Hello all!
Thank you very much for your patient wait.
Here comes part two.
(Part one in a nutshell: Two (apparently) thick friends, Ann Tah and Jin-Ah had a feud when the former ditched the latter for a guy. The latter felt that this friend is no different from people who stab others in the back casually. If you want to know more, feel free to read the first part here.)
..."And that's why I cut contact with you." said Ann Tah.
Jin-Ah's mind snapped in an instant.
All she could now feel was pain.
Pain in her heart.
Pain in her head.
Pain in her what not.
"Please give me time." was all Jin-Ah could tell.
She had initially planned for some crazy time in the city with Ann Tah but ended crazy with her heart in pieces.
The next one hour was silent. Silence as of a funeral. Jin-Ah was never this silent of the days she had lived.
It was time to settle down to rectify either what went wrong in the relationship or to let go of the friendship.
Jin-Ah wanted to let go because of being sick of the betrayals faced. Ann Tah wanted to work it out as she felt guilty of the damages caused.
And... Jin-Ah let go.
What caused the trouble here?
Misunderstanding each other.
Moreover, the duo were contrasts.
One incident had revealed the hidden layers both had.
Ann Tah pushed Jin-Ah to come back when all Jin-Ah wanted was time. This made Jin-Ah shrink inside her shell even further.
It fuelled the misunderstanding.
Did it end here?
No. It was Jin-Ah's turn to pay back Ann Tah's actions.
Ann Tah texted Jin-Ah but never got a reply.
Ann Tah called Jin-Ah, but the line never went through. Ann Tah visited Jin-Ah, but only to see her seat empty.
Oh! It was a total ditch.
Ann Tah tried all ways to re-ignite that tiny lost spark. But none worked. There were days when Jin-Ah really wanted to block her. Yet, she couldn't. How could someone who never blocked strangers, block her once best pal?
This went on for almost a year until Jin-Ah's birthday. Her friends had come to surprise Jin-Ah. Yet that was the most awkward birthday Jin-Ah had. Because Ann Tah had planned it.
Having a rough time, plus clueless people around her, killed the moment.
"You were rude to your friends." Jin-Ah's mother said.
Yes. Rude because she was speechless for one straight hour.
One and half years later.
Jin-Ah started reflecting on herself.
She was lost again.
She was both blessed and cursed with compassion and logic. Sometimes, this made her proud. Sometimes, it tormented her. She counted on two crucial decisions.
One: did she choose the right course to study?
Two: was letting go of her girl-pal wrong?
Study was an excuse to dig her true self and what she wanted.
"Please take care of her well." What Ann Tah’s mother had said to Jin-Ah on her first day at college.
Her bittersweet heart.
Had Jin-Ah genuinely won?
Pushing someone may seem good for her, but that was out-of-character for Jin-Ah. She pitied that God created her with a soft heart.
She started feeling guilty for her harsh decision. Her thoughts went deep, her inner judgement balancing the scales.
That was one bad time, but hey! What relationship has no nodes and waves? One has to certainly step down if the other should go up. But Ego comes into the picture, asking, "why do you step down?" and telling the other will.
Weren't there days where they had fun, they spoke stuff and bonded? Were they fake? No.
After all, she hoped for a second chance, like someone kilometres away.
She was prepared for bitter responses and texted out a long message to Ann Tah, saying she was also embarrassed for her decision and felt childish.
Ting... Minutes later, a message popped. It was from Ann Tah. She apologised from her end for taking advantage of Jin-Ah’s kindness and not respecting their friendship.
“What happened back then?” was the only question Jin-Ah asked.
Ann Tah replied with as much courage as she could muster,
How she didn’t really want a relationship,
How she didn’t have the guts to say no to the guy because she was scared of him,
How the guy forced her to always do his biddings,
How her cowardliness prevented her from standing firm and getting out of the controlling rut she had fallen into,
How he had emotionally tortured her and pressured her to prove her apparent love for him by giving up all her friends and her studies,
How all this led her to be ashamed of herself and isolate herself from her dear girl pal, never wanting to say her side of the story for fear of being judged or worse, caught by him and made to undergo further torture,
How finally she managed to escape from his grasp,
How, during the time she was trying to patch up with Jin-Ah, she was tormented by guilt & trauma and couldn’t sense Jin-Ah’s need for space,
How truly regretful she felt of her past few years of actions,
How much she wanted Jin-Ah back.
At long last, Ann Tah ended her side of the experience. Jin-Ah went into deep thought.
It was indeed a lesson for both.
Looking back, Jin-Ah never regretted the decision to wait. Time is indeed a true healer. Hmm... What would Jin-Ah have done if she knew of the guy torturing Ann Tah back then? She would have peeled him alive, in true tomboy style.
Jin-Ah and Ann Tah finally opened up to each other, sharing each other’s journeys over the past years that flew with a lack of contact.
They mutually agreed to take things slowly and let their bond grow organically, authentically and honestly from that point.
Same ground, a stronger foundation, a beautiful building
And that is how they became the thickest of friends.
That's it from me, the guest writer.
Thank you very much for taking out the time to read this two-part story!
Writing stories has always been my thing which I had never said out loud. I wish for my stories to be as realistic as possible.
Reasons: All of us have extraordinary stories in us, but we think that ours are plain and the ones in films are remarkable.
Plus, I am a hell of a realist (!!)
æ„›ä½ å€‘ ! (Ai Nimen! / Love you all!)
*Phew*
Let’s all take deep breaths, shall we?
And while taking those deep breaths, let’s also try and understand the sheer depth of this story!
How MANY things it teaches us!!!
First of all, let’s answer the question that we had at the end of part 1. Which of the 2 relationships was stable? – well, three guesses which?! Of course, the friendship!!! Coz no relationship that involves torture and control deserves the tag of ‘relationship’, let alone stable.
But what was more wonderful in the story was how the two friends managed to reconcile!! They didn’t patch up in a dramatic, emotional and cinematic manner.
The one who destabilized the friendship was remorseful, and the one who was affected needed time.
Both of them underwent personal development and evolved into better human beings before reconciling.
And that’s what matters.
Acceptance for the sake of stability wouldn’t have resulted in the thickening of their bond. True introspection and correction of mistakes from both sides was what led to a strong foundation, upon which a really stable friendship was built (correction, rebuilt).
Time, personal space, and mutual understanding are extremely key elements in any relationship, and that’s exactly what the two friends showed us.
Thus, the story lives up to its beginning, and truly presents to us a tale of true friendship, formed through trials and testing times.
The kinds of ups and downs presented in the story are extremely realistic (well, our guest writer didn’t say she was a realist for nothing!!!), and if we pause and look back, I guess we can find similar ups and downs in the year 2021.
We certainly were bashed by the pandemic, and hopefully, we’re reviving from it in a healthy manner. But that doesn’t mean we didn’t have positives in this year either! (If you’re unable to locate any positives, go watch Spider Man: No Way Home, and then you will). There’s no better example than this 2 – part story for us to understand that be it crests or troughs in life, it’s up to us to deal with it, and its effect on our lives will depend on how we look at it.
So, let us all learn to accept both the light and the darkness into our lives, and try to live without worrying too much, so that our lives can become colourful!!
On that note, on behalf of Parinaama, from the Author, our dear guest writer and myself, I wish you all a very happy, peaceful, healthy and prosperous New Year 2022.
Until next time,
Subrahmanyam B R (The Editor)
