31st December, 2021

He picks her up from the point they had met every day for the past 400 days or more. But this time, it was the last time they were gonna ride the scooter for the last time. The whole way was full of horns and silence between the two souls who thought they were meant to be with each other but slowly emotions and feelings of her were changing towards the guy who loved her with all his might.

Mixed with emotions they reach the basement parking of the corporate towers. He asks her whether she wants to smoke the last joint with him. He was broken, he could not believe how she could do that to him. How could she leave him like that in the middle of his journey to become someone great?

They dreamt of completing their dreams together, she wanted to become the greatest fashion designer of all time while he wanted to create some of the most majestic content the world will ever watch.

But every dream is not meant to become real, sometimes they just teach you not to believe in some things that are just too good to be true.

It's been more than 2 years since they met for the last time and he still is waiting for her to reply to him or call him once. All his friends do not understand why he hasn't been able to move on. No one makes him feel the way she did. The self-loathe keeps on increasing and he keeps on believing that this life is only about pain and sorrow apart from the parents you have and some friends who are with you in any situation whatsoever.

His faith in love keeps on decreasing to the point where he only wants one company and that is his own. She never told him why she was leaving him. The reasons were not convincing enough to him at all. Long distance was not the one thing that could've broken the bond that they had.

She called him on 20th December, he was turning 23 that night and eagerly waiting for her call. It was more than 10 days since they last talked, and she did not pick up his call for the whole day of her birthday. He texted all her friends and called them but there was no response. She called him the day after, he was furious, he did not talk to the love of his life on her birthday. With little to no conversation, he wished her a belated happy birthday and she hung up.

He waited patiently for the clock to hit 12 in the night so that he could hear her voice, he was damm confident she'd call while his friends waited with drinks in their hands to celebrate his birthday.

She called him, wished him the happiest of the birthday, and broke off with him. He did not spill a single drop of tear instead went to his friends with a smile on his face and started to get himself lost in the booze.

She was coming to Delhi on the 26th of December after completing her semester exams in her college in Chandigarh while her phone was broken she had no way of contacting anyone. He kept waiting for her text. Those 6 days were the heaviest for him. He kept on believing that maybe this too was also one of those breakups that they used to do a year before to get the attention of each other. But something in his mind kept saying that this was final, she didn't want to be with him at all now and he couldn't understand why. He could not get what he did wrong or at what moment things started going downhill for them.

She came to Delhi on the 26th. Texted him from her sister's phone. He had written a massive paragraph full of his feelings and apologies and sent it to her number. He told her to check it out and she denied saying it doesn't matter now. He pleaded with her to meet him anytime she was free. He was hoping he'd meet her on the 27th because they used to meet every day before she went to college.

He sent another big text on her mom's phone from which she called him saying let's meet on the 31st. He begged her just to read the text and reply whatever she wanted to but at least reply. He was at the gaming center playing snooker with his friends and playing the game in an awful way like he was playing it for the first time. All of his consciousness was only waiting for her text. It was more than 15 minutes since they talked on the call and his phone buzzed with a notification, it was a text from her. But to his expectations, it was only one word from her "Okay".

He lost his mind and the game with 500 bucks on it. Does she have no feelings, he kept asking himself. The next 3 days were tougher. Only 1km away from his house and he still couldn't see her. It was killing him from the inside. He used to call her every day but she didn't bother to pick up even a single call from him.

She texted him on the 30th that they could meet on the 31st but it would be quick as she had to go back home. It was the first time when she had put some limits on time otherwise it was only him that used to get late every time they met.

He left home and reached their usual meeting point. She wore a mask, a red and black checkered shirt with black jeans underneath, and shoes. The fashion sense in her always surprised him. She could wear clothes that won't show her beauty and curves which he had seen from his own eyes. She was like a goddess to him.

It was the first time she had waited for him at the meeting point otherwise it was always vice versa. He felt she must be missing him, she did not hug him and directly sat on the scooter. It was strange and they did not speak a single word.

They go to the parking lot where they used to hang out a lot along with some of his friends. To his friends, it was a miracle that a guy like him could have a girl like her. It was way too good to be true. He always had a kind of inferiority complex that maybe she did not want the world to see her with.

But she was there to reassure him always, he lit up a cigarette and offered one to her. She lights the cigarette. There is a lot of tension between them. No one is saying a single word and then, he finally asks her if it is over. She replies I think so. He asks her the reason for it and she says it won't work between us because she lives 5 hours away from him.

He says it's just 5 hours. I think I can manage it. She denies it, she said " I'll be moving to NY which will be much far from her at the end of the year. So it's better to break it off now unless it will be difficult to get separated at the end time.

He does not get it all. I want to spend most of the time till you are in the country. After that, you can leave but it will be a lot more difficult to live this year without you. But she is cold to him, saying it won't work, and keeps insisting on it. He asks her to smoke one last joint with him just to spend some more time with her, and she agrees.

He tells her he has left his job earlier that morning and she asks him why. Like our breakup, some things happen without any reason I think.

"You can't taunt me like that, it's not fair." She replied.

That was the first time in so long that he heard her innocent voice. And that was enough to melt him up. All his piled-up anger towards her, his life and everything just faded away. The guy who was irritated and frustrated all the time over the past 10 days, without meeting his friends, locked in a room finally smiled for the first time.

Lesser did he know that it would be a long time before he'd be smiling again. "Why are you doing this? Can you please help me with a valid reason please?" He asks her again in the hopes that she will change her mind. "I told you it's better to break up now than later. It's inevitable.

He asks her straight whether she cheated on him. She denies it. He asks her about the problems so that he can change them but she replies that it was perfect. He is not ready to lose hope. How could he, she was the one that changed him for good. He felt lively around her, he was 100% himself around her, he could be a child in front of her and she wouldn't mind at all.

He even asks her whether he is good in bed or not, even if that is the reason he deserves to know the real truth. But she said he was fine. He was not ready to give her up at all and she had already left him to suffer in the utter loneliness for the rest of his life he thought.

He gives her the Naruto t-shirt which she gifted to him on his last birthday, too close to him but he can't keep it as it would keep her memory lingering in his life. She told him to keep the gift with him as it was special but he wanted to be cold with her and told her if she did not keep it he would dump it in the dustbin right in front of them. She had to agree. She was feeling sad for the first time in the whole evening, he could see it on her face.

It was killing him from inside but as they say, men don't cry, he chose to hide his emotions like he always used to do. He did not want to bother her with his problems at all, this is what he used to do whenever life threw shit at him. He would just not tell anyone about it.

They smoked the last joint together and he asked to hug her for the last time she just opened her arms for him. They hugged and she started crying, he couldn't get it. She was the one who chose to break off and she was the one who started crying. He shed a couple of tears himself but did not let her see them.

He wanted to kiss her but controlled himself and that was gonna be the biggest regret of his life.

They went off and she sat a little behind him without touching his back. He noticed it, he was sad the whole way to their home. He told her casually that he was gonna get messed up very soon all because of her.

Can you sit closer to me, I need to feel your warmth for the last time. She denied it, she told him it was already too difficult for her and she did not want to make the situation worse. He thanked her for giving him the best and worst birthday presents ever in the past two years.

One he couldn't forget ever and the one he will always try to forget for the rest of his life. He always used to think she broke off with him on the worst day possible so that he could hate her for the rest of his life. But he couldn't hate her at all. He just wanted her to be happy at all costs and decided if this is what she wants for her then he should just let her do it.

"So we will never meet again," he asked her with utter confidence, unbothered by the fact that this was the last time he was going to see her. " I guess not, it will only make the situation worse" It was so difficult for him to not cry but he managed.

They went to the place where he was gonna drop her off for the last time, she got off the scooter, and without even saying goodbye he left, couldn't hold off his tears for much longer. He was crying like a baby on the way to his home but before that, he stopped his scooter at the point from where he could see her for the last time without her knowing.

He could only see her eyes but that was enough for him. She came out of the street and took a left turn towards her house and he was just sitting on his scooter at the blind spot over the right cut. She had her face down, he thought she must be crying as well and went off to his home.

He wiped off his tears so that his mom would not find out what happened. But moms are moms as soon as he reached home, his mom could feel the emotions on his face. He then put his head on her lap and told her, he broke off with the love of his love that evening but did not shed a tear there, he couldn't do it.

His mother only wanted his happiness. He told her along with the relationship he had with the girl, he also left his job that same day. His mom was as supportive as she could be. He had a New Year party to attend at his sister's house but did not want to leave his home at all.