Forgetting The Ex

The Coast Is Clear

"You can do it Sandy",I encourage my reflection,"It's just Nikhil."

I grimace at myself, slapping my forehead.

I've decided to have the talk today.I'm going to sort out this thing between us.

I hum to myself, trying to be distracted.

Surprisingly,I don't see Nikhil even once,neither in the hospital nor outside.

I don't let it get to me. Maybe he's busy.

I am bewildered when Nikhil doesn't even try to start conversation with me during lunch. And the one time I tried ,he just gave me a vague reply.

Although it upset me,I tried not to show it on my face.

Nikhil turned to be much worse than me while trying to avoid someone. I only hoped I wasn't as obvious as him.

His ignorance was starting to get to me as the same pattern continued the next day.

He was being so obvious about it,that it annoyed me more than it bothered me.

We would look at each other from about ten meters distance,and he would turn around walking in another direction.

I secretly think he's doing the tit for tat thing. You avoided me first,so I'm doing it now.

It's only on the fourth day that things felt slightly better. Although he wasn't buddy-buddy,he at least smiled at me,had lunch with us,made small talk.

I hate small talk.

I cringe,remembering the one time I tried talking.

"Hey,do you have sometime?",I catch Nikhil just as he was leaving to home.

He clenches his jaw, nodding.

"I...Umm...That",Words fail my mouth.

Nikhil waits,his face becoming stonier with each passing second.

I clear my throat,"That day,on the stairs-"

"Let's not talk about that Sandy. Forget about it."

I open my mouth and shut it multiple times,"What?"

"I said I don't want to talk about it",Nikhil leaves, leaving me standing.

Suffice to say,things have been kind of... rocky between us since that day.

He acted like there was nothing out of the ordinary. Like I was making a big deal out of nothing.

Since it hit my ego, I decided not to bring it up too, promising myself to avenge if and when situation arises.

***

"I'm going to murder you if you shoot me Avyukth."

"But I don't do it wantedly", Avyukth whines.

"I don't care",I stress,"You always shoot me. This time,even your girlfriend won't be able to save you from me",I buckle my jacket

"Seriously Sandy. We're on the same team dude. Why would I shoot you?"

"Exactly. Moron, why do you always shoot me? Our team always scores less because of you. But this time,we have to win."

Anshu rolls her eyes at the both of us,"There's no use telling him Sandy. Avyukth will just shoot anyone, our team, opposite team",Anshu shrugs,"Doesn't matter to him",she laughs.