Simran

There was a time when I longed for the same things. You know, meeting a man and falling in love, marriage—the whole nine yards. Then reality crashed into me like a tidal wave and shattered all my dreams.

Love isn’t real and neither are happily ever afters.

gave my heart to someone with my whole being, only for it to be carelessly thrown aside. Ever since then, I’ve been guarding the broken pieces. It took me months to finally let go, enough to cherish the other good things in my life. I learned my lesson and it was ugly.

Love is a curse and heartbreak is its penance.

Love doesn’t scare me, it’s the aftermath. The inevitable heartbreak, the tears and the agony, and the worst part comes later when self-doubt creeps in, the apology that never comes to give you closure. The shattered pieces that would never fit again and the ghost of heartache that haunts and blackens the light and the good,”

People say no one forgets their first love, when the truth is it’s the heartbreak that no one forgets. And when the reason is your boyfriend cheating on you after promising you’re his entire world, the betrayal is bone-crushing and scarring. If you’re young and already believe the world is a cruel and pretentious place, then it’s simply impossible to get over.

reminisce about a future that could’ve been.

Perhaps, Dash and I could have fallen in love in another lifetime.

A lifetime where our past didn’t exist.

A past without guilt.

Without thorns.

There’s always a moment in your life—an intuition. An inkling. A premonition—when we realize our worst fear is winning. It’s the same feeling running through me right now.

It’s drowning me.

Clutching me.

Crushing me.

And we know what they say… Intuition is like a guardian angel. Yet mine feels like the devil perched on my shoulder.

Memories are the absolute worst.

One moment, they make you feel like you’re at the top of the world.

And the next moment, they taunt you with a reality of what will never be. Will never last. Was never meant to be.

“I need you to marry first so I can marry Aryan, Bee. I want to start a family with him, and I can’t unless you do. Papa will never agree to my marriage until the eldest daughter of the family does. Don’t even think of cajoling me, because we both know it’s the harsh truth.”

Only one person exists who’s capable of causing a crack in Rosa’s calm façade. Her sworn enemy and bully, Nova D’Cruz.

Oh, and her soon-to-be husband.

Nova is a few years older than us and runs in a completely different circle. Though his circle of friends is big, it’s mostly superficial. He only has one close friend, Nathan Singhania, who also happens to be dating our friend, Iris. He must be around here somewhere.