How was this even happening? With her heart in her throat and the rapidly gathering tears in her eyes Diana was still in denial that he knew her long buried secret. Deciding to be vague she replied,
'Of course I love you Luke. You are like a brother to me.'
The reply was instant,
'Don't lie to me Diana. I know that you are in love with me. All this time I thought you as a sister and believed you. I trusted you and you have broken it now. You are a hypocrite. You don't deserve to be my friend anymore. I'm blocking you and don't even think of speaking to me. What will everyone think of me if this was known to anyone else? Thank god that person told me. Being the deceitful liar you are I can't even imagine what you would have done. Do me a favor and block my number too.' And with that she saw Luke's profile and everything become blank right before her eyes and so did her heart.
She was in tears. He hadn't even waited for her reply. She knew it was her fault. Always had been her fault. Knowing he was unattainable, out of all people to fall for she had fallen for him. All the good times they had had together stated to flash through her mind like a fast forward movie which she had no control of. Diana was sobbing and her heart was ripping, breaking and shattering to pieces when she thought of how they weren't going to be friends anymore.
She remembered the times when they had played together when she was only six. Then the trip they went on when she was nine. She had been seated right next to him. Then their holiday fun where they had thrown parties, fooled around and played all sort of games and only last year when they were on another trip she had been seated next to him again and when she had been about to fall asleep by laying her head on the window he had pulled her close to him and literally put her head on his lap.
Being uncomfortable in that position after a short while Diana had raised her head up only for him to pull her closer again, put an arm around her shoulders and he had laid her head on his shoulders. Diana had felt like she was flying. She still remembered how her heart fluttered when he had rested his head atop hers and till now she couldn't decide whether the light touch on her forehead had just been his fingers, chin or lips.
It could never have been his lips. Of that she was sure now. Both had been silent until reaching home. She hadn't been able to fall asleep with how close he was and could only guess the reason he hadn't slept was because he wasn't someone to fall asleep out of the comfort of his bed.
And now thinking of all this only made her cry some more. It hurt more than when she had to deliver a love letter on his behalf to one of her neighbor who was also a friend to her. She along with Violet and Bethany had written it and Violet had asked Diana to give it to Maya. With every step she had walked to Maya's place her heart had sunken deep and all she had wanted to do was tear the piece of paper she held in her hand into pieces and burn it.
But then again the feeling of elation had been fire to the ice that had been building and raging in her heart when Maya had just scanned through the words and torn the paper into pieces before throwing it away. Even though it had been because Maya's brother was around, Diana was somehow glad that she didn't have to give Luke the good news that Maya had accepted his proposal.
She had been selfish even though knowing that he could never love her. And now it was biting back at her. Karma she called it.
She didn't know what she had to do now. How was she ever going to face him again at their family gatherings? How was she ever going to stop loving him? Hadn't she loved him since she was nine? An age too young to fall in love. And she needed someone to talk to about this. There was only one person that came to her mind. Brian.
She was still doubtful whether Violet or Bethany would have been the ones to reveal her secret so decided to not talk to them about this. In her heart, she still didn't accept that her best friends would betray her but the logical side of her reminded, hadn't Violet and Bethany both told her that they were in love with him? What if they had done this to keep her away from him?
For among the three of them Luke had been the closest with Diana. Hence it had to be Brian. Luke's best friend since they were toddlers.
Even with their age difference Luke and Brian were best friends since anyone could remember. They were inseperable when everyone came together. Diana was from the city while Brian and Bethany were from another state. Violet and Luke were from the same village. Even though they had been born in the same place, fate had played its role and now they were each in different cities and states. But the Summer, Easter and Winter had always brought them back to their birth place. That's how they had grown closer.
Brian and Bethany's parents had decided moving back was a good idea and now Diana was the only one living away from her friends. Hence removing her from the equation seemed a better thing to do. So she guessed.
And even with these doubts Diana had never been one to hold grudges or judge people without knowing the truth. And so she didn't want to point fingers without confirming her doubts. Luke hadn't told her who was the person and she knew she wasn't going to ever be able to get it out of him. And then again what was the point of knowing who did this when out of all people, the one who shouldn't have known about it knew it?
But still the question ran through her mind.
Who had revealed her closely guarded secret?