I Am Guilty

9. Proven Guilty

Kunal opened the door when the bell rang the early morning.
He was all fresh after a shower and was ready in his casual wear.

"Hey! I thought they would take entire day to get done with the drama." Kunal playfully commented as Arjun removed his shoes and stretched his toes.

"Apparently, they like me too little to bear me more than this." Arjun retorted back.

"True that." Kunal agreed walking back in.

Arjun sighed as he stood up and stretched his body. This bones screamed in protest. Without wasting time he rushed in to discard the fatigue.
He dressed himself in a full sleeved beige color T-shirt and paired it with dark washed jeans, after a long shower.
He was not surprised at the aroma of freshly made eggs. Kunal was setting two large plates with omelette, toasted bread and poured a tall glass of milk while he made a green tea for himself.

"Thanks, Man. I really needed this." Arjun said settling down on a chair and pulling a plate towards himself. He dig in to eat whatever was served without looking up. Kunal silently buttered two more slices of bread and put them in the toaster and cracked another egg to make one more omelette.

Arjun finally looked up when Kunal placed a warm slice in his plate. He noticed his friend was all ready to leave.
"When are we leaving?" He asked.

"The train is in an hour. We can manage to board it if we leave in next ten minutes." Kunal replied, taking a mouthful of the toasted bread.

"Great! Let's get going then. I will book a taxi."
Kunal just hummed and focused on his plate and Arjun booked the taxi while he ate large bites and gulped them down and finally drank the glass of milk in a few large sips.
Kunal shook his head in defeat. He could never get his friend slow down with the food. Arjun had a weird habit of taking large bites and gulping them down without chewing them enough.
But now was not the time to teach him.

Both the friends were out of the house and Kunal locked the house, while Arjun picked up their bags.

"How was everything?" Kunal finally addressed the topic when they were off to the train station.

Arjun looked at him and blinked.
"They were very happy. Congratulated me for the wedding. We received a grand welcome and a lavish feast."

Kunal was taken aback. He had known Arjun for too long to understand the meaning behind his words.
He instantly knew what Arjun meant. Arjun's family was extremely angry. They had probably hit him. He was kicked out of the house and was on empty stomach the entire time.

Kunal sighed and looked away for a long moment.
"Was it all worth, Arjun?"

Arjun blinked at the passing trees.
"It was worth, Kunal. If time comes, I will do it all over again."

Kunal did not reply. He knew his friend was crazy. There lay a devil in him that listened to no one. With time, Arjun had changed a lot. He never justified his actions and spoke only when required. He never got into details of anything at all. Kunal had learned to derive meanings of his behavior. Arjun would never even voice out the pain. He had not recalled a small hiss from Arjun's mouth whenever he got hurt.
But he had anger issues. It was not easy to handle Angry Arjun.

He did not have any food preferences.
He would gulp down whatever was there in the plate and would never ask for additional serving. It never made difference if the food had high or low amount of salt or chilli. He would eat it with large bites and neither would appreciate nor criticize the food.

Arjun stepped down the taxi and paid the fair, while Kunal pulled their luggage out. They were on time and the train was already waiting to take the passengers to Lucknow.