🏙️ “Long-Distance Love, Close-Distance Pain” - Chapter 13
Chapter 13: Bloodlines and Betrayals
“Sometimes, it’s not the strangers who ruin love. It’s the people closest to us.”
Aditi’s breath caught in her throat.
“What do you mean—my brother?”
Aditya’s jaw clenched. He looked down, then back up—eyes tired, but sincere.
“You deserve to know. But it’s not going to be easy to hear.”
Aditi crossed her arms. “Try me.”
Flashback: Four years ago
A week before Aditya was set to fly to New York, he had met Rajat Sharma—Aditi’s elder brother. A surprise visit, one Aditya hadn’t expected… or welcomed.
They sat in a cafĂ© in Delhi, rain pouring outside—just like tonight.
“Listen,” Rajat had said, voice hard. “I know you and Aditi have your little college romance going on. But she has a future here. A name. A family. Responsibilities.”
“I’m not standing in the way of any of that,” Aditya had said, trying to stay calm.
“Oh, but you are. She’s distracted, waiting on your calls. She’s dreaming of a future that doesn’t exist. Let me be honest—you’re not enough for her.”
Those words had sliced deeper than they should’ve. Rajat hadn’t stopped there.
“If you really love her,” he’d said, “let her go. She deserves stability, not struggle. You’re about to step into survival mode abroad. Be honest—how long before you forget her, or worse… fail her?”
Aditya hadn’t responded then. But that night, instead of meeting Aditi to say goodbye, he’d disappeared—silently.
Present.
Aditi stumbled backward, her voice barely a whisper. “You let my brother talk you out of us?”
Aditya nodded slowly. “No. I let my fear talk me out of us. But he just… gave it a voice.”
She sank onto the sofa, stunned.
“All these years…” she muttered, “I blamed myself. I thought I wasn’t enough. That maybe I was too clingy, too emotional, too demanding—”
“You weren’t,” he interrupted. “You were the only thing right in my life back then.”
Tears formed, but she blinked them away. “Then why didn’t you come back after you settled? After you got the job, the apartment…?”
He hesitated.
“Because by the time I got my life together, I saw you were moving on. You stopped texting. Stopped writing.”
“Of course I did!” she snapped. “How long was I supposed to keep shouting into the void?”
“I know,” he whispered. “I was a coward.”
A moment of silence.
Just the thunder outside, and the ticking of the wall clock.
Then Aditi stood.
“You don’t get to unburden your guilt and walk out feeling lighter,” she said firmly. “You don’t get to drop truth bombs and expect forgiveness like a reward.”
“I don’t want your forgiveness,” Aditya said, his voice breaking. “I just want you to know… you weren’t the one who failed.”
She looked at him, the pain in her eyes sharper than any accusation.
“I don’t know what hurts more—knowing you left because of my brother, or because you agreed with him.”
He flinched.
She walked to the door and opened it.
The message was clear.
Aditya stood still for a moment, then finally left—silently again, but not the same kind of silence as four years ago.
This one… echoed with unfinished emotions.
They were no longer the college sweethearts from Delhi.
Now, they were survivors of a shared wreckage—
Trying to figure out if anything could still be salvaged.
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