PART 3 — THE DISAPPEARANCE
CHAPTER SEVEN — THE FRIEND WHO LEFT
After graduation, Rajvir and Anvi began building their new lives together, while Sia gradually disappeared from theirs.
At first, the change was subtle.
She stopped answering messages quickly.
Then she stopped answering calls.
Then her replies became short and distant.
Anvi assumed Sia was busy with family matters, while Rajvir remained concerned but didn't want to pressure her.
One evening, Anvi pinged her again.
"Sia, please call us back. We haven't heard from you properly in weeks."
There was no response.
Rajvir looked at Anvi.
"Maybe we should visit her."
"We should."
The next day, they both went to Sia's house.
The large gates opened, and she was welcomed by someone from the household, but Sia was nowhere to be seen.
"Where is Sia?" Anvi asked.
Her family gave a carefully prepared answer.
"She has gone away for some time."
"Where?"
"Abroad."
Anvi looked surprised.
"Why didn't she tell us?"
"She needed a change."
"When is she coming back?"
"We don't know."
Anvi's concern deepened.
"Can I talk to her?"
Her family exchanged glances before answering.
"She isn't available."
They returned confused.
Rajvir again tried calling Sia.
Her number was no longer active.
They tried contacting her through other means.
Nothing worked.
Neither Rajvir nor Anvi knew what Sia was feeling in her heart.
Sia had not simply gone abroad for a holiday or temporary change. She had left because she could no longer bear remaining in the same city while watching the two people she loved begin a life together. She had taken her heartbreak with her.
The journey abroad was the beginning of a completely different chapter.
For the first few months, Sia struggled. She missed home. She missed college. She missed the three friends they had once been.
Most of all, she missed Rajvir—his care for her, the way he remembered every little thing about her, and the quiet tenderness that made her wonder if, perhaps, it had always been his love for her. But more than anything, she missed his “Rajjo” avatar.
But every time she thought about returning, she remembered the farewell night.
Rajvir choosing Anvi.
Anvi hugging "Rajvi".
Her own forced smile.
Eventually, sadness began turning into anger.
She started asking herself questions she had never dared to ask before.
Why had she remained silent for so long?
Why had she allowed herself to lose the person she loved?
Why had she always been the one to compromise?
The questions didn't have simple answers.
So she made a decision.
She would rebuild herself.
She would study and work hard
She would become independent.
She would stop allowing anyone to see her as weak.
And she would get her revenge. She would get what she wanted and loved most, by any means necessary.
Years passed.
Sia changed.
The girl who had once sat quietly beside Rajvir in college became more confident, more controlled and much harder to understand.
She built a successful life abroad.
She gained financial independence and learned how to make decisions without depending on anyone.
She also built special "contacts" who would help her in the future.
But one thing remained unchanged.
She still remembered Rajvir.
And she still remembered Anvi.
---
CHAPTER EIGHT — THE YEARS BETWEEN THEM
Meanwhile, Rajvir and Anvi continued their lives.
Their relationship developed naturally, but neither of them forgot Sia.
Every once in a while, Anvi would mention her.
"Do you think she's okay?"
Rajvir would answer, "I hope so."
"Do you think she's angry with us?"
"I don't know."
Anvi would become quiet.
"I miss her."
Rajvir would nod.
"So do I."
They had no idea that Sia was deliberately staying away.
They believed she simply needed time.
Rajvir occasionally looked through old photographs from college.
There were dozens.
The three of them laughing.
The three of them eating together.
The three of them celebrating festivals.
The three of them sitting on the college steps.
And finally, the picture from the cultural festival and the farewell photograph.
There they stood together: Anvi, Sia, and Rajvir, dressed in his feminine avatar—whom Sia lovingly called Rajjo, and Anvi called Rajvi.
He sometimes wondered whether they would ever stand together like that again.
Anvi kept the same photograph.
She couldn't bring herself to delete it.
Sia had one too.
But her relationship with the photograph was very different.
For Rajvir and Anvi, it represented friendship.
For Sia, it represented the moment her life had changed.
She kept it inside a private drawer.
Whenever she opened that drawer, she remembered the three young people they had once been.
Sometimes she missed them.
Sometimes she hated herself for still caring.
Most of the times she hated them.
But eventually, a different feeling began replacing the pain.
Determination.
Sia no longer wanted to return as the same girl who had disappeared.
If she ever returned, she wanted Rajvir and Anvi to see how much they had damaged her from inside.
She wanted them to understand that the person they had left behind no longer existed.
She wanted them to feel the pain she was feeling since farewell night.
Yet somewhere deep inside her, the old Sia was still alive.
The girl who had once sat beside Rajvir during lectures.
The girl who had laughed at his jokes.
The girl who had secretly loved him.
She still had never stopped loving him completely.
That was precisely what made her anger so complicated.
---
CHAPTER NINE — THE RETURN THAT HAD NOT YET BEGUN
Years after college, Sia stood in front of the large glass window of her apartment abroad, looking at the city lights below.
Her life had become everything she had once promised herself it would become.
Yet there was still one unfinished chapter.
On the table behind her lay an old photograph.
She picked it up.
Three friends.
Rajvir. Anvi. Sia.
She stared at their younger faces for a long time.
The memories came rushing back.
The first day of college.
The first time seeing Rajvir.
Their arguments.
Their laughter.
Rajvir's old dance photographs.
The cultural festival.
The day she had started calling him Rajjo.
The farewell night.
Anvi's confession.
Rajvir's answer.
Her own smile as she pretended to be happy.
She closed her eyes.
For years, she had told herself that she had moved on.
Perhaps she had.
Perhaps she hadn't.
She looked once more at the photograph.
“So… I’m really going back.”
For a moment, she simply stared at the familiar faces.
“Am I sure?”
A faint smile appeared on her lips.
“Of course I am.”
She carefully placed the photograph into a folder.
“I’ve spent years building the life I have now. I didn’t do all that just to remain afraid of the past.”
She closed the folder and leaned back, lost in thought.
“I want to see them again.”
Her eyes narrowed slightly, and a mischievous smile slowly crept across her face.
“But what happens after that?”
She let out a quiet chuckle.
“Well… that depends.”
Her fingers tapped lightly against the folder.
“Maybe I’ll just see how much they’ve changed.”
A pause.
“Or maybe…”
Her smile turned almost devilish.
“…I’ll give them a little surprise.
Whatever happens, it certainly won’t be boring.”
She picked up the folder.
“I’m coming back.”
Back in India, Rajvir and Anvi were living completely unaware of what was happening.
They had no idea that the friend they had lost years ago was preparing to return.
They had no idea that Sia had spent those years carrying memories they believed had disappeared.
And most importantly, they had no idea what she intended to do with all the pain she had carried for so long.
The three friends had once entered college as strangers and left it believing their friendship would last forever.
They had laughed together.
Loved each other in different ways.
Shared their secrets.
And then one farewell night had changed everything.
Now, years later, one of them was coming back.
But she would not return as the same Sia who had disappeared.
She would return carrying years of memories, years of silence, and a heart that had never completely recovered from what happened.
She wanted revenge for the pain she had felt for years in her heart because of Rajvir and Anvi. She wanted closure this time, and it would happen exactly the way she wanted.
She simply looked at the photograph one last time and whispered,
"It's been a long time, Rajjo..."
She placed the photograph away.
Her journey back to India had begun.
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