The Wrong Number

Chapter - 4

                                                                                       ‘The picture’  

By the time I woke up, I forgot everything that she said before going to sleep. It was almost afternoon when I got up. I picked my phone to see if there was any text from her side but there were none. She must be sleeping, I thought and sent her one text saying “hi”, put the phone to charging, and went to freshen up. After spending around half an hour in the bathroom, I came out and went downstairs to have my lunch. My mother needed some help in her chores too. I finished my lunch, helped her to do this and that, and again came back into my room. I checked my phone again; still, there was no text. Why she isn’t texting, I thought anxiously as it was almost one o’clock in the afternoon. I thought to call her but then ignored the idea. I didn’t want to look desperate even though I was feeling restless from inside.

                                      I picked a book to read to pass my time, most importantly distract my mind from her thoughts but it was useless. I put the book aside and started fiddling with my phone. Nothing was helping me divert my attention from her. I sighed and put the phone away in defeat and collapsed on my bed. I never felt in that way before, might be because it was a completely new experience for me. I started imagining her image in my mind but couldn’t get it accurately as it was too soon to do that. I didn’t know when I went to sleep again while thinking of her, but when I woke up it was almost dark outside. I checked the time, it was showing fifteen minutes past six o’clock. This is the thing I always loved the most about winters, the sun goes down and the dusk reaches quite early. I picked up my phone again, still no text. I got impatient by that time, so I called her, but the call didn’t go through. I tried three-four times, but every time it was getting disconnected after a beep. Negative thoughts started clouding over in my mind. I was getting despicable with each passing minute. I also lost appetite during my dinner. I was checking my phone continuously.  

                                      I was sitting on my bed with my phone in my hand and staring at it when suddenly her call came. I almost dropped my phone as soon as it started ringing. I picked up the call and showered as many questions as I could in one breath.

“Where were you? Why you were not texting me? Why your number was not reachable? Does something happen to you? Are you okay?”

“Sid just calm down, I’m here. You do not need to worry about me now,” she calmly replied. I took a deep breath and brought myself back to my senses. She was right, she was there and that was the only thing which was important at that moment. Still, there were some questions in my mind, but I didn’t feel like repeating those. I wasn’t having any right to do the reasoning with her so I proceeded with our normal conversation. Again, she started asking me all kinds of questions about my day, how I spent it, about my neighborhood, what kind of people they were, and many more, in return I didn’t ask anything. She was a bit artful in some way. She was not giving me any chance to ask her anything. 

“Is it fine with you if I don’t text you during the day and just call you at night?” she asked. That was a weird question, what could be the reason behind that? Was she having a problem using her phone during the day time? But how could I ask her the reason when we just began talking to each other.

“Okay, no problem,” I simply said. We stayed silent for a few seconds, and then she asked,” Have you ever fallen in love with someone who is not there?”

“What does that mean?”I didn’t understand the question so I asked in uncertainty.

“Have you ever fallen in love with a person who is just a part of your imagination, an identity created by you, a virtual person?” she tried to explain. I thought for a moment before responding to her. 

“Yes, there is always this girl who I do imagine, but I don’t know who she is as she is faceless or maybe her face resembles many faces blended. I just know one thing, she is beautiful.”

“How can you be so sure about her beauty when she is faceless?” she asked. 

“I just know that she is beautiful. Why would I ever fantasize about a girl who is not good looking?” I laughed but she didn’t.

“Do you want to see me?” she asked unexpectedly. Of, course I wanted to see her. Which guy would deny seeing a girl whom he is talking with on a phone and whom he hasn’t seen yet, I thought.

“Yes, sure,” I answered. After a few seconds, she sent me a picture of her. I was quite excited but faced discontent as soon as I opened it, it was a blurry picture. I could easily assume a girl being in that image, but I couldn’t see her. I told her about it and asked her to send one more. She did, but it was also similar to the one she sent before. I explained her problem with the images, but she said those were completely fine on her phone. How could that be possible as I was not having any network issue but I didn’t argue? 

“Send me one last time,” I almost pleaded. She did and the image was a clear one, but I still couldn’t see her face.