I got lost in my studies and kept away from all distractions. Time flew by, and the exams were over before I knew it.

I was happy about it and was looking forward to spending more time with Priya again. But somehow, she was not reachable.

For the time being, I decided to focus on my coaching classes. This was my last year of college. So I was focused on earning as much as I could. I still wanted to buy my car before I graduated, and my savings were coming along well.

If everything goes as planned, I should be able to afford a brand new Maruti Swift car by the end of the year.

There was still no news from Priya for the next couple of days. I didn't take it too seriously. I guessed something significant must have come up. But a nagging feeling at the back of my mind kept telling me that something was not right.

Then one day, Mary came to see me. It was entirely out of the blue. It suddenly made me realize how little I have been in touch with her lately. And for some reason, I could see she was in a terrible mood.

"Hi, Mary. How are you?”

"Not as great as you.”

"What do you mean?”

She was clearly upset about something.

"Nothing. You have been very busy lately. Not even a message or call. What have you been up to?”

"Nothing much. You know how studies keep me occupied most of the time?”

"Really? Is that all? Nothing else?”

"Yeah. Why?”

She seemed to be getting angrier.

"Jacob. Is there anything you want to tell me?”

I had a bad feeling, and my mind was telling me being quiet was the best thing to do right now, at least till I know what she was upset about. So I did just that.

After a minute of silence, Mary started speaking again.

"Why didn't you tell me about you and Priya? I thought we were best friends.“

Oh. This was bad. I suddenly realized I never told Mary about us.

"Mary, we are best friends. Priya and I just didn't want anyone to know yet. That's all. I didn't mean to keep it from you. “

"You should have told me. I was the one who introduced Priya to you. After all this time we have been together, I can't believe you would hide something like this from me.“

"I'm really sorry, Mary. Please understand. I didn’t hide from you on purpose. It just slipped from my mind.“

"How long has this been going on now?”

"Not much. A year I think.”

"A year! Wow. “

"Please try to understand. We just didn't want anyone to know. You know how different our backgrounds are. I didn't want to create any problems with her family.”

"Well. At least you don't have to worry about that anymore.”

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"What do you mean by that?”

"I mean, her father found about you two, and most people know it by now. I hear she has been grounded at home with no phone.”

Oh. That would explain why I didn't hear anything from Priya for the past few days. Maybe I should have taken it more seriously.

"Do you think I should go meet her?”

"Stay far from her place as much as you can. I hear her father is furious. He is a traditional guy, and I don’t think he is ready to accept inter-religion relationships. So you better watch out.”

Okay. So no contacting for now. Will have to see how to handle it later.

"Anyways. Thanks for letting me know.”

"Look, Jacob. I'm happy for you and Priya. But you have really hurt me. I thought we were much closer than this. I need some time to get over this. I'm leaving now. I need some time to properly digest this. Bye.“

Mary left as quickly as she came. I felt maybe I should have told her earlier. Perhaps I should have done something different. I never wanted to hurt her. She has always been there for me.

At the same time, I had more significant problems on hand. I didn't know how to solve the mess at Priya’s home. For now, I just decided to lay low and hope the storm would pass over.

I kept a low profile for the time being and kept busy with my coaching classes.

----------------------------------------

The third-year results came out, and it was better than I had expected.

My rank had increased to 10, which was great. I'm sure the Dean would be pleased with it.

Priya also did decently well. Of course, not as great as the year before, but not too bad either.

But even the results didn't cheer me up. I was still waiting for Priya to contact me somehow, and each passing day was turning out more difficult for me.

Soon the last year of college started, but there was still no news from Priya.

----------------------------------------

Finally, a week after college started, I heard Priya had arrived at the hostel. I was thrilled and couldn't wait to meet her.

I was a bit worried as well. I didn’t know how to handle the situation with Priya. I had no idea what condition she was in.

It took a lot of courage for me to meet her in the evening.

The meeting couldn't have been further than from what I imagined.

Priya was completely normal. Like there was no issue at all. For a moment, I started wondering whether what I had heard was all wrong and maybe there was no issue at her home at all.

I couldn't contain my curiosity and decided to ask her.

"I heard there was some issue at your home.”

"Oh. Where did you hear that from?”

"Mary told me.”

She was eating ice cream, and she seemed concentrated on that. I couldn't handle the silence or the indifference.

"And? What happened?”

"About what?”

"I mean the problem at your home? Maybe I heard it wrong.”

"Oh, that. Yeah. There was some issue. But it's okay now.”

I was really relieved to hear that.

"So, your Dad is okay about us now?”

She chuckled at that.

"Like it would be that easy.”

"But you just said it was okay now.”

"I mean, it's sorted.”

"And what do you mean by that.”

I was getting really confused by Priya’s answers so far.

"Well, my Dad gave me the ultimatum to stop seeing you or to leave the house.”

"And?”

"What do you mean and? I'm sitting here now with you, right? Shouldn't that answer your question?”

She seemed to be smiling at that. But I was entirely lost by her answer.

"You left your house?”

"Yeah. But it's no big deal. I'm sure Dad would come around sooner or later. Even if he doesn't, it should be fine. “

"Fine. How?”

"Well, my college fees are paid in full. The car is in my name. I have some savings. I also have some inheritance that my Grandparents had left for me. So I should be fine.“

I was somehow amazed at how calmly she was handling this. Maybe it showed on my face. So she continued.

"Jacob. You need to realize something. We all get to live only once. And I had long back decided to live my life the way I want with no regrets. Even if it results in someone else hating me for it. I would rather prefer that than living with regrets or hating someone else for making me do something I don’t want to in the first place.”

She added after a pause.

“I just don't want to end up like my mom. I mean, she is not unhappy. But I'm not sure if she is happy either. She has lived her entire life by the rules set by someone else for her. And I don’t want my life to be anything like that.”

"But. What about your parents? Won't they feel bad?”

"Well, they might. It's not like I want to make them sad. But someone would definitely end up being sad. And between them and me being miserable, I would prefer it not to be me. It's just the way I look at life. Like I said, I don't want to live my entire life hating them just to make them feel better. I actually prefer this way better.”

This was an entirely new perspective for me. I could understand the logic in her thought process, but I could not agree with her. But at the same time, I could see that I would not be able to change her mind. Maybe no one could.

So I decided to just ignore it for the time being and hope everything between Priya and her parents would improve soon. I really didn’t want to be the reason for the problems in her family.