"How could you be so understanding? And so caring like that? How could you trust me like that even after seeing those pictures? Any other man could doubt his wife if he saw those pictures. How could you not be angry from me? How didn't you accuse me?" Madhu was crying
"Because you were a victim not a criminal in this situation. And because I was in this situation just like you before." RK said with cracked voice
"What?" Madhu
"Yes, what happened to you, happened to me too?" RK
"What do you mean?" Madhu
"Do you remember when you asked me why I don't have any friends?" RK
"Yes." Madhu
"I'll tell you why." RK
"I'm listening." Madhu
"When my mother left us. My father told me he was the reason. He told me that he was so busy and my mother couldn't take it anymore. That time was the hardest for me in my life. I never had a father/son relation with my father before. He was always away or busy. My mother was my world. She was my friend and my mother. She was the only one caring for me. And I lost her because of him.
I hated him so much for pushing her away from our lives. I hated myself for not being good enough to make her stay with me. I hated everything and everyone. The worst in the world is to hate yourself. I even blamed myself for every mistake I made in the past thinking that if I was a good son she wouldn't leave me.
I spent most of my time depressed and crying. All my friends left me. No one wants to be with the poor kid who weeping all the time. They love the funny kids who can do funny things. Who can tell jokes and play games. But I wasn't. I was completely alone. My mother left me. My father always away from me. My friends got boring of me. Even I hated myself." RK
"Hated yourself. Why?" Madhu
"Because I was not good. If everyone hated me. Sure I'm the reason. I don't know why. Sure, I don't deserve their love. I was sure something was wrong with me. I was sure I was bad. No way were they all wrong. It must be me." RK
"OMG Rishabh. It was really hard for you." Madhu
"Wait it was getting worse by time." RK
"Please continue." Madhu
"Years passed and I was in the same situation. Until my senior year in the high school. I started to look around me. I had no friends at all. I had no one at all. And all the kids in the school were together laughing and chatting having fun. I wanted to be with them. I decided to suppress my sadness to gain my friends again. At least have new friends. I was naive. I searched around the school and chose the most popular kid in the school. I sent him a letter." RK was laughing at his stupid idea
"A letter! What did you write in it?" Madhu
"I asked him to be my friend. It was like a proposal. I even included my picture with it." RK
"You are kidding. Right?" Madhu
"I wish if I was. I was desperate to have anyone by my side. And I thought if I was his friend I would be popular like him and others would want to be my friends too." RK
"What was his response?" Madhu
"He ignored me and my question if he read the letter or not. Then next day I found my picture on the school playground on the dirt with the letter. I understood his response." RK
"What did you do after that?" Madhu
"After high school I tried to get closer to my father. He was the only one left for me. That's why I joined medical faculty to know him better and have more time with him. But that too didn't work out with me." RK
"Why?" Madhu
"My father is very strict man. He made sure to treat me like any other student there. I didn't want especial treatment as his son. All I wanted was just more time with him as his son. But he made sure that he was not my father in the college. He was just my teacher and the college principle. And more than that he was out of the town most of the time." RK
"You didn't try to make new friends in college?" Madhu
"I did. First one was T. You know her. My mother asked me to look after her. And I felt responsible for her. So we became friends. Until she told me what she really wanted from me. My friendship was not enough for her. She wanted more. And I refused it. Then I broke up our friendship." RK
"Why didn't you try to have other friends? With other guys." Madhu
"I tried many times. But most of them wanted to be my friends only because I was the principle's son nothing more. When they didn't receive any especial treatment as my friends they avoided me. They were scared of me if I knew anything about them I would tell my father. Like if anyone of them cheated in exams or did any naughty thing in the campus. So they preferred to stay away from me." RK
"That is why you don't have any friends. Because they all tried to use your friendship for their benefits." Madhu
"This is not all. There is more." RK
"Please continue." Madhu
"After that I decided I don't need friends. I can live without them. I don't need anyone. But one day the college most popular group tried to approach me. They started talking with me. Their leader Varun tried to befriend me. I thought that was good. At last, I got friends. And they were not interested in studies so much. So it was no way that they got closer to me because of my father.
I started to hang out with them. Most of the time we spent together. But they used to go parties after college. They invited me in one of them. I went with them thinking it was ok. There were alcohols and girls in the party. They tried to make me drink. I refused completely. I don't like alcohol and I never drank it all my life. Girls from the party started to hit on with me. And few of them offered me one night stand.
I felt I didn't belong there. I left my friends there and went home. Next day they made fun of me and some of them called me coward that I refused to man up and drink with them or had sex with the girls. I got upset from them. But Varun stood for me. He shut them up. He said that it was ok for me if I didn't want do what they do." RK
"He defended you. He sounds like a good friend." Madhu
"That is what I thought he was. A good friend. But I was wrong." RK
"What did he do?" Madhu
"I stayed with them. But I noticed that they changed with me. If they were talking, they would stop the moment they saw me. They never invited me to another party or talked about it. It was ok with me. I knew I didn't fit in their parties.
There was isolated area in the college we used to hang out there. We used to chat or joke about anything there. Once I was going there to meet them. I saw two of them doing drugs. I got very mad. I yelled at them that they can't do it in the campus. I wanted to report them. But Varun prevented me and promised me that it would never happen again. I couldn't see that and just keep my mouth shut. But I believed him.
After a week, Varun invited me to a party in his house. I tried to refuse his invitation telling him that I hated alcohols and what happened in their parties. He assured me that there would not be alcohols or girls. He said it would be a clean party. I accepted his invitation" RK
"What happened there?" Madhu
"When I reached there I didn't see any girls or drinks. I believed him. Then he offered me a soft drink. I took it and drank it.
Suddenly I felt dizzy. I fell down on the ground. Two of them carried my body and took me to a bedroom. I was conscious all the time. I saw what they did. I could hear them and see them but I couldn't move a muscle. I couldn't control my body at all.
They took of my clothes. I was only in my boxer. Then three strippers walked in the room. Varun asked them to touch me, kiss me, and hug me. And he was standing there with a camera in his hand taking pictures for us. After he took all the pictures he wanted. He and another one of our friends dressed me my clothes. Then they took me home.
They told the servant that I was drunk and lost it. They helped me to reach my room and they put me on my bed. Varun got close to me and whispered in my ear few words. Then they left." RK
"What did he say? Why did they do that to you? What was the use of the pictures?" Madhu was angry
"He told me. If I reported them ever or told my father about anything, they do in the college. They would post those pictures on the college walls. They will show the world how good son my father has" RK