The Life We Chose
The Accident
Kunal didn't even look back. "I'll find it!" he shouted. Before I could ask what he meant, he was already running—running toward the road, running toward the riverside.
"Kunal—wait!" I called, confused. I hadn't even realized where he was going. Then the world slowed.
A horn split the air. Too loud. Too sharp. Too close. A truck came speeding down the road. For a split second, Kunal turned his head. Headlights swallowed him. And then—impact.
The sound was sickening. A crushing, hollow thud that didn't feel real. His body lifted into the air like it weighed nothing, suspended for a heartbeat before slamming onto the asphalt several feet away. The truck screeched. Metal screamed. Tires burned against the road.
The river kept flowing. But everything inside me stopped. All I could see was him.
My voice wouldn't come out. My throat closed. "K… Ku…" My knees trembled violently. "KUUU!!" The scream finally tore out of me—raw, broken, desperate. I ran. I don't remember how my legs moved. I don't remember breathing. The world blurred as I dropped to my knees beside him.
Blood. There was so much blood. It pooled beneath his head, spreading dark across the road. It soaked into my hands the moment I touched him.
"No… no no no… Kunal! Kunal!" My voice shook uncontrollably. His eyes were half-open. Unfocused. I slid my trembling hands under his head, lifting it gently onto my lap. Warm blood coated my palms—sticky, terrifying, real.
"Stay with me… please stay with me…"
I pressed my hand against the wound, trying to stop the bleeding the way I had seen in movies. But it kept seeping through my fingers, unstoppable. I didn't know how to fix this. Just minutes ago, I was angry. Minutes ago, I told him I hated him. Now—his blood was on my hands.
"Kuu… please…" My tears fell onto his face, mixing with the red staining his skin. "I didn't mean it… I didn't mean it…"
The world around us was chaos—people shouting, someone yelling to call an ambulance, car horns blaring in panic. But all I could hear was his breathing. Faint. Fragile. His lips moved slightly.
"S… sowwy…"
The word barely escaped him. My heart shattered. "No… Kuu… don't say that…" I sobbed, shaking my head violently. "You don't get to apologize… not like this… not now…"
I held him tighter, as if I could keep him anchored to this world just by refusing to let go. And I was terrified that at any second, the sound of his breathing would disappear.
.....
I jolted upright. "Hah… hah…"
My chest heaved violently as if I had been running. Sweat clung to my skin. My heart pounded so hard it hurt. I looked around. White. Everything was white. White walls. White curtains. White sheets. The sharp smell of disinfectant filled my nose, making my stomach twist. The faint beeping of a monitor echoed beside me.
Hospital. I was in a hospital. My head throbbed. The dream—no… not a dream. It felt too real. The riverside. The truck. Blood. Her voice screaming my name. And that girl. The girl I had always seen in my dreams—faceless before—but this time, her face was clear. Raw. Crying. Broken.
"T… Ta… Nnu…?"
My lips formed her nickname before my mind caught up. Fragments flashed in my head. The bracelet. I lost it. The bracelet she gave me for my birthday. My breathing grew uneven again.
"I… I need to find it…" I tried to move, pushing the blanket off my legs. "Wait—Tannu?!"
The memory hit harder. The accident. Her holding me. Her crying. "I have to go!" I muttered urgently, trying to pull the IV from my arm. "I need to find her—I need to find the bracelet—"
Panic flooded my chest. The dream wasn't just a dream. It was a memory. And for the first time, her name didn't feel unfamiliar. It felt like something I had almost lost forever.
...
"What did you say?!" My fingers tightened around the phone. "Kuu isn't in the hospital?"
On the other side, Aunty's voice trembled. "No… he wandered off around lunch. The nurse said he kept mumbling about finding a bracelet. He wouldn't calm down…"
A bracelet. My breath caught. "Okay… I'll check," I said quickly and hung up.
Hritik had heard everything. He was staring at me, wide-eyed. "You heard them," I said, forcing myself to move. "I'm going to look for him. Stay here and hold down the fort while I'm gone."
"Sis…" he hesitated. "He said he was looking for a bracelet, right?"
"Yeah… I don't understand what he's talking about…"
But something tugged at the back of my mind. Hritik suddenly straightened. "Wait. I remember something. I was coming home with my friend that day… the day of the accident. I saw him near the river. He was throwing stones one after another. Then he crouched down and started mumbling to himself."
My heart dropped. "Wait… is he—?"
"Yeah," Hritik nodded slowly. "I think he might be by the riverside. Maybe he lost it there or something."
That idiot. That means he went back to that place. The exact place where—my chest tightened painfully. I didn't have proof, but I had a terrible, sinking suspicion. He remembered. Or at least… something inside him did.
"I'm going to check," I said, already moving toward the door.
"Yeah, go!" Hritik shouted behind me. "Go get him!"
I quickly called Salina and Jay, explaining everything in rushed, broken sentences. Jay immediately said he'd head toward the riverside. Salina said she'd go back to the hospital to confirm what really happened. And I ran.
The streets blurred as I hurried forward. "Kunal…" I whispered under my breath. The wind stung my eyes, or maybe it was just the tears.
I don't want this again. I don't want to see you lying there. I don't want to hear that sound. I don't want to hold you while you bleed in my hands— "Kunal…!" My voice broke. I clenched my fists as I ran faster. "I don't want to experience that anymore."
.......
As I ran toward the riverside, my steps began to slow. Not because I was tired, but because the memories started catching up to me.
The hospital corridor. The smell of antiseptic. The sound of machines. My trembling hands wrapped around his. "Kunal?! Are you okay?! I'm sorry… I…" He had opened his eyes that day. Slowly. Confused. Blank. "Who are you?" That question had crushed something inside me. The boy who used to argue with me over games. The boy who teased me. The boy who wore the bracelet I gave him every single day. He didn't recognize me.
I remember forcing a smile that day. "I'm… I'm Tanvi," I had said softly, even though my chest felt like it was breaking apart. "Your childhood friend." But he had only looked at me like I was a stranger.
Now, that same fear crawled back into my chest. What if he remembers the bracelet—but not me?
By the time I reached the riverside, Jay and Salina were already there. "Tanvi! It's him, right? Look!" Salina pointed toward the lower bank.
Through my blurred vision, I saw him. Kunal. Standing near the edge, looking down at the ground like he'd lost something precious. "Just go!" Jay urged. "He won't listen to me!"
I walked toward him. He didn't notice me at first. He was crouched down, moving stones aside with shaking hands. "It's not here… it's not here…" he mumbled desperately. "Where is it…? It's a gift from Tannu…"
"Stop it, idiot!" I shouted, my voice cracking.
He froze. "Huh…?"
Before he could say anything else, I rushed forward and wrapped my arms around him from behind. I held him tight. Tighter than I ever had before. "Please… just stop…"
He went still in my arms. Then—"Tanvi…?"
The way he said my name—soft, certain, not distant—made my knees almost give out. "I can't anymore…" I buried my face into his back. "I need you around me. It's all okay now. So please… come home."
...
I can hear her. She's crying. Why is she crying like that?
"Kuuu, stop! No—no! Come home, Kunal! Come home, Kuuu!"
Her voice breaks with every word. Why does it hurt to hear that? Why does my chest feel so tight? Like I'm about to lose something important—or already did.
My hands slowly stop moving the stones. The bracelet. I was looking for the bracelet because it was a gift from... from—
Why does that name feel so warm and painful at the same time? That voice—I know that voice. It's always been there. Arguing. Laughing. Calling me an idiot. Crying when—
Slowly, I turn. She's holding me from behind, her fingers gripping my shirt like I'll disappear.
"Tannu…?" I whisper. The moment I see her face—red eyes, wet cheeks, so much fear—something inside me snaps back into place. Like a missing piece locking in.
"Tan… Nnu?!" I say again, this time clearer.
And suddenly, I understand. The bracelet. The river. The accident. Her face when I asked: Who are you? My chest tightens. "I…" My voice shakes. "Why are you crying…?"
But I already know. Because I almost left. Because I forgot. Because I made her relive it. My tears finally fall. For the first time since waking up, her name doesn't feel distant. It feels like home.
...
"Kunal…?" He slowly turned toward me. His eyes were still wet, but this time, they were clear. Focused on me.
"I… I remember," he said softly. "I have to apologize… for losing the bracelet you gave me."
"No… no…" I stepped closer. "I'm the one who needs to apologize. I should have believed you. I shouldn't have gotten mad at you. I'm really sorry."
I wrapped my arms around him from the front, burying my face into his chest. He hesitated for a second—then his arms slowly came around me.
"…Tanvi…" he murmured. Then softer—"Tannu…"
I pulled back just enough to look at him. "I like you," I said, my voice shaking but steady. "I love you. I've always been in love with you."
"Me too," he said. Simple. Honest. Certain.
The river kept flowing quietly beside us. But for the first time since everything fell apart, it felt peaceful. Like we had finally found our way back to each other.
....
It turned out he didn't remember everything. It had been five years since he lost his memories; they wouldn't all return so easily. Some pieces came back, some didn't. But maybe that was okay. Some memories were sharp enough to leave scars. Maybe those were better left in the past.
We can't stay prisoners of what hurt us. We can only live in the now. Five years after being torn apart, we found each other again—not as children clinging to old promises, but as people who chose each other.
As for Minakshi— She transferred junior colleges shortly after the accident. I found out later that she had lied. Kunal had been telling the truth all along. The guilt of that stayed with me longer than any anger ever did.
I had been a science major then, planning to attend the same college as Kunal. But after I chose not to believe him, I decided to part ways. I didn't deserve to stand beside him like nothing had happened.
Instead, I changed direction. When I was alone, I would draw. At first, it was just random sketches. Then—it became him. His smile. His eyes. I drew him from memory over and over, afraid I might forget.
That's how I found art. I enrolled in an art college, not to run away, but because I realized I wanted to create. To hold onto moments. To turn fragile memories into something that wouldn't disappear.
And maybe… all the pain, the misunderstandings, and the lost years led us exactly where we needed to be.