sunshinee
Favoured Frenzy
Story Overview
Hasini was once a happy, innocent girl who believed in love. But her first relationship with Samay changed her in ways she never imagined, leaving her with wounds that time couldn't easily heal.
Just when she thought love was no longer meant for her, Abhay entered her life.
What followed was a journey of love, healing, heartbreak, and an unexpected separation.
Samay was her past. Abhay became her unexpected future.
PART 1 — THE GIRL SHE USED TO BE
2021 | Independence DaySome people enter our lives without an invitation.
A random message. An unexpected conversation. A stranger who slowly becomes a habit, a habit that turns into love, and a love that eventually changes the person we once were.
But Hasini didn't know any of that yet.
Because in 2021, she was just a girl enjoying her holidays, unaware that someone she had never met properly was about to become the most important person in her life.
And eventually, the person she would be most afraid of losing.
Or perhaps, the person she would be most afraid of.
But that was a story for another day.
For now, Hasini was happy.
And she had no idea how precious that happiness would become.
A GIRL WHO LOVED TOO MUCH
Hasini had just completed her intermediate education and was spending her holidays at home.
For someone who had spent most of her childhood in a hostel, being home with her family felt like a little piece of heaven.
She loved her parents.
She loved her younger brother, even though she never missed an opportunity to annoy him.
And she loved the little things in life.
Dancing when her favourite song played.
Singing even when she forgot half the lyrics.
Painting random things and proudly showing them to everyone as if she had created a masterpiece.
Making people laugh when they were sad.
If someone around her looked upset, Hasini would be the first to notice.
"Em ayyindhi? Endhuku ala unnav?"
"Em ledhu."
"Abaddham. Cheppu."
And she wouldn't leave them alone until they smiled, even if it meant making a fool of herself.
That was Hasini.
A little childish. A little dramatic. Extremely talkative with the people she loved.
She had a habit of getting excited over the smallest things and turning ordinary moments into memories.
Home was where she wanted to be, but ironically, she had spent most of her childhood away from it.
She had missed birthdays, little family moments, and countless ordinary evenings that other children took for granted.
Maybe that was why she treasured every moment with her parents and brother.
She didn't need expensive gifts or grand surprises.
A conversation with her mother while helping in the kitchen was enough.
An argument with her brother over something silly was enough.
Her father's presence at home was enough.
And then there was one more little member of the family.
Her pet.
The little creature had come into her life during those holidays, and Hasini had grown attached almost immediately.
She would talk to her pet as though it understood every word.
Sometimes, she even narrated her entire day to it.
"Neeku thelusa, ivala em jarigindho?"
Her brother would look at her from across the room.
"Adhi neeku reply ivvadhu, pichhidana!"
Hasini would glare at him.
"Neetho maatladithe naaku em use undhi? At least adhi interrupt cheyyadhu."
And then she'd laugh.
That was Hasini in 2021.
A girl who had so much love to give that she rarely stopped to wonder whether the people receiving it deserved it.
A girl who believed that if someone loved you genuinely, they would never intentionally hurt you.
A girl who hadn't yet learned that love and control could sometimes wear the same face.
THE MESSAGE
It was an ordinary day.
Nothing about it suggested that Hasini would remember it years later.
She was at home, probably occupied with one of her many little distractions, when a message arrived on WhatsApp.
It was from an unknown number.
And it wasn't even meant for her.
The message read:
Hello, na bike aagipoindhi. Nuvvu vasthava?
Hasini stared at the screen.
For a moment, she wondered whether the person had messaged the wrong number.
Then she realised something.
It was probably meant for her younger brother.
She opened the chat and typed a reply.
Hasini: Hello. Nenu Hasini. Idhi naa number. Maybe meeru maa thammudiki message cheyyalanukunnaremo.
She sent it.
That was it.
No butterflies.
No dramatic music.
No feeling that destiny had just knocked on her door.
Just a simple reply to a stranger who had mistaken her number for someone else's.
A few moments later, the stranger responded.
And that stranger had a name.
Samay.
Their conversation began with a misunderstanding.
Neither of them knew that this little exchange would eventually become a part of Hasini's life that she would struggle to make sense of.
For Samay, it was the beginning of a conversation with a girl he had already noticed.
For Hasini, it was just a random chat with someone she didn't know.
She had no reason to be suspicious.
No reason to be afraid.
And certainly no reason to imagine that she would one day measure her words, her clothes, her friendships, and even her smallest actions against another person's reactions.
She was simply being herself.
And Samay kept texting.
The next day.
And the day after that.
Soon, their conversations became a part of her daily routine.
Hasini would finish whatever she was doing and check her phone.
Sometimes, she would reply immediately.
Sometimes, she would be busy with her family and respond later.
And sometimes, she would get so involved in the conversation that she wouldn't realise how much time had passed.
She didn't tell her mother about Samay.
Not because she thought she was doing something terrible.
Perhaps she simply didn't think it was important enough to mention.
After all, he was just a friend.
At least, that was what Samay was to her.
A friend.
But Samay had already started seeing her differently.
"I WAN'T A WIFE LIKE YOU".
One day, Samay told Hasini something she hadn't expected.
He said he had seen her at the ground for the first time.
And the moment he saw her, he had apparently thought something that made Hasini stare at her phone twice.
Arey, wife ante ila undaali. Ee ammayine pelli cheskovaali anukunna.
A wife should be like her. He had wanted to marry her the moment he saw her.
Hasini felt a little excited reading that message.
Who wouldn't?
Being told that someone had noticed you, liked you, and imagined a future with you was a new feeling for her.
But she didn't take it too seriously.
She brushed it off, laughed a little, and continued talking to him as usual.
Every now and then, Samay would tell her that he liked her.
That he had noticed her.
That he had developed feelings for her.
And every time, Hasini treated it like something she didn't quite know how to respond to.
She wasn't in love with him.
Not yet.
She didn't even know whether what she felt was attraction, curiosity, or simply the happiness of being liked by someone.
But she enjoyed talking to him.
And sometimes, that was enough to make a person stay in a conversation a little longer than they had intended.
THE FIRST PROPOSAL
Days passed.
Their conversations grew longer.
The stranger was no longer completely strange to her.
She had started recognising his texting patterns, his way of speaking, and the little things he mentioned about his day.
Then, one day, Samay called her.
And somewhere during that conversation, he proposed to her.
Hasini went quiet.
For the first time, she didn't know what to say.
Her heart was doing something unfamiliar.
She felt nervous.
Excited.
Confused.
And afraid.
All at the same time.
She had never imagined herself in this situation.
She had never planned to fall in love with someone she had met through a random message.
And now, here she was, listening to someone confess his feelings for her.
But she didn't say yes.
She didn't say no, either.
Instead, she tried to explain why it wouldn't work.
"Samay, idhantha set avvadhu."
"Endhuku?"
"Mee religion veru. Maa religion veru. Intlo oppukoru."
Samay didn't seem convinced.
"Nee amma nanna dhi kuda love marriage eh kadha? Vaallu kuda different religions eh. Mari manaki endhuku avvadhu?"
Hasini fell silent.
She knew her parents' marriage had crossed religious boundaries.
And his question made her think.
What if it really could work?
What if the differences she was worried about weren't as impossible as she had imagined?
She still hadn't accepted him.
But now, she was thinking about it.
And sometimes, a relationship begins long before two people officially call it one.
It begins when a person who was once just a stranger starts occupying your thoughts.
When you begin considering possibilities you had never considered before.
When the idea of saying yes no longer feels completely impossible.
Hasini was standing at that exact point.
Unsure.
Nervous.
And slowly, unknowingly, getting attached.
15 AUGUST 2021
Independence Day.
A day that celebrated freedom.
And for Hasini, a day that would always remain connected to the beginning of her first relationship.
She had spent days thinking about Samay's proposal.
She thought about their conversations.
His affection.
The way he spoke about wanting a future with her.
And the possibility that perhaps she could give this unfamiliar feeling a chance.
She was still young.
She was still learning what love meant.
And she had no idea that loving someone and being loved by someone were not always the same experience.
But on that day, she made her decision.
She accepted Samay.
And just like that, the stranger who had once messaged her about a bike became her boyfriend.
Samay was happy.
He spoke to her with affection, gave her attention, and made her feel special.
He seemed to care about her.
He wanted to know about her day.
He wanted to talk to her.
He wanted to be a part of her life.
And Hasini, who had never experienced this kind of romantic attention before, began to enjoy being loved by someone.
She had chosen him.
She wanted to believe that she had made the right decision.
For a while, everything felt beautiful.
She didn't know that the same relationship that made her feel special would gradually make her question herself.
She didn't know that the attention she enjoyed would slowly turn into expectations.
That the care she appreciated would become control.
That the love she had accepted so innocently would one day leave her frightened of the very things she once enjoyed.
For now, though, she was happy.
She was Hasini.
The girl who loved dancing, singing, painting, making people smile, and spending time with her family.
The girl who believed that love meant choosing someone and standing beside them.
The girl who had just fallen in love for the first time.
And she had absolutely no idea how much of herself she would eventually lose trying to make that love work.
Because this was only the beginning.
And that was how Hasini and Samay's story began.
But what started as a beautiful love story slowly turned into something Hasini never expected.
What happened next? I'll tell you in Part 2. Stay tuned.
