The Wrong Number

Chapter - 17

                                                                                        'The control'

After a while, I closed the door, came back into the hall, and collapsed on the sofa.  My brain was still trying to make me come back into the right wits. Everything happened so unexpectedly that I was not sure how to behave. I so wanted to talk to Neha at that time. I wanted to tell her everything; I somehow knew that she would understand. I checked the time on my phone; it was showing twenty minutes to four p.m. There was a long wait I had to do before releasing that burden. I thought to sleep so that my mind could stop thinking of the same thing over and over again. I went to my room and lay down on my bed. Sneha’s face flashed in front of my eyes as soon as I closed them. I could see her smiling face; I could see her eyes on me, seeing through me. I opened my eyes abruptly and sat straight on the bed. I knew she was not going to sleep me, at least not for some time, so I decided not to even try.

                              I was sitting like that when I heard my phone beeped. I took it out from my pocket and checked, it was Sneha’s text.

“What are you doing, thinking of me, don’t you?”

“Don’t you dare lie to me,” another text came even before I could reply to the previous one. I wasn’t intentionally thinking of her, but I couldn’t say her that. I was holding the phone in my hand, still staring at her text when it started ringing. I wasn’t sure what to do, whether to pick her call or not. I still was in my befuddled state when the call got disconnected. I sighed and was going to place the phone aside when it started ringing again, this time I picked it.

“Hello,” I said.

“You didn’t reply again, why?” she inquired in return.

“I wasn’t thinking of you, I was just going to sleep,” I replied.

“I told you not to lie, you are still lying,” she said confidently.

“Why would I lie?” I asked.

“Because you don’t want to admit that you like me too,” she said. Is she right? Do I like her and not getting it or am I not enough courageous to accept it, but why would I do that? I thought.

“Neha I told you it’s not that easy for me to like a girl so soon, I need to talk to her first, I need to know her first,” I replied.

“My name is Sneha, not Neha, who is Neha by the way?” she asked. Oh s**t, I called the wrong name but would it be right to tell her about Neha now, I questioned myself. I didn’t think it would be as I knew nothing about Sneha’s behavior that how she would react.

“Sorry, it was just a mistake,” I decided not to tell her about Neha.

“It better be. You don’t want to have another girl in your life when I’m here, do you?” she asked. I could feel that same smirk appearing on her face even when I couldn’t see her. Was she trying to threaten me? Was she trying to be dominating? What did she mean by those words?

“What do you mean by this?” I asked her.

“I won’t let anyone come near you, virtually or physically,” she replied. She was out of her mind. How could she control my life like that when I haven’t given her any privilege of such kind?

“It doesn’t matter what you want or not. It’s my life Sneha, you can’t control it, you can’t make me live like the way you want,” I replied while getting a bit hyper.

“I don’t want to control your life, I want to control you,” she replied while chuckling. She is really crazy and an eccentric too but she was wrong even if she was thinking like that.

“No, you can’t and I’m telling you this last time that you can’t just dominate me or my life,” I said coldly,” now if you will please excuse me I want to sleep,” I further said.

“So, you are saying that you don’t like me,” she ignored me and asked.

“I don’t like the way you are behaving. You want me to like you, act normally, talk sensibly. You can’t control every person you want. I’m not your toy with which you want to play accordingly,” I replied. I got my nerves back. She didn’t say anything for some time. I looked at my phone to check if she was on the call or not, she was there.

“I want you to feel affection for me, Sid,” her tone got changed,” what should I do to get your fondness?” she asked in quite a calm manner which made me serene too.

“You don’t have to do anything special for this, just leave it on time. Let’s start knowing each other from something basic and make each other more comfortable,” I replied.

“I can do that but I want to talk to you while sitting beside you, not on phone,” she said. I thought of today’s meeting, the things she was doing while being with me. I didn’t want to cope up with all those things again.

“I think we better start with the phone conversation only. Once we get comfortable we can meet too,” I replied.

“Okay, but I need one promise from your side,” she said.

“What is that?” I asked.

“You won’t talk to any girl except me,” she replied. That was quite wrong for her to say, she still was trying to control my life when I told her not to do so.

“I can’t promise you that,” I simply said.

“Why not?” she asked. Because I do talk to a girl and I have started talking to her before you, I thought but didn’t say it to her. What could I say to her, I couldn’t tell her about Neha, and I wanted to continue my conversation with Neha as the way it was? I stayed silent.

“You haven’t answered Sid,” she said again.

“Why you don’t want me to talk to another girl?” I asked her.

“You don’t want to know,” she replied.

“Yes, I do want to know,” I answered.

“You would think I’m weird,” she replied. As if I’m not thinking now, I thought while smiling.

“No I won’t, tell me,” I asked again.

“I think the thought of another girl can make me outrageous and I might kill that girl,” she replied. Her imprudent made me laugh. She didn’t know what she was talking or might be I was the one who was too foolish to take her seriously.