Hum Tum

♥ Chapter 17 ♥

The next day, Darshan was silent the whole day, he didn't talk much, nor did he do any fun. He simply sat alone, silently. His silence scared the hell out of me. I never saw him that silent ever, I couldn't even imagine him like that; but that day, I saw him in that condition, live. I went towards him and quietly sat on the seat besides his' waiting for him to look at me, but he didn't. He was lost somewhere, in his own thoughts, he looked utterly disturbed. "V", I called out after waiting for one long minute. He slowly turned his head in my direction. His eyes which always glowed like millions of stars resided in them, were dull, filled with pain, or was it anger? I don't know. They were confusing. "What happened?", I asked with much care because I couldn't see him like that. He opened his mouth to say something but then stopped, bit his lower lip and shook his head. That hurts. Not because he wasn't telling the reason, but his condition. The way he restricted his problems to himself which were consuming him, he wasn't the Darshan he was a day before. "What happened? Did you have a fight with Kritesh and Jyugal? Or anything at home? Or did you fight with Bhakti?", I guessed. "Nothing", he said. "You can tell me", I assured him. He took a deep breath and looked towards me in anger. "How can you be so cool? How can you forgive us so easily?", he finally said. "What do you mean? Forgive whom?", I asked. "Wow! So now you forgot it", he sarcastically said. "You aren't the Divya I know. You can't be my W", he said with much seriousness. "V, what are you saying? I seriously don't understand anything", I said. "How can you so easily forgive me for what I did; and most importantly, how can you forgive Kartik?", he asked and I finally understood what his point was. "I did forgive you V, but I never forgave him; and trust me, I'm the same Divya, I'm your W", I said and he looked on. "No, you aren't", he said and shook his head. "And why do you think so?", I asked. "Don't take me wrong, but as far as I know my W; she would have been still crying somewhere, she wouldn't come to school, and she wouldn't have talked to me, but you are just opposite. You are cool as if nothing happened. In fact you want me to act the same way", he said. His questions were obvious because since that day, I have been trying my best to change myself. I have been trying not to recall that incident and cry upon it. That day, what Sneha said, did something to me and I realised I was in a terrible need of changing myself. Since that day, I don't know what the outcome was, I don't know if this new Divya was good or even worse, but I was in a constant fight with myself in changing myself. "Don't you like this stronger Divya?", I asked and he vigorously shook his head. "Why? Did you enjoy making the older one cry?", I asked and he nodded making both of us chuckle. "But on a serious note, it was important to change, V; the older me was full of weaknesses. I would cry at any small thing, I would overthink about everything. I wasn't a person, I was a bag full of weaknesses and flaws. Then someone came and guided me the way to be stronger, it's definitely difficult, but it is important to travel on the path", I said. "May I know who is that stupid?", he asked. "Not stupid, but well wisher", I corrected him. "Okay, if that person is a well wisher, then you are stupid, because you took his/her advice wrong. Maybe that person told you to be stronger, but that doesn't mean that you'll stop being yourself. W, becoming stronger doesn't mean just overlook everything and be carefree. An entire sea of water can't sink a ship, unless it gets inside the ship. Similarly, the negativity and cruelty of the world can't put you down unless you allow them to get inside you. Let me tell you Divya Rawal, what you call your weakness isn't your weakness, it's your greatest strength. When people don't find a way to let out everything that's inside them, they talk, which always end up converting into a fight, because they aren't in their their senses, they do everything the situation makes them do, but you, you just cry it out, which many a times makes things simpler. Don't take me wrong, don't think that I want you to cry, it's just that, I miss the older Divya, I miss my W, who would get angry each time I prank her then I would convince her; who would cry and still look cute", he concluded and in the end, he himself looked extremely cute when he added those playfull lines and a small smile stretched on my lips. "From now onwards, you'll definitely get to see your W again, but a bit stronger and wiser version, as instructed by Darshan Raval, A.K.A, my V", I said and he burst out into a wide smile.
After Darshan was done with counseling me, he was again cheerful and full of life, and I adorned that version of him the most. He is the kind of person, I always wished I was. Sometimes I envied him for he was so cool, happy, and so damn good. I wonder why is he even friends with me? What did he see in a dumb like me that he accepted me as a friend? Life has it's own rules and surprises, maybe it was one of those surprises. As soon as the school got over, a large number of boys gathered on the road. Sneha and I went towards them to see what was happening, and the moment my eyes fell on him, I was surprised and I froze. Darshan stood in between of the crowd with his hands tightly clinched around Kartik's collars. "Shit! No! Please stop him", I said and suddenly pressed Sneha's hand. "Did you tell him everything?", Sneha asked in surprise. "Not intentionally. He forced me to", I answered. "Trust me Divya, no one can stop him now. Mark my words, no one", she said and I don't know why but I felt extremely guilty. "God please save Darshan", Sneha said and I gave her a confused look. "Because he'll end up doing something which will cause trouble for him", she explained. "Shut up! I'm already scared and you are talking like this", I scolded. "But I said the truth", she defended herself.

(1140 words💀💀 Enjoy!)