The Matchmaker

21. Kartikeya

November, Tuesday, 8th

"Hey, babe. You mad still?" I texted as I laid on my bed.

The whole day, Satbeer had perfectly managed to avoid interacting with me in any major way. So I figured this to be the only way left. It took sometime for him to read, and further to reply.

"Listen to me, let's just stop this all. Let's just be friends like before."

"Friends like before? Can we ever go back to that? After all this, we can either be lovers or nobody."

"What is fucking wrong with you?! Don't you understand!! We can't be like this if we want to be accepted and respected in the society. Everyone will treat us like shit!"

"Why is that all you think about? Do you want to be a loser always? Where's that Satbeer who'd fight any fuckin' body for his buddies? If you want to be in peace, you have to make sure you get it."

"But why have you become like this? You were fine earlier, and now suddenly, you want to be some kind of a spokesperson or a freedom fighter! My family will literally disown me if they came to know, and I can't afford losing my entire life because of some teenage fun."

"Teenage fun? Is that what I am to you? Won't you lose anything of your life if you lose me? If you lose us?"

"I don't want to abandon you, I just want to abandon this... thing that we have in between us. You aren't grasping the reality of the situation because of your selfishness. Wait..."

My further messages went unread, and in came back a link to an apparent news article. I clicked to go onto the site, and began reading the incident.

It talked about a boy stoned to death in a nearby village for being suspected as a homosexual. It later turned out that he was just autistic, and a lot of the villagers were arrested. The article was shocking for sure. I felt bad for the specially abled kid, and at the same time, intense fury towards the society for their thinking and response. While I was reading, Satbeer had already given his replies.

"I don't want anyone of us to be the next on the news, Kartik. This is it, I'm ending whatever this was. I don't wish to be part of this anymore and let it destroy both of our lives. Let's just stay how God made us, and not how we want to."

"This is how God has made us!!"

"God doesn't make anyone despicable."

That was right, I wanted to say. God didn't, but people did. But it had occurred to me that there was no use in persuading him anymore. I knew him very well, and I could tell when he was absolutely adamant with his decision. So I simply placed the mobile down, not submitting but taking time to come up with a solution.

Despite the determination, my brain simply wasn't that highly qualified to have that sort of knowledge and cognition. So I turned towards my only other friend for help. I dialed his number, and waited for him to pick up.

"Yo, what's up? What reminds you of me?"

"I wanted your opinion in a problem. The thing is, Satbeer isn't too comfortable with our relationship, and he is saying that he doesn't want to continue this. He feels that this is too risky."

Varun was quiet for a moment or 2, before uttering, "Uhh... I'm not sure what exactly to tell you, because I'm not very well versed with dating boys. But I guess, you do need to be careful, considering how people around are."

"Just... tell me as if it was a girl. Imagine yourself in my place and Mahi instead of Satbeer. What would you do?"

"Hmm... I would have made her realize my worth. Made sure that she knew what she was losing and how much of priceless it was, compared to whatever social shit she put first."