"Okay guys, thank you so much that you all came here and enjoyed my freely donated beer, food and rooms to have flowers blooming. Disgusting. Anyways, that's all for today, and as I see all of you, drunk people, I can openly say, rather shout, that from the bottom of my heart, I totally regret that I invited you all." Shlok was calling off the party. He was equally drunk like others. The music stopped suddenly, and Mihir got disturbed as he couldn't get his free WiFi. People started getting out of that house when me, Dev, Omkar, Tanmay and Shefali were being victims of that whole drama. Oh yes, Franky was also there, well, I'd say he preferred not to go because he fell asleep.
"Shlok?" Mihir said.
"Yes?" Shlok said.
"You are ending this party?"
"Well, I guess you didn't hear me right, I already ended it."
"But...I came just now." Mihir said while he was nodding his head.
"So? We all are here since four hours."
"That's okay, but, what about me? Where will I go?" Mihir said.
"What are you talking about? Go home!"
"If only you could understand my problem." He said and looked at his phone. I saw that.
Shlok looked at him then looked at me with a question of what was Mihir talking about.
"WiFi." I whispered.
Shlok was agitated now. He went up to Mihir and whispered something. We others couldn't hear it.
"Thank you so much Shlok! I love you!" Mihir said smilingly and hugged Shlok tightly. And then he took off.
"Such a loner." Shlok said.
"Hey, what did you tell him?" I asked.
"Wha...? Umm...it was nothing. This is normal between us, this happens. Like he stays downstairs so understand..." Shlok said. And I got a doubt on Shlok. It was regarding Mihir and thus, I got a doubt on Mihir too.
* * * * * * * *
"Okay then, we'll also leave." Omkar said on behalf of him and Tanmay.
"Hey, no, no, no." Shlok said. And we all payed attention to him. Even Franky got up.
"Party was over for those other people. It is still on for you guys. Because, honestly, you guys are the true close ones to me." He said and we all were sort of happy when we heard him but we also had few questions about what was happening to Shlok.
He insisted all of us to sit on the 'L' shaped sofa which had a small table in the center as a companion. All of us had absolutely no idea of what was Shlok up to. And none of us were talking to each other. Shlok was in the kitchen. I looked at everyone. Everyone was seated as follows :
Dev, Omkar, Tanmay. Then on the other side, Priyanka, Shefali. And I was seated on a separate chair as the sofa was full. So I had a clear, straight view of Priyanka. I looked at her and coincidently she looked at me. Obviously I ignored her and looked somewhere else. Then when I realized she wasn't looking at me, I looked at her and at that specific moment Shlok entered with glasses. He banged seven glasses on the table in the center.
After few moments of our suspicion, the lights went dim and Shlok came with bottles and took a separate chair like me.
"Dude, don't tell us to drink anymore. We all are done." Dev said.
"Oh Dev! These bottles are empty. I've to keep them outside the door for the garbage guy who comes early morning." Shlok said.
"Oh okay, but then what about these glasses?" Dev asked.
"These glasses are for a game." He said.
"Game?" Dev thought.
Shlok went towards the door. So Dev grabbed this opportunity to discuss this matter.
"What kind of game was he talking about guys?" Dev asked.
Omkar and Tanmay gave a confused look. And Shefali looked at me in a hope that I'll come to know. But I also didn't know. What was the game all about?
"Is it something like...something like...something like...??" Tanmay said.
"Something like what?! Fucking put it out!" Dev said and he was being anxious then.
"I don't know." Tanmay said.
"Ugh! Jenga could have been better than this." Shefali said.
"Or we could play cards. You know like, Gambling, Poker, we could have bet some heavy money, or the best thing, we could have bet few packs of cigarettes." Omkar said as he was getting excited.
"Omi, control your monopoly of our deaths." I said.
* * * * * * * *
"So guys without wasting any more time, let us..." Shlok said.
"Let us play the game, we know, but explain what is it about." Tanmay said.
"No. Without wasting any more time let us first cheers our glasses." He said.
"Cheers our glasses? Dude, our glasses are empty." Dev said.
"Yes, I know. Today is different. We all are together here. This moment is special for me guys, so pick up your glasses and hop in." Shlok said.
"Well, don't make us that emotional bro." Dev said.
"Yeah, sure." Shlok said.
"So let me explain all of you the game. It's quite simple. We'll keep these glasses on a table and each glass will be tagged with each of our names. And then we'll write up our thoughts on small chits of paper about each other and put them in those glasses. But, we'll not write our names so no one knows who has written what about who." He said.
We all were thinking about that game. It seemed weird then. We thought there was no point in this game. Write thoughts and be anonymous about it. I mean what?
"But what's the point in this game?" I asked.
"It's only fun Manav. Afterwards we'll obviously tell each other who wrote what." Shefali said.
"No, we'll have to figure it out ourselves. This is like a pact. So think wisely and feel each other." Shlok said.
"But this is so absurd. I mean, how can you be so definite about our friendship?" I asked.
"What do you mean?" Shlok said.
"Well, you invited people whom we all were friends with before, with whom we all used to hangout almost every day, but where are they now? They're gone." I said.
"Yes, they are gone. But we all are still here. I want this group to be there with each other forever." Shlok said.
"Now he's really high." Omkar whispered in Dev's ears.
"Guys, I'm creating a moment here, and I'm trying to live in it. We are here, let us accept this game. Come on!" Shlok said.
"I'm sorry, but I have to go." Priyanka said.
"Why?" Dev and Shlok said. Shefali was like, obviously.
I kept quiet and just watched her.
"Guys, it's too late, I just need to go." Priyanka said.
I still kept quiet and just watched her.
"This might be the last time you'll meet me Priyanka, please wait." Shlok said.
Then she looked at me. I thought that she looked at me because of what Shlok said, 'this might be the last time you'll meet me'. And well, that was the actual reason. The words, 'last time' hurt a lot. Everyone insisted her to stay, except me. I only kept my ears and eyes open. Eyes because I was looking at her, and ears because I wanted to hear her decision. She looked at me the same way I was looking at her, but then I distracted my contact. And she said, "Okay, I'll stay."
I didn't really know what should I do? Should I celebrate that she was staying back or should I think over why did she change her decision? This was the confusion I hated the most. Even while tossing a coin, one would be confirmed which face of the coin would show up and who would hit a jackpot, but this dilemma was such a pain in the ass.
Everyone was happy. She sat back.
"Okay guys, what say? All of you, come let us do this!" Shlok said. And he lifted up his empty glass.
Gradually, Omkar, Dev, Tanmay and Shefali raised their glasses. After some while, even Priyanka raised her glass. I was the only one left out. All eyes were on me.
"Guys, let me tell you one thing. I don't really want to get along with this useless game, but just because everyone is here, I'll raise my glass, but honestly, I don't give a damn about this okay?" I said. I was being a bit rude, so that my point would be clear. Shlok went on to put some music and others were talking to each other. Even Priyanka was busy talking. Franky was still asleep. And I headed towards the balcony.
In that silence of night, I held the balcony bars and kept myself aloof of all the mess going on behind me. It was for one reason, that I knew something was up. I just had to find it out.
* * * * * * * *
"It's not just a useless game Manav, it's a life changing one. Especially yours." Shlok whispered to himself with a smile on his face while he saw Manav go towards the balcony.