It was a fine day at the college and I met a few juniors, very helpful, very sweet and charming. There were people around, people I knew and people I did not. And a few friends who were no more friends with me. We had eye contact a couple of times, but none of us would take the initiative to talk. On that day, friendship day, we could have forgotten the past and tied friendship bands, but we did not. Because we knew it was not our mistake through out, there was a third mastermind.
Whenever I look back to those days I remember the kind of person we used to be in a group. Understanding, sharing, compromising and most of all friendly. "He is the kind of guy who will be with you as long as he likes. The instant he realizes that you are better, he will make you feel sorry by insulting you in front of others. He will try to impose his superiority on you and will do it without even thinking twice. This is the kind of guy he is."
And these words haunt me even now. I never believed her and I would never believe her. I never let her influence my decision to be friends with him. But this is exactly what happened. She became the only reason for us to be what we are now- Strangers...
I walked around and tied friendship bands to known faces. Sometimes an unknown face would appear and still I would tie a band. This was the magic of friendship day in our college. Even the strangers would come and befriend you. The ground was full of colorful people. Some wore blue, some black, some green and red. And most of the time I would come across a purple T-shirt. It was him.
After spending about an hour in the ground floor my friends decided that we went up to our departmental floor and see our class mates. I was just walking up the stairs when a tall guy in white approached me from behind. He looked familiar and though not a friend but he was someone I knew. He was Sunny. The same guy who used to spend time with us in the group. He was one of them, someone who was the main reason why we were no more in speaking terms with each other. "Could I talk to you for sometime? Five minutes, thats all I need."
I pretended to look at my watch trying to find words and finally said, "Sure why not." When I walked through the crowd, I was wondering why he called. Maybe he wanted to be friends again, maybe they have finally realized that all they have heard about me was wrong and that they wanted us back again. But then when we stopped walking he broke the silence. "See, we never wanted all that had happened. Actually nothing happened between us. I don't even know why we are not talking and seriously speaking I have no idea where it all started from. Why don't you tell me_" he looked at me and asked, "who was the one who started it and when did it get started?"
"You were friends with them even before I was, so you tell me what happened and why was I held responsible?" We were not arguing, we were very calm and tried to maintain it through out.
"I want to ask you if I can trust you." And all I could say was, "Yes you can trust me."
"So you don't know where it all happened from, who did it?"
I knew there I would do it wrong. I asked him to trust me but I would lie to him instantly. But I had no other way. I did not want to be responsible for any fights. "I know it started but I never knew when. All I knew was that you wanted some time alone and Kushal told me that you would not talk with us. I respected your decision and made no attempts to talk you over so that I don't end up looking desperate."
Wish I could tell you it was capsicum. She was the one and the first one to even put light on the matter. 'There is a way he looks at you, its very uncomfortable and being a girl you always know if someone is looking at you badly.' These were the words she used to say. And all we could do was listen to all that crap. And I never knew when this statement modified to- 'She said me that he was this kind of, even she has caught him red-handed. I am not the only one saying it. Others have come across this too. And she said be aware of this guy...' All had come to me, like I was the one who enlightened on this fact. But it was too late to prove myself. The harm was done.
"That was all I wanted to ask." And he looked away and concluded, "Thank you for talking."
That was it, he was gone and so was I walking towards the stairs. Did I do right, was it better this way that they still think that I had done it? Why did I not say the truth? I was confused and I lost the chance to prove me right. And then I realized, I did not have to. I lost all my friends already and now it did not matter if I am alone. Now I have learned to live with it. And till someone reads it and understands the truth, I am not going to make any attempts to prove that all this time I was clean....
(the short story is based on fiction and there is no resemblance to any person living or dead)
