Matter

So here begins my story, today I am standing at the desk in a function hall and there are thousand odd students sitting in front of me. Looking straight to my face and I recall every moment, every second spent in this magical space called Science Academy. There was a day when I walked in the Science Academy. A shy, less confident and career oriented guy was standing here today wearing a great confidence and carefree attitude. How life changes in just two years! I’ve changed a lot. Rather the situations made me change. And I don’t know how to go back to my old self and get things right. It’s not that I regret what I did, but I want to correct few mistakes. And this is how life is; lot of times, we wish to rectify few mistakes we’ve done unknowingly; because there is no other option than guilt. Today, I feel the same; but alas! Life gives no second chance. I’m sad, broken today, still I have to do my job of delivering my speech, and hence I’m speaking. I don’t know what I speak and suddenly people start shouting my name in the loudest voice possible because she entered the room. And to my shame, she sits exactly in front of me, she was Saie. What a great distraction to my speech. I tried speaking two or three sentences but as I looked into her eyes, my heart ached and I walked off. Few friends followed me to the parking lot so did Saie and her friends. It was raining. In the dim orange street light I could see Saie’s teary eyes clearly. Sunny, my best pal walked to me and put hand on my shoulder; “Bro, relax. Go home and sleep. We have our entrance exam tomorrow.” He said. “Nobody have to worry about me. I can take care of myself” I said in a loud and clear voice while looking at Saie. “Adi, please..! Why are you over dramatising?” She spoke as she stepped ahead. “Because that’s the only thing I can do in my life..! Any problem..?” I said and left the place. The speeding bike stopped at a beer shop where I bought ten beer bottles and two packs of cigarettes. After I finished one while walking on the railway tracks, I came back to Science Academy. By then, the function hall was emptied and nobody was there except Akki, the assistant manager of science academy who was waiting for me at the entrance. I took the keys and handed over two beer bottles to him. As he left, I climbed up. Science Academy was on the terrace of a function hall with two classrooms and one management office. I sat on the management office. Opened my beer bottle and lit a cigarette when suddenly I looked down to the staircase and recalled the first day I was standing there. That day, I climbed up the staircase with the thoughts of how hard I’ll study and how good I will score in my board exams as well as entrance exams. I never imagined this day when I’d climb up the same staircase to forget the past and heal my internal wounds with the help of alcohol and tobacco. For an ambitious guy like me, this day was a curse. And today, I want to go back and apologise myself for being so irresponsible and dumb to sacrifice my career. I wanted to get out of the guilt. I wanted to get things sorted, I wanted to save my future from drowning, and these thoughts went in the gardens of past memories. Everything started to flash in front of my eyes from the very first day itself. *** On the teachers’ day, we had a cultural program for the students in Science Academy. Many of us were performing their talents in front of the crowd, and I was wandering here and there with Somu, my brain-sucker friend because sitting at one place for long and that too for classical songs and folk dances was surely not my cup of tea. Somu carried a camera so that we could roam around on the name of photography team. This helped us to stalk on the girls. And girls, so smart they are..! Every other day they would look like zombies but today, every girl looked beautiful. May the reason be their beautiful dresses, or the kilos of make up or the jewelleries; every girl looked beautiful today and single dudes like ne and Somu were enjoying our stalking session. This has been the only reason apart from food that we didn’t leave the function. After a few rounds to the banquet hall, we settled down in front of the stage. I was continuously looking around when suddenly I saw Somu making a video. Well making a video is not bad; but when you are zooming to only one person, that too; a girl is an open invitation to death. I asked him to stop, but this is what he needed because the girl he was video-graphing was his crush. This did not made any sense to me at all so I started to leave when he suddenly held my hand and pulled me back, causing me to fall on a guy clicking photos which resulted in him spilling the oil kept besides him for a dance act and this accident made our teacher, Mr. Thermo (his pet name) to slide and fall down embarrassingly. Still Somu would not give up. After all he is in love with the girl, and ‘needed’ her video while she sings. His need was unjustifiable and hopeless to me. Still for the religion of friendship, I had to stay. So in disagreement, I sat down and started waiting for the girl to get down of the stage. Suddenly Somu forcibly gave me the camera and ran to washroom. Having no option in hand, I continued making the video. God’s been good that soon this singing session ended and my hopeless task too. With a sigh of relief I went to my respective at the back of the banquet. Somu met me midway and we walked together. I was showing his the video I made while he was vacating his bladder while walking and suddenly, I sensed someone standing in front of me. So I stopped and looked up; it was Saie..! I felt like running away but then I realised I made no mistake. So I stood calm. I could sense the tigress inside Saie through her eyes; I prayed for Somu’s life in my head and started looking at Somu and Saie simultaneously. Finally she shouted, “Who do you think you are?” Round one fired. I said to myself. “Male!” Somu counter attacked. “You f*****g shameless bastard! Show me the video you made!” She shouted again. I didn’t get the reason of her shouting. Why do girls have to shout out loud in every critical situation? We can talk peacefully and sort out the things. These thoughts were running through my mind when Saie and Somu argued. Also I looked around and saw a circle of around hundred unknown faces around us looking at all four of us standing in the middle the same way Indian news reporters circle and look to any film actor. And suddenly, “And Adi you..! I thought you are a nice guy. Still you were with him in making my video tape? Shameless” She again shouted and went in aggression. Confused, I kept looking at her. Then I looked at Somu in confusion. He shrugged shoulders, I scratched my head, and we started laughing. “But why the hell she shouted on me? I was dragged into the matter unnecessarily.” I said in anger. I realized my insult after our round of laughter. “Take it easy; girls don’t use their brain when they are angry. Leave it, let’s go buddy.” Somu said and put his hand on my shoulder as we walked away. Somu had been in a convent high school and such encounters with girls weren’t new for him. But a guy like me who studied in a state board boy’s school, a girl shouting in front of hundred people was a huge insult. I felt very insulted and started to hate Saie, for she unnecessarily insulted me in front of many. This is the last time I talked to her. I thought to myself, but destiny had other plans for me... *** Start: SMS matter. The fight I and Somu had with Saie soon became breaking news among the students of Science Academy. Other students used to ask about what happened to me and Somu the same way a lawyer would as a murderer how we murdered someone. I hated being questioned for what I did not do. I held Saie the reason behind this torture I was going through and my hatred towards her grew day by day. Whenever she passed by me, I used to look at her either in disgust or in anger. No other emotions were left for her in my heart. She had been the reason of my ill fame and I would never forgive her for that. One fine day, I was at Somu’s place and we were playing play station on the name of study when I received this message from a classmate, Today, I found the diary of Purva, Where she wrote her feelings, Where she mentioned her love for Akshay, A diary where Purva wrote of all her secretes. From her affair with Anuradha Ma’am To her crush on the voldemort. She writes how she misses Chinmay’s kisses on her toes and How she loved to sleep upon fat tummy of Baatuk The thought crossed my mind that this is all fake, But you should also get... That she is not in your fate! I read loudly for Somu and told the logic behind the names. Purva was a girl I had quarrelled in the schooldays. Akshay was the one who sent this message. Anuradha ma’am was our vice principal who was blacker than the coal. Baatuk was a fat and tiny professor, Chinmay was a friend in the gang. He laughed on it too, “I think I would’ve related to this if I knew these people.” Somu said, so to entertain my friend, I created a masterpiece, Today, I found the diary of Saie, Where she wrote her feelings, Where she mentioned her love for Adi, A diary where Purva wrote of all her secretes. From her affair with Somu To her crush on the Voldemort. She writes how she misses Sunny’s kisses on her toes and How she loved to sleep upon fat tummy of Thermo The thought crossed my mind that this is all fake, But you should also get... That she is not in your fate! Mr. Thermo was physics teacher in Science Academy. SMS was quite good. It seemed to be really nice. We liked it. I sent that to Somu. We laughed, laughed, and laughed. When we reached our classes, the whole gang decided to bunk. And in fifteen odd minutes we all were at our beloved Frankie Shop. Somu showed the masterpiece to everyone, they were shocked at first. I read that again, in a funny manner. Stressing and suppressing wherever needed. Everyone burst out in laughter and appreciated me. I was man of the day after all. And because of that creation, I was awarded with a Frankie. Everybody paid the bill by contributing. As everyone contributed for me, I felt like creating such things every day for a free Frankie. The day was over and the fun too. Everyone forgot the message and went home. But god was not happy watching me happy I guess. One day in class, when Mr. Nokia tune was teaching Chemistry 2, (His phone always used to ring during classes and the ringtone was the Nokia tune so we renamed the professor as Mr. Nokia tune but never dared to say this upfront, because he was damn strict. We had that custom to rename every teacher with a funny code name, but that was only for us. Not for the teachers to know about). Everyone was busy paying serious attention to him. But there was a useless moron named Raj. He was in my school since first standard. I never liked him much. So always kept a safe distance between him and me; given, he had lost his brains. So this i***t was playing with Somu’s cell phone. I gave him a ridiculous look and continued to study. Our weekly test results were about to get disclosed that day. After the announcement, I came at the 5th place in entire batch of 12th. As per the ritual, I discussed so many things from curves in the class to curves of the thermo dynamical theory we had been taught that day with my gang for almost half an hour after the classes and dispersed. I went home; studied for some time and went to mom dad’s room. They were watching some kind of daily soap. I never liked to watch, so kept making some funny comments on every dialogue. Suddenly my phone rang. It was Dev, surprised, I answered the call. “Hey bro it’s a surprise to hear you! How are you?” I said in a breath. But he didn’t sound excited or happy. He said, “What did you do bro?” I was amused. I didn’t even fight with anyone. Then why was he asking this? “What do you mean buddy? I didn’t get it.” I said like an innocent little kid. “I am talking about the SMS.” he said. “Ah, SMS, yeah man I’ve not sent you any SMS since so many days, sorry man I’ll send you.” I become seriously paranoid after studies. I don’t just understand anything. “I am talking about the SMS of Saie which you have made, i***t!” What! How is it possible! How did he get that SMS? His words felt like a heart attack to me. But somehow I managed to survive. “How did you come to know?” I asked with confusion. “Raj sent me, he forwarded it to everyone.” Raj..! Now I got the connection correct. The time he was playing with Somu’s phone, he must have found that SMS and sent to himself and published it everywhere. I wished killing him. “Hey, are you there?” Dev said from other side. I was angry, damn angry. “How did you come to know that this SMS is created by me?” This was a question too. “Raj told me.” he said. I would have buried Raj had he been front of me. But his luck was shining that day. “Listen, don’t send this SMS to anyone, and keep it to yourself. If it reaches to Saie, I am dead then.” I had to sort this mess out so I instructed him while getting ready to go to Raj’s house. “I sent that to Saie. As you know I’m her school friend. And I wanted to confirm what was going on.” He said. Second heart attack, I lost my balance and had to take the support of wall. “What..! Are you out of your mind?" I said in anger. “Does she know that I created this SMS?” “Yes I told her that this SMS is created by you.” f**k! Fortunate was I having support of the wall, otherwise I would have fallen down in the severe shock Dev was giving me. I became totally numb. I thought whether I was alive or was in hell. But I was alive. Dev gave me the worst news anyone can give. But that was not done. “She is damn angry and she wants to meet you.” Dev said. I experienced another heart fail. I felt like I was only one on this earth to survive so many heart attacks back to back! “s**t man; now what to do?” I did not want another public humiliation. “Dude, request her not to tell any of the professors anything about this.” I continued. “Chill, just apologise to her and you are out of this. Simple!” He assured me. “Ok.” I said. There was nothing more to say for me. “Hey wait for a second. Saie is calling Me.” he said. Before I can say anything he put me on hold. After a minute he got back on the call. “Adi, its Saie.” Not again, not now..! I prayed. “She wants to talk to you.” Dev said. “Look, I know what you are thinking. That I intentionally did this just for the publicity or anything like that. Then let me clarify, I have not sent this text to anyone, Raj did. Please don’t create a scene.” I tried being a gentleman, didn’t work. “Shut up Adi! I know you are doing this because you want my attention. You want people to come and talk to you. You want them to talk about you. You’re nothing but a hopeless publicity seeker.” Whatever she said was completely illogical. But pointing it out would’ve been troublesome. Hence I chose to keep quite. But after a couple of seconds she started crying and I was clueless and figuring out what to say; “How shameless you are Adi? I’m crying because of you and you don’t even say a word.” She fired again. “What can I talk now if you don’t want to listen?” Girls feel so much insulted if someone, specially a boy whom they are fighting with points out their mistake. That makes them angrier. “Just shut up! You know that you have made a big mistake. I can complain it to Sir! Or can go to the police!!” she warned, those warnings threatened me. “Listen Saie I am really sorry. Please try to understand. I seriously never wanted to humiliate you. And more importantly why are you scolding me? Raj forwarded the SMS to his friends. I never did that. Why don’t you talk to him? I am not the culprit. I agree; I made this SMS but one month ago. Did that reach to you? No! I know what to share and what to be kept as a secret. Raj is the one behind this. Go and talk to him.” “I will talk to you tomorrow after class, bye Dev.” “bye.”I replied in confusion. I could get that she was angry. But I wasn’t able to find a reason behind her anger. Neither I said anything offensive, nor was I fighting. Then why she was angry? The confusion was tough so I gave up thinking on it. “Are you mad?" Dev also yelled at me after Saie. “What do you mean?” I asked him an obvious question. “Anybody talks to a girl like this?” What exactly does that mean about talking to a ‘girl’? I never understood the sentence. “I just told her what happened” “Anyways chill now I’ll talk to her, she will meet you tomorrow.” Dev said. “Ok just tell her not to tell this to anyone.” “Fine, Good night.” “Good night.” I disconnected the call and went to my room. I tried to sleep but it was difficult. I was very angry for what Raj has done. But what was killing my sleep the most were Saie’s words. This was the very first time in my life I had personally talked to any unknown girl like this. I did not want to ruin my reputation for her at any cost. I thought we could become friends after we sort this out tomorrow and I could have a first female friend in the Science Academy. But my imaginary future was dependent upon what happens the next day..! ~ Before I could really sleep, I thought about Saie. I felt like the death is standing in front of me as if someone is going to shoot me right in my heart. And my heart will stop beating which used to like Saie, and she was now going to hate me more. I used to say I hate Saie, but I liked her. Because of her eyes, she had mysterious eyes. Whenever I looked into them, I had stuck. She used to look at me during the lecture many times and that was the happiness to my heart. So many times she smiled while looking at me and I have danced inside. That made me fall for her. So many times we chatted on f*******:, and I got to know that she cared about me. She was concerned about my fight which I had in last month with a guy. She was concerned of my studies; she used to ask about that. I never shared this to anyone, not even Somu. I liked her. I’ve lied to everyone but how can I lie to myself? And now my efforts of proving me best in front of her were useless. I was scoring good marks in class just to impress her. Whenever the list of top ten scorers had been declared, I’ve made it being there. And when she looked at me with a cute smile, I decided to keep making it to top ten. I worked hard to see her look at me with a cute smile in those hundreds. I wanted to get her best wishes on the personal chats on f*******:. I wanted her to be my friend always. Maybe this was just the infatuation or attraction. But one thing was for sure; that these feelings made me feel happy and I wanted to experience them more often. ~ The other day, I narrated the entire scene of last night to my friends. As I completed my story, everybody shared their special opinions on that. I was completely new to this and hence, whatever my friend said made a huge impact on my mind. To sum it up in one sentence, they prepared me before the war. “Dude, you must be confident while you talk to her. Don’t stumble, don’t look away, look straight into her eyes. You are a brave warrior!” Sunny gave his feedback. “Bro, we are going to talk! I’m not into world war three.” I said, “That is where you make mistake Adi! Talking to a girl and sorting out the mess is no less than a world war and you should know that.” Somu replied. I looked at him with a face of agony. “Guys, don’t you think we are making a small issue big?” I tried to loosen the situation. “That’s where you are lacking Adi. You don’t know when a small issue is made big. Especially when it is with any girl, we have to be more careful.” An important lesson by fatso, “Ok fine. So what do you expect me to do?” I surrendered. “You just keep calm. Don’t get over excited and don’t let her overpower you. Act like you are the king of the world and she, your would-be queen. (Everyone laughed except me) Just walk like a lion to her and conquer her heart. Remember, you are a born fighter!” Said Somu; at a point I felt like he would ask me to kneel and hand over me a sword. But then he stopped and my imagination too. After this round of tutorial, we went to the classroom. Everyone asked me to enter after them from the front door. I did as ordered, and it was horrible. As soon as I placed my feet in the classroom Saie looked at me like I am a terrorist. And to make me feel more nervous, her friends too looked at me the same way. As I sat on my seat, I really felt safe. This two minute walk from the aisle made me question my own innocence. But I had friends who would cheer me up. So they did their job. Soon, the lectures were done and everybody started to leave. I took my backpack and started to leave when Saie came to me and said, “Don’t run away. We need to talk.” And before I could say anything she ran away. I felt insulted. I wasn’t a coward after all! I got angry and went off. Before going downstairs, I met Akki and told him everything. He became my good friend in last year; I used to gift him a beer bottle for the exchange of question papers of class test whenever I was sure to score low. He was the ex student of Science Academy and five years elder to me. He wasted his two years behind a girl he loved. She left him and Akki failed in 12th. His parents kicked him out of the house. Having no money and shelter, he started working at Science Academy as an assistant manager. He always looked sad and unhappy. He regretted his mistakes every day that he loved her more than his studies and ruined his career. Still he was my guide in such kind of things. After his suggestions on this matter, I came downstairs and saw that each and every student from various batches has gathered here to watch the show as if I and Saie were going to perform pole dance. As I jumped on the ground, I saw Saie standing exactly in front of me. What fun she wanted to enjoy in making the scene in front of hundreds of people. Unfortunately, she didn’t seem to be in a condition to listen to me and hence, I decided not to utter anything and calmly talk. “Adi, come here.” She said while pointing her forefinger at some part of mother earth. I followed her instructions and stood where she instructed. I remembered what me friends said, ‘be a lion’ so I stood calmly. “Are you mad Adi?” Saie’s friend started off the war. “She is a good girl from a good family.” I was puzzled by she said. It was very difficult to logically justify why she provided me the details of Saie’s family. I thought this is the way girls start any discussion. Hence I replied, “I too am from a good family!” that was really idiotic, I thought after saying. But it was too late. I had to face consequences of my stupidity. “Do you even know what we are talking about? I am serious.” And the woman herself shouted. I kept quite. “I did not sleep yesterday, I was crying all the night. Do you think this is funny? You do such shameless things and you are making jokes over here instead of apologising! What is this?” Again; the woman was angry, very angry. She showed me her mobile phone. The screen was small and brightness was low, hence I peeped into it and until then, the backlight went off. “It’s a mobile phone!” I don’t know how come I turn madly humorous all of a sudden in such kind of terrible situations. Two feminists looked at me like they would look to a r****t. I became a gentleman from being a lion. That would help the situation get normal I thought. “Sorry.” I pulled out my ‘apology-shield’ so that I can manage to survive. “I agree; I made this SMS; but a month ago. I took all the precautions so that it will not reach to anyone. But that freak Raj saw the SMS in Somu’s cell and he spread that. I agree I have made a mistake but I cared for your prosperity in society, I respect that. That’s why I never sent this SMS to anyone.” Saie and her friend calmed down. Formula worked. Use words like care, prosperity in society etc. Etc., and you get to have a soft corner in the girls’ heart. “So please don’t make it an issue. I apologise for everything.” I was in a win-win position. “Now the real culprit is Raj. You can scream at him no, if you’re not yet satisfied.” Saie and her friend smiled. I guess I won at a good note. “Call Raj, I will talk to him.” I had to obey what she says for the sake of my well being and respect in front of hundred gossip seekers. Hence, I called him. As he came to us, I was totally excited to see how insulted he gets so that I would also take out my anger onto him. “Raj..! Such a shameless person you are. f*****g dog..! How dare you to send that text to people? Who gave you the rights to humiliate a girl? Don’t you ever do something like this again you asshole..!” What a satisfying moment that was. I wish I had a camera; I would have uploaded this video on every social media. With every word Saie took out of her mouth, I felt happier. It was a devil’s happiness and how could god overpower something devil, so it all to a U-Turn like this, “But I didn’t do anything. Adi sent me the message, I just put my name, and forwarded. I don’t know anything else.” Saie looked at me suspiciously. I couldn’t say anything, I thought of defending myself and before I could say a word, “From whom you received that SMS?” Saie asked. “Adi!” And Raj professedly lied. I wished to cart a gun and vacate all the bullets in Raj’s empty head. I was shocked and angry at the same time. And within a second, Saie had tears in her eyes and she started running to the parking lot. “Hey?” I called her. She stopped, “You lied to me! You sent that SMS. You have slandered me in front of so many people. I will never forgive you. I hate you.” She said and left. And I was standing there, looking her go away without listening to me. And that day, I realised how bad it feels when somebody doesn’t listen to you when you are dying to talk to that person. How it feels when someone believes on lies and not on the truth. How it’s tough to explain yourself to a girl. I wanted to talk a lot, but all I could do is watch her go. She left with tears in her eyes. I stood there in deep excruciation. I started to walk off when suddenly a flock of crowd circled me and started shouting, “What happened, what happened? What did she say?” Everyone was so suddenly eager to know about what a girl said to me. I got fed up of the way everybody was taking interest in my life. How can people be so jobless? I thought but that was waste. Because had not I told them anything; those crooks would eat my flesh. Having no option in hand, “She was asking about the message and nothing else. Now will you guys let me breath!” I screamed and walked away. I went home, had dinner and went to sleep, but the scenario’s of incidents happened today kept running through my mind. Every time I closed my eyes, Saie’s teary eyes and her sad face flashed in front of me like its happening right there. I tried hard but could not sleep. So I called Dev, “Hey sorry to bother you this late buddy, but can you please give me Sai’s contact number?” “Why do you need it?” He asked. “Nothing special, have to tell her something important.” “Cool, I’ll send you in a minute.” “Thanks buddy.” “You’re welcome, goodnight.” “Yeah” I said and hung up the call. Within a minute, I got his text with Saie’s number. I saved it and typed her a message after thinking for almost half an hour, ‘Hey Adi here, I know you are sad and angry at me. But Saie, I want you to trust me at this point of time. Anyways the world is blaming me for your infamy. Please trust me I did not published the text. Raj did and he lied in front of you. Now you would ask why I didn’t say this at that time. I was shocked and stunned by what he said and moreover, you weren’t in the condition to listen. You blindly trusted him and accused me. But before blaming me, ask yourself one thing that why would I do this to you? Rather to me too. Would anybody wish to be in trouble? Then why would I pull this disgrace to me? Saie, you are a very nice girl I respect you. I would never do such. And left is the question of this message reaching more people, I would take care of that. Can you please forget everything and start a fresh?’ And I sent it. It was one past thirty at the night. I kept my phone aside and went to sleep. After ten odd minutes, my phone beeped, it was her text, ‘Adi, I’m a very simple girl. And I am very protective of my image in the society. You know how judgemental people are; they don’t need much to smear on a girl’s character. I agree you did not publish the message. But you made it! And that was the thing which hurt me the most. Had it been anyone than you, I would have complained to teachers by now. Just because I think well about you, I did not go to them. Please make sure this text is deleted and didn’t spread much. Try to understand me and my feelings Adi. I can expect this at least from you right?’ I felt warm and realised that I made a mistake. When I created the text, I did not think this way but fun. I felt ashamed. So I replied, ‘Saie, I am really very sorry. I would not repeat such things. I promise. Please forgive me for what I did. And leave everything behind.’ ‘Yes. Friends..?’ This was the text that made me smile that evening. ‘Obviously my friend...!’ I replied in excitement. ‘Well, too sleepy. Will talk to you tomorrow, good night and take care buddy ’ ‘Good night..! ’ And I slept peacefully and happily. Next day, I woke up at ten thirty and took my phone in mid-sleep. What I saw blew off my mind. I have thirty two missed calls and eight unread messages for the first time in my life. I first saw the list of missed calls. They were from Saie, Sunny, Somu, Ankit, and Fatso. Saie had called maximum times, eighteen times, so I called her first. “Hello?” I heard her sobbing. “Saie, what’s wrong? Are you alright?” Tensed, I asked her. “I made a mistake that I trusted you Adi. Why are you doing this to me? What have I done to you?” She said as she cried. “But what have I done? I woke up two minutes back and called you first.” “Check the text messages and then call me.” And she hung up the call. I opened my inbox and saw eight unread messages. All from an unknown number, the first one I read was, ‘Saie: Darling, do I please you in bed? Adi: Of course! I love that trick you do with your mouth. Saie: Which ones that? Adi: The one in which you shut the f**k up and go to sleep.’ Now this was an invitation to my death. I called the number I received those messages from. It was switched off. I tried multiple times but still, got the same answer. I then called Saie, she picked up. “You read those?” “Yes.” “And what is your answer to that, mister mastermind?” “I didn’t get you?” “Don’t bluff me Adi. You have to accept that you have created them.” “What the f**k are saying Saie? Last night only we had a nice chat where I apologised for whatever has happened and how do you think would I make such kind of texts again? I was asleep when I have received these. And I read after we talked.” “I don’t trust you anymore.” Suddenly A guy came on the line, “Listen, you f*****g bastard. I know why you are doing this.” “Who the f**k is you..?” Irritated, I asked. “I’m Swapnil, Saie’s best friend. And stop doing this bullshit or you’re dead man!” “Hey, hey..? Cool down. Why are you getting into this? I and Saie will sort this out. Nobody needs wants a toe licking dog here. So just f**k off and give her the phone.” “Hey? Mind it okay?” “Give me the phone!” Saie said in the background and might have snatched the phone, “Adi, Let’s meet in the evening and sort this out. Okay?” “Okay.” I said and hung up. Then I called Sunny and asked him to gather everyone in the park nearby. After an hour, we all were sitting in the park. I told everyone what happened. “Okay. The bad news is many of the students in Science Academy and college mates and common friends. Everyone is gossiping. And you and Saie are getting disrepute amongst students. Dude, people are even gossiping that you made and send these messages just to get in the fame. Also many of them are saying you guys were dating each other and she ditched you and that is the reason you are making such messages.” Sunny provided me this news which was so illogical and disturbing. “What is wrong with people dude? Why can’t they do their own business! What the f**k is going on with me!” And I put my head down in frustration. “Don’t worry. We will sort out this in the evening.” Somu said. “And chill, no one will come to you and hit you like that. We are standing by your side. We will kick Swapnil’s ass the moment he touches you. So relax.” Ankit said. “Yeah, we would. Let’s see what happens in the evening. Let’s go.” I said as I got up. We dispersed, and I went home. Soon the time passed and Saie called me at four, “Let’s meet in half an hour in the parking lot.” “Cool.” I replied and she disconnected without saying a word, I felt bad. Then I called up all my friends to the park. We gathered there and went ahead. As we reached the parking lot, I saw a huge crowd. Saie and her dozen friends, along with them there were ten fifteen boys who all together looked at me in anger as soon as I hopped down my bike. I went to Saie. “What is the point in gathering these many people here Saie? Are you crazy?” As I walked near her, a guy held my collar and pushed me back, “Stay there and talk, you asshole.” Well this was surprising; my friends came forward to fight. I stopped them. “Okay so you want to talk right? Who are you fucker?” “Swapnil.” “Oh..! The one who wants to be a hero..! Guys see this cunt. These are the people who interfere in others’ matter just so that other people could say how helpful they are. And you, dickhead, just get the f**k out of this matter. I and Saie will handle this.” “Oh really..! Had you handle this earlier, these messages wouldn’t be made and spread.” He stood exactly in front of me looking in my eyes angrily. I laughed and looked at Saie, she was tensed. I laughed hard and Swapnil held my shirt and pulled me to him. I laughed again. He was just five feet tall and I, six. He couldn’t even reach my neck. “Look you piece of s**t,” He tried saying and I punched him in the face and kicked in his stomach. He fell on the ground and his friends ran to me, my friends ran to them and before we start to fight, Saie yelled, “Stop it all of you..! And Adi, come with me.” She came to me, held my hand, and dragged me to a corner of the parking lot where nobody was there. “Tell me if you made those messages.” “Swapnil has influenced your mind right? Why would I make any Saie? Let’s not forget the fact that I am facing problems too. Not only you, but I got disrepute too! Why can’t you think logically?” “Okay fine. I might be wrong but please tell everyone not to spread this message more. I don’t want to face this anymore. This disturbs me a lot.” “So it does to me. Don’t worry; I would take care of it. I’ll send you a message; you send it to everyone who forwarded those messages created in the morning to you. I would do the same and I hope people would co-operate us.” “Okay cool. Let’s go, it’s the time for our lectures.” “Yeah, and remember, Swapnil would never cross my way. If he ever does, I won’t show any mercy.” “Yeah, he won’t. Let’s go.” And we went back to the group. We told everyone what we decided and asked everyone who got the message not to spread them anymore. After we sent this message, we all went for the lectures. That day, I couldn’t concentrate. All the scenarios were coming to my mind. After every five minutes I was looking at Saie, she too seemed disturbed. She wasn’t looking at the board, she wasn’t talking to her friends, only thing she did during those two hours was to look at me ten to fifteen times. Once, I smiled to her, but she looked away. I was very uncomfortable. Because I never imagined such things would happen to me ever in my life. The messages that got spread had reached many people in our batch. Everybody was talking about me and Saie. I never experienced such in my life. I didn’t care about the people, but Saie. I was so concerned of what she thinks about me and the way our friendship would go ahead. I never wanted to lose her, but at the same time, I didn’t actually love her. That feeling was strange, unexplainable. Only I could feel it and I thought nobody else could ever understand. After the lecture, I went to the office to clear few doubts. It took fifteen to twenty minutes. I then, went downstairs. Many people had been home by then. Saie and her friends were there and Sunny was there. So I went to my bike where he was waiting for me. Then I looked to Saie, she was crying and her friends were consoling her. As I could see, four girls were present and all of them crying. “What is the matter? Why are they crying now?” I asked Sunny. “I have no idea bro. I think you should talk to Saie straight away.” He suggested. “Okay, I will. Wait for a minute.” I said and went to her. “Saie” I called. She was hugged by her friend; they separated and looked at me surprisingly. “Can I talk to her for a minute?” I asked and her friend went to remaining ones. “What happened? Why are you all crying?” I asked her. She looked down, “Adi, it’s not easy to forget everything, I have been slandered in all this. People are asking me questions I have no answer to. You tell me, how do I answer them? You are a guy; nobody will say anything to you. But a girl’s character is always smeared in our society. I don’t know what to do.” And she started crying. I hugged her. “Don’t worry Saie, everything would be alright. People will forget it, relax. And moreover, I am here for you right? So chill, nobody will say a word to you.” I patted her back. She moved away and wiped tears. “Yeah, I trust you.” She said and smiled, so did I. “Saie..? Why the f**k are you talking to this dog?” Swapnil came out of nowhere and jumped. I wished killing him but couldn’t. “Nothing, let’s go.” She said, I walked back to Sunny. He started the bike and I settled on the backseat. But before we could go, I looked back to her. In the orange street light of the parking lot, she was standing, her hands folded, and eyes at me. Swapnil was talking to her but she kept looking at me. In her white kurta and blue jeans with her hairs open and blowing with air, she looked like a beautiful painting. I couldn’t stop looking at her. The feeling of the calmness and happiness in my heart in that moment was away from the mystical. I kept looking at her and Sunny wasn’t moving. He was waiting till I say him to. I don’t know how he got to know this. But as Swapnil pulled her and asked to sit on her scooter, I too asked Sunny to move. We reached to a bar nearby in fifteen odd minute. Sunny ordered cigarettes for him and beer for un. “Bro, I don’t drink.” I said, “But you need it today. Have one.” The beers arrived and we started drinking. “How did you know to stand in the parking lot and not to go even when I was sitting?” “Saie told me to.” He said while sipping his beer, “What? When..?” I shouted; people around us looked at me. I felt awkward, Sunny laughed. “When you were walking to the bike, she looked at me and winked. I understood what she wanted to say. Is there anything happening between you guys?” “No, not now at least, let it be. Drink..!” “Are you blushing buddy..! This is something fishy.” He teased me, “No you asshole. Just have your beer; we need to go home too..!” I said and punched him; we laughed and continued our fun time.