Rays of sun peeped through her shining windows. Hema slowly opened her eyes. Her heart was racing in happiness as it was an important occasion in her life.
She immediately got ready and rushed downstairs.
She could see her mom setting up the table.
“Good morning ma.”
“ Some one seems to be extremely excited.”
“ Mom, how can you forget? This is the most important day in my life. I’m invited as a guest to my school. I couldn’t get an ounce of sleep. My mind was filled with much excitement.”
With a bunch of thoughts brooding over her mind, she hugged her mom emotionally.
“I owe you so much amma. You sacrificed so much for my well-being.” She said with tears threatening to fall from her eyes.
“ Nonsense. Any mother would have done the same.” Her mom said with tear filled eyes while hugging her back.
Hema’s stylish car entered the school campus.
As she got down from her car, the old memories filled her thoughts.
“It hasn’t changed a bit.” She exclaimed to herself.
The principal Dr. Jayanthi (a strict yet friendly person), heartily welcomed her.
The entire auditorium buzzed with the excited chatter of the students. This familiar sound transported her to her olden days. While she immersed herself in her old memories, the announcement brought her back to reality.
“And now, please welcome our proud Alumna Ms. Hema Mani, CEO of XYZ solutions.”
With a pleasant smile, she slowly reached the podium. Her speech was a blend of her personal experiences in business, her ambitions and setbacks and her tireless pursuit of her dreams.
She stresses the significance of resilience and embracement of failures and finally the power of self-confidence.
Once she finished, claps filled the entire auditorium.
Students posed eager questions and she patiently responded to every single question with a brief explanation.
Once the event ended, Hema wandered around the entire school.
When she entered the school canteen, her eyes turned towards the hand wash area.
About 15 years ago, Hema was in 7th grade. After finishing her lunch with her friends, she was about to wash her hands. Unknowingly, Hema opened a faulty tap, which in a moment drenched her completely in water.
While everyone was teasing and laughing at her, a strong voice came out from the crowd.
“Move aside.”
Ananya (Hema’s classmate who is known as headstrong and doesn’t have any friends) came forward with a towel in her hand. She wiped Hema’s face and covered her with the towel. Her angry glare was enough to shut the teasing and laughing of the other students.
“Don’t worry. I have a spare dress. Let’s go and change.” Ananya said.
Hema nodded her head while shivering in cold.
After changing her clothes, Hema slowly came to Ananya.
“Thank you so much.” She said softly by holding her hands.
Ananya smiled back and was about to leave.
“Ananya” Hema called in a soft tone.
“Yes”
“I’m sorry. Without knowing your kind nature, I have offended you many times.”
“I’m used to this. Don’t worry. I don’t care about what others think about me.”
“But you don’t have any friends. Don’t you feel lonely in class?” Hema asked with much concern in her voice.
Ananya’s eyes welled up in tears.
“I’m used to being lonely. I’m not good in socialising with others. I’m not a sweet talker. Whenever I feel something is wrong, I express it immediately. I can’t act for someone’s sake. Yes, whenever I see people happily chatting with each other, I feel miserable for being alone. I’m not a robot, right?” she said emotionally.
Hema hugged Ananya tightly.
“I’m sorry you had to go through this hardship.”
By that time, Hema’s friends enter the room.
“Hema, sorry please forgive us. We didn’t laugh at you intentionally. We just got carried away.”
“I will forgive you all. But one condition.”
“ Yes, tell us anything.” Riya (One of the friends) replied.
“From today Ananya will be one amongst us. She is not a bad person as we thought.” Hema said.
“That’s true Hema. We shall all be best friends forever.” Riya and others hugged Ananya.
Ananya was scarce of words. She emotionally hugged them back.
Days roll on. They all became inseparable friends. Especially Hema and Ananya shared a special bond.
They are known as besties for life. They can do anything for one another.
But fate had other plans.
Ananya’s dad got transferred to another city. Hema and friends gave an emotional farewell to Ananya. The friends promised to each other to stay in touch always.
But as years rolled on, everyone got busy in their studies and they seldom had time to talk to each other. As her career advanced, Hema completely lost connect with her old friends and moved on with the flow. She made new connections everywhere she went but didn’t maintain any relationships with care.
Her heart now wanted to meet Ananya badly.
She came back to the principal and enquired about Ananya.
She somehow got her address.
The very next day she set out to meet Ananya.
Her excitement slowly turned into fear as she neared her house. With shivering hands she rang the bell.
Shock is an understatement for Ananya.
She simply stood in shock without uttering any word.
“ Who is that, Ananya?” came out Ganesh ( Ananya’s husband).
“ This is my old schoolmate, Hema.” She said without looking at her.
Ganesh could understand the emotional struggle between the both. Ananya always speaks about Hema. Ganesh wished for this moment of reunion for a long time.
“ I will be back in sometime.” he went out silently.
“ Ananya” Hema called in a soft voice.
Tears welled up in Ananya’s eyes. She tightly hugged her friend and cried hard.
“ You were my first friend. You were my best friend. How could you do this to me? You didn’t respond to any of my calls. You didn’t even attend my wedding. What wrong did I do to deserve this?”
“I’m sorry. I was busy in meeting foreign clients that time. My assistant attended the call that time. She did inform me about your call. I was excited to call you back. But got busy with back to back meetings. After that I completely forgot. Please forgive me. In the process of building my career, I lost many valuable relationships. I completely lost all your connections. Only after visiting our school, I came back to my senses.” Hema cried hard.
After much emotional outpour from both the sides, Ananya and Hema came back to normal state.
Ananya excitedly shows her wedding album. Hema browsed through the photos and got extremely happy to see all the other friends.
“I made a huge mistake. I should make up.” Hema takes out her phone and calls someone.
She creates a new group in whatsapp with her old friends. She personally went and apologised to all her friends. The friends were finally happy to be back like before.
They all gather at their favourite childhood restaurant.
“I feel so happy and peaceful today.” Riya said emotionally.
While the friends were busy chit chatting all the memorable moments. Hema received a phone call.
“Thank you.” She responded and ended the call.
“Guys come with me.”
“Where Hema?” everyone asked with much excitement.
“You all will know in sometime.”
After a long journey they finally reach a luxurious villa.
“Where are we now?” asked Ananya.
“Do you guys remember what we used to discuss during our school days? We wanted to have a big villa in the city outskirts for ourselves. We even planned to visit the villa every weekend right?”
“Yes. You still remember that?”
The friends hugged each other happily.
While Hema was peacefully resting in the pool side, the friends plan to prank her.
“Hema, wash your hands and come. The food is ready.” Ananya said.
Hema nodded and went to the wash basin to wash her hands. To her shock, when she opened the tap, she got fully drenched in water.
The friends jump up and laugh at her while it took some time for her to realise what just happened.
Instead of getting angry on her friends, she smiled pleasantly seeing their happy faces.