Every relationship deserves a rewrite, or does it?

Second chances are my favourite kind of do-overs—heartfelt letters of apology that show up on your screens, conversations over coffee after a conflict you thought was unresolvable, tight hugs that make up for lost time, or falling head over heels in love with someone after you thought you couldn’t. I’ve wept, wallowed, and cringed at petty fights and a hateful parting of the ways. I’ve hoped and prayed for unexpected plot twists and romanticised reconciliations that end with an ever-so-charming montage and a happily-ever-after song. I believe that second chances are the magic that makes us human. They’re fraught with the highest of highs and lowest of lows, lessons in love and opportunities to be a better version of ourselves. A heartbreak is decidedly one of the worst feelings in the world—also perhaps inevitable in a world where relationship dynamics are constantly changing. 

However, opening up to love each time, healing and mending broken relationships, and giving second chances wholeheartedly can be worthwhile. We spoke to actors and content creators about their take on second chances, love, fears, thrills, and everything in between.

The non-believer
Aisha Ahmed, 28

“I’m very rigid when it comes to relationships of any sort,” declares actor Aisha Ahmed. For her, second chances in relationships and friendships don’t come easy. She fights till the very end. But once it’s done, it’s done. “My first relationship was six years long, and then the other one was for three years. I gave it my all till I couldn’t. When I realised that it was getting toxic, I just walked away,” she says. Ahmed often finds herself in a bittersweet spot—torn between feeling hurt, on the precipice of letting go, and wanting to give every chance to the other person to mend their ways. “I will hold on to things till I care about a person or a relationship. I’ll constantly make sure they know that I’m upset with them. That’s my way of showing that, ‘You’re hurting me. Can you stop it?’ That is, in a way, a second chance. But the moment that expectation goes away, I’m done,” she says. 

Of course, this is the culmination of learning and unlearning from her mother (Rukhsar Rehman) over the years.  “My mother is open to second chances—that’s what makes her who she is. But it also scares me,” says Ahmed. She loves unconditionally. “My boundaries are pretty solid. If something’s not giving me happiness, I don’t want it. A lot of people have told me that, ‘You only care about yourself.’ But there are a lot of other things that I do for people that are selfless,” she says. She may not always give others a second chance, but slowly and steadily, she’s learning to allow herself a second chance at knowing happiness and joy. “What else is there to life?” she concludes with a smile.

Forgive and forget 
Taaruk Raina, 30 

We all shed a few tears of joy when Anmol asked Vinni for a second chance at the end of the third season of Mismatched (2024). For actor Taaruk Raina, some of his biggest life lessons have come from playing the characters he does. “People live much harder lives than we think. Very often, we make a massive fuss about something so small, and some people don’t even view that as an obstacle,” he says. “Second chances should be inevitable. If you see that a person is willing to give it everything they’ve got, or they are trying to right some wrongs, I don’t think it’s bad to give second chances. If you don’t, you’re not giving them a chance to be better.” 

Raina firmly believes that no one wants to intentionally do wrong by anyone. But we’re only human. “Sometimes it may happen out of greed, sheer convenience, or because the world tells us we deserve more and people get carried away. If there is a certain amount of remorse present, or if there is a scope for realisation and betterment, second chances should be given,” maintains Raina. 

The actor, however, admits that being heartbroken is the worst feeling in the world and finds himself continually learning to forgive and let go of grudges. “I’m very emotionally affected by things. A broken heart just stops you from functioning. Your self-worth takes a hit, you second-guess everything you do, and you try to find every reason as to why it happened. That rabbit hole is endless. But as I grew up, I’ve realised that we only have so many chances at life.”

Remember when Ed Sheeran sang ‘A heart that’s broken is a heart that’s been loved’? Raina sure believes in it.  “So, you allow yourself to love again. When you believe in love and hope, you just do. How will you ever know  otherwise?” Raina tells us. 

Love only happens once
Sakshi Sindwani, 28

For content creator Sakshi Sindwani, love means not giving up on each other, ever. Her decade-long fairy tale with husband Raghav Arora is a testament to that. “The biggest lesson I’ve learnt is that life changes, but the fundamentals remain the same. Love is about understanding one another when the world opposes that understanding. It’s about letting go of the difficult and unnecessary. It’s about never giving up on each other, making a home in each other, and never crossing the boundaries of love,” she says. 

Through the highest of highs and the lowest of lows, they gave their love every chance they knew it deserved—even when they broke up in the early years of this fairy tale. Sindwani was in her second year of college and attributes it to exploring life as a young adult and other misunderstandings. “We got together because we loved each other so much. The realisation that that relationship was home was something that led me to that decision. It was also about realising that there is difficulty in maintaining relationships everywhere, it’s about who you choose to be with to navigate it,” she says. 

To keep going in a relationship also means giving it every chance it needs. “It is a choice and proactive work. It is realising that the relationship is never a second priority in life,” concludes Sindwani. “Maybe this time will be  different”

“Maybe this time will be different”
Shenaz Treasury, 43

For Treasury, ghosts of exes’ past are never there to haunt you. They are there to guide you—to keep you from making the same mistake twice (okay thrice). “I keep giving second chances, in fact, many, many chances to love, because what is life without hope? There’s always hope—the next time will be different, the person will have changed, maybe I will have changed, maybe our chemistry will come back,” she says. “However, sometimes it’s also fear,” she admits as an afterthought. “A fear that I won’t find somebody better, maybe this is my last chance at love, which is all nonsense, but then, it all seems real.”

In her book All He Left Me Was a Recipe, which is part fact, part fiction, Treasury documents the tales of former lovers, each of whom left her with a lesson in love and life. And she wouldn’t have it any other way. “One story that stands out is ‘The Actor’. He was charming, magnetic, and knew exactly how to win me back. He’d leave me heartbroken, but then he’d return with apologies so grand that I’d think, ‘Maybe this time it will be different’,” she says. Spoiler alert—it wasn’t. If it wasn’t clear so far, Treasury believes in second chances—and third and fourth ones—because life would hardly be as exciting without the troublesome exes and swoon-worthy love stories. “With ‘The Artist’, it was hope. I believed in the man I thought he could be. I think women are taught to see potential in people. Unfortunately, women come with the virtue of patience (and so much more) and men—well...I’ll leave it at that.” 

The ultimate lesson? Love will always find you. “Just because one love story didn’t work out doesn’t mean your chance at love is gone.

 

This article originally appeared in the March-April print edition of Cosmopolitan India

Also read: Why do we feel compelled to give people second chances?

Also read: Does getting back with an ex ever work out?