Was That Love?

The Voice Break

Six months had passed since Priyank left for Mumbai. So basically those were the first six months of my relationship without me knowing anything of my partner's whereabouts. I had no idea about his well being. I had not heard of him since that day and neither did I ask anyone about him, not even Vinay. I and Krtitka were totally unaware of everything. Those six months made me miss Priyank even more. I craved his presence everywhere. I don't know if he missed me or not but for me, I was in a relationship with him and kind of started loving him too. I missed him every passing second. His absence made me cry all the time. I realized that he was my first ever love and maybe my forever too.

"Have you tried searching for him on Orkut?" Kritika asked." No, I have not." I lied. I had already searched for him countless times but there were so many search results of the same name that recognizing him was impossible. "But why? Babes crying all the time is not going to help you out. you should try to reach him somehow. He is your boyfriend now, there is no bad in talking to him. Well honestly speaking I searched for him last night but there were so many Priyanks in the result that finding the right one was impossible" Krititka replied. Sometimes I wonder how could I be that lucky to have a friend like her. She was my anytime go-to person. "By the way what were you doing on Orkut at night? Who allowed you to use a PC at night? " I mocked at Krtitka trying to change the topic. I knew talking more of Priyank would have made me cry again. "Well I pretended searching data for our project and on the other tab, I was using Orkut. Hemant was messaging me and we were chatting." Hemant was Kritika's newly made boyfriend. He was 3 years senior to us and they were dating each other for the past two months. How lucky she was, she not only could see her boyfriend daily and roam around him all day in school but also could talk to him anytime she wanted.

  "I know you miss him, darling. Why can't you just accept the fact that you love him? His absence is making you go crazy. Why do you even want to hide your emotions? This time you make the first move and go to Daksh and ask about Priyank." Kritika said in a worrying tone." What? How can I talk to Daksh? What will he think of me? I am not going anywhere. I know they will make fun of me." I said trying hard to control my tears but could not. " Enough! I cant see you cry anymore. I am going to ask Vinay to find out everything." Kritika got up and went to Vinay. After a while she came back, " Vinay has gone to Daksh and will be back in a minute with every information", Kritika told. Her words made me even more anxious. "But what if they said that whatever happened was a joke and nothing was serious or that Priyank had made a new girlfriend in Mumbai and he no more wants me," I said weeping. " So what? Move on then but at least everything would be clear to you. Why waste your time on a person who is a cheat. He just played with your emotions and left. Come on Parthavi, he was not the last guy on earth. So many boys in our class are crazy over you. You have so many better options." Kritika said patting on my shoulder. Her words were very painful and I just wanted them to be untrue. I saw Vinay coming towards us. " Well Priyank is living with his uncle in Mumbai and he is quite strict of a person so he does not allow Priyank to keep a mobile phone and that is why even Daksh has no idea about him. Daksh has his uncle's number but he does not have the courage to call Priyank on that number." Vinay told. All my hopes shattered in a second.I did not speak a word and silently left the place. Kritika came after me

I and Kritika were sitting on the swing after the school got over and were waiting for our brothers' remedial classes to get over so that we could leave for home altogether. Like us, our younger brothers were best friends too and they were also in the same class. I was silent and Kritika was also not speaking a word. we were silently swinging when we saw Daksh coming towards us with a mobile phone in his hand. "Hi Parthavi, Priyank wants to speak to you," he said passing the mobile towards me. My eyes went wide open and I could not believe my ears. I looked at Kritika, she seemed equally shocked. I held the mobile with shivering hands and trembling knees.

" Hello," I spoke hesitatingly moving away from Daksh. Kritika followed me. " Hi Parthavi, How are you?" the voice from the other side said. This was the first time I was hearing his voice. It was so weird. It seemed like someone of any uncle's age was speaking. Such a heavy voice he had. " Why did you lie to me? Why you left and then never tried to contact me?" I asked almost crying. "Sorry Parthavi for whatever I did. All I wanted was you to say yes. I don't have much time to explain everything because I am in the washroom and talking to you hiding from my uncle. All I could say is please wait for me just for two years and I'll be back as soon as I complete my intermediate. I love you a lot bye!" Priyank said and hung up the phone. I looked at Kritika with my wide-open eyes. I could not believe that I spoke to him for the first time. What did he say?" Kritika asked. I told her everything." Two years? Is he joking? why will he come back after 12th? Won't he have to study further after that? He is a cheat Parthavi I am telling you. Don't trust him he is lying and why would you even wait for him?" Kritika said " Because I love him" I interrupted." You what? Love? Do you even know the meaning of love? Parthavi why don't you understand he is a liar. He is not going to come back. He will make a new girlfriend and will keep you as his backup plan that's it." Kritika yelled. "shh! hold on! Daksh is coming". I said. Daksh came and I handed him back his phone without even saying a word to him. He smiled at me and walked away. " Okay now listen. Priyank won't do anything like that Kritika please don't worry. I trust him" I consoled Kritika. " Alright if you say so," Kritika replied. " But his voice was very weird, I felt like I was talking to his father. He is having such a heavy voice." I mocked. " That is because he is having a voice break stupid," Kritika said. " Voice break? What's that?. I asked. " This happens when a person hits puberty, his vocal cords tend to change and we call it a voice break. " Kritika explained. Whatever it was, all I knew was that I was very happy. I finally got to talk to the love of my life and I was relaxed.  I was happy to know the fact that it was not only me who was waiting but also him.