The Forgotten Fourth

Days passed, but their thoughts remained the same. "We should do something," Raj finally said one afternoon. "Just sitting here, pretending everything is fine—it's not working." Ravi sighed, leaning back against the park bench. "And what do you suggest? We can't force Rana to listen to us." He wished there was an easy solution, but there wasn't. No matter how much they wanted to fix things, Rana had made his choice. And they had no idea how to reach him anymore.

Their conversation was interrupted by an unexpected voice. "Still obsessed with Rana, huh?" Ravi and Raj turned to see someone they hadn't spoken to in years. "Rajat?" Raj asked, surprised. The man standing before them smirked. "So you do remember me," he said. "I was starting to think I'd been erased from your memories." There was something bitter in his tone, something neither Ravi nor Raj had expected. They had known Rajat in school, but they had never been close. Now, standing before them, he seemed… different.

"You never really noticed me, did you?" Rajat continued, crossing his arms. "It was always you three. RRR. The inseparable trio. Meanwhile, I was just another face in the background." Ravi frowned. "That's not true," he started, but Rajat cut him off. "Don't lie to me, Ravi. You never invited me in. You never cared." His voice was cold, but beneath it was something else—hurt. "And now, you're so busy worrying about Rana that you don't even see what's happening around you."

Raj exchanged a glance with Ravi. "What are you trying to say, Rajat?" he asked carefully. Rajat gave a humorless chuckle. "I'm saying that while you were focused on the friend you lost, you ignored the ones who were still here." There was an edge to his words that sent a chill down their spines. "And let me tell you something," Rajat continued, his gaze darkening. "Being forgotten hurts. More than you'll ever understand."

Ravi took a step forward. "We never meant to—" But Rajat shook his head. "It doesn't matter anymore," he said. "I've already found my own path." The way he said it made Ravi uneasy. "What do you mean by that?" Rajat simply smiled—a smile that held no warmth. "You'll find out soon enough." And with that, he turned and walked away, leaving Ravi and Raj standing there, unsure of what had just happened.

For a moment, neither of them spoke. "That was… unexpected," Raj finally said. Ravi nodded slowly. "Yeah. And I have a bad feeling about it." Something about Rajat's words lingered in his mind. It wasn't just resentment—it was a warning. "Do you think he knows something we don't?" Raj asked. Ravi exhaled. "I think we've been too focused on Rana to realize what's been happening around us."

The weight of their past decisions settled heavily on them. Had they truly ignored Rajat? Had they unknowingly pushed him aside? "I don't remember ever treating him badly," Raj admitted. "But maybe that's the problem," Ravi said. "We never thought about him at all." The realization was unsettling. They had been so focused on saving one friend that they might have lost another without even realizing it.

That night, as Ravi lay in bed, he couldn't shake the feeling that something bigger was coming. Rana wasn't their only problem anymore. "We need to be careful," he muttered to himself. "Because I don't think Rajat was just here to talk." And for the first time in a long while, he felt that their problems had only just begun.