Heart Where It Lies

Vyom, class 10^th boy, whose father was a government officer, lived in police colony with his family and a circle of friends.

This family’s neighbour was another officer who had a daughter named Mehek, Vyom and Mehek are very close friends, in fact, they liked each other and dreamt of living together for eternity.

One day, his father told the family that he got transferred to another district. Vyom was shattered and was very upset as he was not ready to leave Mehek, but he could not do anything against their wish, so they had to move to another city. Before leaving, they met each other, held each other’s hand, and cried and promised that they would meet again no matter what may come. Mehek told Vyom that she would always wait for him and Vyom left in tears, lost in his own thoughts and could not sleep. Next day, he left and Mehek watched his vehicle go by until it disappeared.

New place – something Vyom did not like, his mother knew that her son was having trouble and tried to comfort him. Vyom wrote a letter to Mehek and said that he could not live without her, and he also said her that he would run to her. Mehek replied and said that he needed to be a man, and told him to ask for her hand to their parents with their approval and not ruin his career.

Vyom decided to focus on his studies; he was good in music, so his parents allowed him to learn guitar so that he could feel good and better. Days passed by, and he tried to adjust to the new environment although he was not able to let go of Mehek’s.

The only place where he found some peace was his guitar classes. He was able to learn fast, and without any problem, managed to learn well.

In the guitar class, a new girl joined named Simran, who was very beautiful and other boys of the class started to woo her. But Vyom was the only guy who did not seem to have fallen for her beauty as he was solely focused on his class and nothing else.

Simran was impressed with Vyom and internally developed some feeling towards him.  One day, after the class got over, she rushed to Vyom before he could leave for the day and asked for some tips as she was having some difficulty, but Vyom did not speak up, just looked into her eyes and turned away. Next day, when they arrived, Vyom did not see Simran and this continued for some days. He thought, maybe, she left the class as she was not able to learn or keep up with the pace. He felt sorry for the day he ignored her and gave her a cold shoulder.

He found her address and went to her locality where he saw Simran standing on her roof. He went to her house and called her. Simran was surprised because she never thought that he would come to find her.

She asked him why he came and he replied to check on why she was not coming. Simran said she would join from tomorrow, as she had to go to a relative’s place for a marriage. She smiled, and for the first time, she noticed a smile on his face as well.

Next day, Simran was in the class and was looking for Vyom all the time. He came and their eyes got hooked into each other’s. Vyom felt confused that day as he had some feeling towards her, but did not want to confess it to himself. All these while, he did not know what was going on with Mehek as she was not replying to his letters. Next day, he called an old friend of his from his old place and asked how and where Mehek was, but he was shocked to hear that she and his family had left the place as well and moved to another place. Next few days, he was restless, and he spoke to his best friend on how Simran loved him and that he could not reciprocate because of Mehek. His friend told him that with Mehek gone he had no clue about her; it might have been too unfair for Simran as she loved him for sure. And just because you love somebody who is no longer around, you cannot reject them for too long. 

Vyom gradually developed feelings for Simran as it was hard to resist her feeling for too long. They both took admission in one college as well and fell in love. Their families too were happy for both of them as it appeared that they were ready to accept this relationship. Vyom, still somewhere, had Mehek in his mind.

As time passed, Vyom became a government official and Simran became a music teacher, and now their parents as well have started talking about their marriage plans. Simran planned for her marriage with Vyom and Vyom too knew that probably this was right. The wedding date was decided and the plans went on…

Suddenly, one day. Vyom saw Mehek  standing in front of him. For a moment, it seemed like everything was frozen and they simply looked into each other’s eyes. Vyom had tears in his eyes, and at the same moment, Simran rushed in there as she wanted to surprise him, but she saw both Vyom and Mehek and realised that the woman was indeed someone close to Vyom. She was in shock too and went back; Vyom also did not stop her. He asked Mehek where she had been all these time and why she had never let him know where she had left.

Mehek told him why she had shifted to his village as leaving in the city was proving costly. There, his father had died due to illness and she had to take up responsibilities for her family. She was lost in all these, and so, could not recognise her ambitions, but she always wished well for him.  Time passed, and finally her family was stable. She realised how she had forgotten her ambitions, her love.  She told Vyom that she loved him a lot and that was why she had been searching for him for last few months, and finally, she found where he was working and that is how she landed in his office that day.

Vyom told her what had happened all this time and about Simran in his life and about their marriage. Mehek was silent and did not say anything. Vyom too was silent now and they both had tears in their eyes. It started raining and they both moved towards their ways with tears lost in rain drops.

Next day, Simran called Vyom at her place and Vyom reached their but was surprised to see Mehek as well there. Simran greeted Vyom and asked him why he never told her about Mehek during their relationship. Vyom did reply admitting that he should have and apologised.

Simran asked him if he still loved her or he had feelings for Mehek since she was back in her life again. Mehek interrupted her and said that she was unaware of her presence in Vyom’s life, otherwise, she would have never returned back, and she said that she would return back the next day to her town and wish them all the best for their marriage.

Next day, Mehek was waiting for the train at the platform when she heard Simran and realised that she was in front for her with Vyom. Simran told Mehek that she knew how much she loved Vyom and she too realised how much Vyom loved her and she realised it overnight when Simran asked Vyom to decide on what is best for him and who he loved more. Vyom, last night, confessed that he was what he was today was only because of Simran but Mehek was the passion, which ignited him every day until this day.

Simran told both of them that she loved Vyom a lot. But she had realised that Vyom never forgot Mehek, and since Mehek did not leave Vyom intentionally and came back, it showed that love could wait when her family needed her the most. She said that she respected Mehek for her courage and true love and said that she was the one who should get what she deserved, and that was Vyom.

Vyom could not hold his tears and hugged Simran and told both the ladies that although Mehek loved her a lot and she did what anybody would have done but Simran was the one for which his love was true and he could not let go of her. He told Mehek and thanked her for her love but what Simran did was what true love. For the first time, he felt that he loved her more than anybody in this world, and that he would live with her.

He told them what Simran did was unconditional love – ‘loving him and supporting him when he was down and then letting go of him at the peak of her love just to make him happy’. And that Mehek should now let go of him as he would do the same to her although he would always stand for her but he would live with Simran.

Mehek accepted her fate and bid farewell to them and boarded the train and Simran held Vyom’s hand and looked into his eyes and they started walking further, thinking that now she had Vyom, her love with him would last forever.