Rahul. When nothing of this sort happened, he just decided to keep the two away. He kept Anjali’s thoughts as much as possible, away from Rahul. There was a diversion of thought , a distraction of sorts. Rahul plunged deep into mathematics. He was now a professional at graph theory. Shreyas and Rahul were now recognised as the strongest graph theorist duo in the country. As for Shreyas, he was getting settled in life. He proposed to Maria very recently, and they were scheduled to marry exactly a month after. He had not taken the Rahul route, and ended up proposing to Maria, and much to his delight, got an immediate OK. But the dark secrets they shared with each other were known only to the two of them. It wasn’t a huge issue any more. Or that’s atleast what they thought.