Page 17 of Since You Came Along (Ever Since #1)

His hands were clenched on his knees, his knuckles white. ‘A truck hit her car at an intersection. It went up in flames. She… she died instantly.’

Her breath hitched, and tears blurred her vision when he added, ‘As much as I wanted to say goodbye, I’m glad she didn’t suffer. And it was comforting to know that our last words to each other had been, I love you.’

His voice cracked with pain and Meera couldn’t hold back anymore. She leaned closer and wrapped her arms around him. He held on to her and she rested her head on his shoulder. They sat there, engulfed in the silence of the present and whispers of the past.

‘After she died, I was a mess. I called Abhay, and he rushed here along with my parents. After the funeral, I was drowning myself in alcohol so much that I almost missed my final exam. I was numb, lost. One morning, Abhay found me drinking and punched me in the face.’ Raghav winced, remembering the impact.

Meera could feel her heart breaking for the man beside her. She squeezed his hand, her silent way of saying she was there, that she understood.

‘I got so angry, I hit him back,’ Raghav confessed. ‘We made each other bleed. And when we were done, I broke down. Abhay just hugged me as I cried. That was the first time the reality sunk in. Nica was gone.’

Meera reached out and held his hand. He let out a shaky breath and continued, ‘Losing her took a toll on us. It changed us. Abhay became more serious, more grounded. Luv started taking life as it came. Kusha became cynical about love, about people.’

His gaze drifted to the window. ‘That day, I didn’t just lose Nica, I lost an entire life I had dreamed of with her.’

Her throat tightened with emotions at his words. She whispered, ‘I’m so sorry, Raghav.’

Raghav relaxed a fraction as he glanced at her.

There was no pity in her eyes, only genuine understanding.

He realised then how easy it was to talk to her.

She wasn’t trying to diminish his pain or compare it.

She was there, listening. For the first time in years, sharing his pain felt like healing.

When Raghav looked expectantly at Meera, she knew he was waiting for her to talk, to share her pain. She didn’t know how, after listening to the story of a beautiful love, she could taint the moment by telling a tale of betrayal. But, after knowing his past, she felt closer to him.

She took a deep breath and said, ‘I do understand. I lost a future too, but it was never mine to begin with.’

Raghav turned to her, his dark eyes steady and patient. His hand closed over hers now, offering silent encouragement. ‘I’m listening,’ he said, his voice a balm to her frayed nerves.

‘I met Rutvik when we got partnered up in my painting class. We hit it off. Soon we became good friends, and when he asked me out, I was over the moon. But eventually, things changed,’ she said with a bitter smile.

‘He hated my music, my love for baking… pretty much anything that wasn’t part of his “perfect lifestyle.” And he never liked my friends.’

Raghav arched a brow. ‘Swayam and Siya, I’m guessing?’

Meera chuckled, the sound tinged with irony. ‘Swayam couldn’t stand Rutvik. He always said I was giving too much and getting nothing in return.’

Raghav tilted his head, studying her. ‘Why did Swayam think that?’ From what Swayam had told him about Rutvik, he already knew why, but he wanted to know what Meera thought.

Her gaze dropped to her lap, and she admitted, ‘Because I was making all the sacrifices. I’d skip meals and walk to college to save money so I could recharge my phone and call Rutvik. He… did nothing like that for me.’

The room fell quiet, except for the distant honking of a car on the street below. Raghav said nothing, but his jaw clenched.

‘And then there was Ahana, his best friend,’ Meera continued, anger creeping into her tone. ‘She’d criticise everything about me, from the way I dressed to the way I talked, even how I never quite fit into their group. Her nick name for me was… a charity case.’

‘A charity case?’ he echoed, his tone laced with disbelief and rage.

Meera nodded, her laugh devoid of humour. ‘She told Rutvik he was doing me a favour by being with me and that he deserved someone better. And maybe, deep down, he believed her. Because he never defended me. Not once.’

‘And you didn’t become best friends with this girl?’ Raghav asked, his voice tinged with mock horror.

Meera managed a faint smile, but the memory preoccupied her. The moment Rutvik had laughed at what Ahana said about her still stung. She looked down at her hands, twisting her ring.

Raghav frowned, sensing her discomfort. ‘How did you find out what she said about you?’

Meera hesitated. ‘Rutvik told me himself. And all the while, he was laughing, as if someone calling his girlfriend a charity case was the funniest thing he’d ever heard.’

‘Instead of standing up for you, he laughed about it?’ His tone was sharp.

Meera didn’t respond, her silence speaking louder than words. Raghav felt anger simmer in his chest, hot and fierce. What kind of man would behave like that? He couldn’t fathom how Meera had endured it.

‘After more such comments from his friends, Rutvik insisted we meet only in private. I was fine with that. But then one day, I got a call from Ahana. She asked me how it felt knowing my boyfriend was ashamed to be seen with me.’

She paused, her voice cracking. ‘I didn’t want to believe her, so I asked Rutvik. When he confronted Ahana, she cried and accused me of lying, saying I was trying to create a rift between him and his friends. Things just… spiralled from there.’

Her shoulders slumped as she leaned back against the couch, drained. The pain in her eyes made his chest ache. He couldn’t stop himself from asking, ‘Why did you put up with all that, Meera?’

Her answer was a simple, ‘Because I loved him.’

Raghav tilted his head, his brows furrowed. ‘Why?’

‘Because, in the beginning, he was amazing. He was charming and thoughtful, everything I thought I wanted. And I didn’t understand why someone like him would be interested in someone like me. I believed I had to work hard to keep him.’

‘A girl like you? What does that even mean?’

‘He was everything I wasn’t. Polished, organised, ambitious. He knew what he wanted out of life and I didn’t. He was systematic, and I was chaotic,’ as she said that a tear fell from her eyes.

Raghav recalled the sketch on the table, now recognising the figure she had drawn. It was her—raw and vulnerable, much like the woman sitting before him. The words she’d spoken weren’t hers, he realised. They were Rutvik’s.

‘Let me guess,’ Raghav said. ‘He told you that, didn’t he?’

She nodded. ‘To him, emotions were a weakness. Whenever I expressed how I felt, he’d tell me to grow up. He always compared me to Ahana, telling me how she was more mature than me.’

‘Is she the one with whom he cheated on you?’

Her voice turned hollow as she nodded. ‘Ahana had been trying to come between us for ages, but Rutvik was the one who let it happen. No third person can come between two people unless one of them allows it. When I caught them in bed together, Ahana laughed and said, “About time you knew”. I didn’t even cry.

That’s how perfectly I had trained myself not to show emotions in front of Rutvik. ’

Raghav leaned closer, his knuckles white as he clenched his hands. ‘He didn’t even try to apologise?’

She laughed, sharply, ‘Rutvik and apologies? They don’t go together. He didn’t regret it for a second. Instead, he blamed me. He said I wasn’t enough, that I didn’t do enough. And that’s why he had to look elsewhere. He said I wasn’t good enough, but Ahana was.’

Her voice was calm, almost detached, but the pain in her words hit Raghav hard. He saw how much Rutvik had broken her. She believed those words. Fury bubbled inside him, but so did a fierce need to protect her. For the first time, Raghav questioned whether he deserved her, too.

‘Please tell me you saw through his bullshit,’ he said, his voice pleading.

Meera nodded. ‘Of course I did. I’d spent every single day trying to bend over backwards to earn his love, his acceptance.

I gave him more than I could, so much more that I forgot to keep any part of myself for me, that I bled myself dry.

I might not have been good enough for him, but he wasn’t good for me at all. ’

His heart swelled with pride and admiration. Despite everything, Meera had found the strength to walk away.

I will be respectful and loyal to Meera till my last breath , Raghav vowed.

But as that promise solidified in his heart, another truth crashed into him like a freight train.

Meera deserved so much more than he was giving her.

She deserved love, with a kind of devotion that went beyond just respect and loyalty.

He had locked that part of himself away after Veronica’s death, sealing it in a way he wasn’t sure if he could ever open it again. The realisation of how little he could offer her gnawed at him.

‘Why didn’t you date again? You could’ve found someone better than him. Someone worthy.’ He stopped short of saying the rest, someone who would love you .

Her gaze focused on the plain white ceiling as she answered, ‘I was a fool in love once, Raghav, and it nearly destroyed me. After Rutvik, I just didn’t have the strength to put my heart on the line again. I was too emotionally drained to even think about love.’

‘And when I saw him today, everything came rushing back. We didn’t even talk, but just being in the same room as him... it took a toll on me. Since then, it’s like the past won’t stop echoing in my mind.’

They fell silent. Meera could hear the night crickets, the occasional howl of the wind, the horn of a car passing by.

Raghav’s question sliced through the silence. ‘Do you have any regrets?’

‘Yes, I regret going to college today,’ she said, making Raghav chuckle.

Then her tone turned serious a moment later.