I was in Bandra waiting at a bus stop for none other than Dev. I was listening to songs. There weren't many people around, not even at the bus stop. I was around a residential perimeter, so not many people hanged out there.
Dev came in a hurry. He might have thought that I might get annoyed again for keeping me waiting. Well, I wasn't, because I had songs to listen to. In a way, Dev trying to be on time, helped me understand about how much I meant to him.
"Hey, sorry, I c-o-u-l-d-n-t g-e-t a t-a-x-i..." Dev said panting his breath.
"It's okay, I'm not angry, chill." I said.
"Oh, thank god! Here have some." He said and passed me a coke bottle. We started walking along the footpath.
"I'm glad you called." I said.
"Well, I told you yesterday, that I'll call, so..." he said. We both took a sip.
"You know about Shlok's party?" I opened the topic.
"Yeah, he messaged me about it. Wait, how do you know?" he asked.
"He met me yesterday."
"Oh okay. So are you coming?"
" 'Are you coming', that means you will go." I said.
"Well, absolutely yes!" Dev said.
"Hmm..." I reacted.
"So, are you?" he asked. We both took another sip.
"No, I mean, you know I've left all this behind." I said and Dev's eyebrows went up.
"I wonder why you can't let go." He said.
"Let go?"
"Yeah, let go. Let go what happened."
"I don't understand what you are talking about."
"Come on bro, don't act like you don't remember anything, at least when you are with me." He said.
"What? I told you I don't know what you are talking about."
"Just admit it. You know I'm talking about her."I stopped right there, right where I was standing, and said,
"Who?!"
"Priyanka.""
* * * * * * * *
Few months ago:
""Dude, these vendors have become so stingy. I mean, consider this. This small packet of roasted groundnuts consists of only about fifteen to twenty groundnuts but the price of it is of two such packets. Damn! Nothing is ever going to get reasonable." I said.
"But still you are eating it, aren't you?" Priyanka said.
We were at sea face. I was having groundnuts in one hand and my phone in other. Priyanka was with me. She seemed a bit annoyed and worried about something.
"Dude, Piyu, what happened? Now I was hungry so cheapest item are groundnuts only." I said as I followed her towards the rocks where eventually we sat.
"Oh really? One big banana costs ten rupees, and you know what, one banana is equivalent to four such packets of groundnuts." I understood something was going in her mind, otherwise she would never blame those groundnuts for anything.
"What happened? Tell me." I said.
"Nothing has happened." She tried to ignore the topic. And I knew her very well. If she'd get irritated and worried about something, she would try to avoid eye contact. She looked at the golden lining of Bandra bay. At night, Bandra looked beautiful. I gently turned her face towards me and said, "You know you can tell me. I'm your best friend right? So go ahead, feel free." She looked at me for a while and lost focus. She was very firm on her decision that she won't tell me. So then I also thought that she needs time; so to cheer her up, I fed her few groundnuts and she smiled a little.
"That's my girl. Why to be sad when you can smile." I saw a teardrop slip from her left eye. I rubbed it off and said, "Okay now, smile as much as you can, because it's selfie time." And I raised my phone to take a selfie."
* * * * * * * *
"Manav?"
I felt like Dev took my name.
"Are you dreaming?" he said.
"Uh..no, I was thinking something, nothing else. Let's have a sip." I said. We took a sip, and I soon realized that my bottle was emptier than Dev's bottle. I felt like asking him that when did I drank so much, but then I assumed it was when I was thinking about Priyanka.
Beep! Beep! Dev's phone was vibrating. He took it out of his pocket and checked it.
"Oh god, I'm dead."
Obviously, I asked him what happened.
"Dude, my dad had told me to get our scooter repaired, and I forgot. So I got to go now; bye then, and do let me know if you are going to come to the party." And he left, busy man.
* * * * * * * *
"Ugh! My phone's camera should have been a bat's eye! Pathetic quality for taking pics at night time." I said. She had her phone in her hand. "Hey, let's use your phone." And I took it from her hand. She sort of resisted a bit, but then she let herself to give it to me.
I tried to unlock her phone, but she had changed her password.
"Umm...what's your password Piyu?"
She typed in and I could see her wallpaper clearly. When I observed her wallpaper, I saw a guy whose face was covered with a 'happy emoticon' and in the background; Priyanka was smiling while consciously looking at the camera. I thought about me and her taking that picture sometime, but no, it wasn't me. So I asked her,
"Who's this guy Piyu?"
"Uh...he's a friend of mine."
"From college?"
"Uh...no, not from college."
"Then? Who's he? And what's his name? And why have you covered his face?" I asked. I was curious, I mean, a lot curious, especially in these kinds of matters.
"He's a mutual friend. And we kind of got to know each other well, so we are good friends." She said. And I don't know why, I sort of didn't like that answer. You may say, I was being jealous, but, she was just my best friend, so why would I be jealous? But still, I didn't like that answer.
"Oh, okay. So are you both together? Like..." I said.
After few seconds of silence, she reacted,
"What?! Are you crazy? How can you think of that?!"
"Well, it's a simple analysis. I mean, you have a wallpaper of a guy, whose face is covered. Moreover, you are in the back of the picture, but you are looking at the camera and you are smiling. So that indicates that you were very happy while this picture was taken. And about that emoticon, that resembles, that you like him, because that would be one thing which says you like him and you find him cute. So in the end, there seems a high probability of you both being together."
I can say, she was stunned. But she knew me, so she knew that, that was a simple thing. Anyone would think of it like the way I thought of, only that I explained it to her in long sentences.
"We broke up today." She finally opened up. And again I don't know why for some reason, I didn't like that. I liked that they broke up, but I didn't like the fact that they were dating. And adding on to it, I didn't like the fact that she didn't even tell me that she was dating. Nothing at all!
"How could you not tell me? I mean all this time you were dating some guy and you didn't even let me know about it! Why?!"
"Manav! Don't say this! Please! I just thought that I shouldn't disclose this to anyone, so I didn't tell you." She was moaning. But I was angry with her.
"And not even me. I have become 'anyone' to you now. Okay, cool, I understand." I said.
"No Manav! Don't! Please! Already someone has left me; I can't afford to lose you! Please!"
"Sorry Piyu, but I'm not able to accept these things right now."
She became silent. And then she woke up in fumes.
"Why are you behaving like this? I mean, I know I didn't tell you, but at least I'm telling you now! Can't you listen to that?"
"Stop it Priyanka! I can't handle this right now. I feel as if I don't even exist in your life."
"How can you say that?"
"Just because I feel that way?"
"Get lost from here. I never want to meet you or talk to you again. Just go!" she said.
I gave her a look, and a teardrop slipped from my eye. And I ran, ran the hell out of me. Just kept on running till I didn't reach my house. But on my way, there was a school, so outside that school, on the footpath, that lonely footpath beside the highway, I bumped into someone. And later I found out that, the 'someone' was none other than Rishi.