The Drafted Diary

“Oh no, my diary is missing! How can this be possible?” Anita’s voice was filled with panic as she searched frantically for her beloved diary. This wasn’t just any book—it held her innermost secrets: the love, the pain, the happiness, the sorrow, and all those unspoken stories that not even her best friend, Sukhi, knew. But now, a day before her engagement, it had vanished. “Oh God,” she sighed, a headache taking over, her mind buzzing with a sense of dread. In that moment of turmoil, she drifted off into a restless sleep.

In her dream, she saw her fiancé, Abhishek, confronting her. “Why did you hide this from me, Anita? You loved someone else and didn’t think it was important for me to know. Don’t you think I deserve honesty?” His voice was pained. “I found your diary. Everything was in there. Why did you keep this from me?”

With a jolt, Anita woke up. “No, this can’t be happening! How could he have read my diary?” But as she caught her breath, she realized, "Marriage isn’t a game. It’s a lifetime commitment, a journey we’re meant to share together." If she was to truly begin her life with Abhishek, he had a right to know her past, just as much as her present. Her mind made up, she picked up her phone and texted him:

“Hi, can we meet? Let’s talk at the Starbucks near Prestige Park in an hour.”

Almost instantly, he replied, “Of course. Just promise me you’re not calling it off. It’s taken me three years to get to this point with you. Please don’t break my heart.”

She responded, reassuring him, “No, that’s not it at all. I’ll see you soon.”

---

Starbucks at 5:30 pm: Anita and Abhishek sat in silence for a moment before Anita broke it.

“Do you know why I asked you to meet me?” she began.

“No, that’s why I’ve been quiet,” Abhishek replied, looking at her intently.

Anita drew a deep breath. “Alright. There’s something you need to know.” And she began to tell him everything.

“I was in my final year of high school when I met Saroj. He was everything to me back then—my first love. Our story was magical, like something out of a movie. I wrote about it all in my diary—the butterflies, the joy, the dreams we had. We both pursued our own paths; he went into medicine, and I went into engineering. For six years, we were together, both focused on building our lives.

"Then one day, he met with a terrible accident. I got a call from his friend, Subodh, saying he was unconscious. I booked the earliest flight and left immediately. When I reached Bhubaneswar and saw Subodh crying, I realized something was terribly wrong. Saroj was gone. I felt like my world had shattered. After the funeral, I couldn’t bear to go back, so I returned to Bangalore and tried to move on.

“A few years later, I met you. You were kind, supportive, and eventually, we became friends. My parents pressured me to settle down, and you convinced them and reassured me. But my diary—that was always my space, the only place where I could revisit everything I went through.”

Anita’s eyes glistened with tears as she looked at Abhishek. “Now you know the truth, Abhi. You have the right to decide whether you still want to marry me.”

Abhishek sat silent, absorbing everything. Then he stood, walked over to Anita, and wrapped her in a tight hug. “Anita, you’ve been through so much. Knowing this only makes me respect you more. I’ll make sure you’re happy. Let’s go home; we have a big day tomorrow.” He looked up and whispered to the sky, “Saroj, I promise she’ll be happy with me.”

---

Anita felt lighter than ever, grateful that she had shared her past with Abhishek. Later that evening, she found her diary tucked away in a drawer. With a smile, she thought, “Maybe it was God’s way of making sure I shared my story.”