(Present)
“Message if free? And willing to talk?” Radhika updated her WhatsApp status after changing her status privacy settings. The mobile showed that only one of her contacts was to receive the message. Radhika thought of all the previous times she had updated her status like that. It had always been for one particular contact to see.
“Hi!” Radhika instantly received a message. “I’m always willing to talk. Tum hi baat krne ke mood mein nahi hoti.” (You yourself are never in the mood to talk.) Though she knew she ought to reply, she left the message at *seen* and swtiched off the mobile data. She needed a moment to think. Soon she found her mind wandering backwards into the closed boxes of memories of a year ago.
…
(Past)
… two days later after their first convo…
‘He’s online again. Should I message? Yeah well. Let me try!’ Radhika sent a “Heya” message to her new found friend, Arjun. She anxiously waited for a reply.
Meanwhile, Arjun was quite happy. After all he had finally been able to get in touch with Samaira again! His girlfriend, or Sam as he liked calling her, was a full two years younger to him. But that had never been an issue. She was still at school and he had just passed out. They had a great bonding and had been going steady for the past two years. Though lately Sam’s studies had started keeping her busier than ever, which was obvious since she was now in 11th, Arjun still enjoyed every word they could share. They couldn’t meet very frequently but she did come online once in a while, just to talk to him. And Arjun knew he had been super lucky to have her in his life anyway. So he never complained.
While he was thinking all this, Arjun saw he had received a message on Facebook. He was surprised to see it was from Radhika. Funny. He had already thought that she might have forgotten him. But seemed like she hadn’t. He clicked on the chat option and started talking.
“Hey! Ssup?”
“Nothing much. College keeps me busy. You say?”
“Kuch nai yaar bass same here. Boring life.” (Nothing, same here. Boring life.)
“Okay. You know what? I just remembered something Arjun! We’ve met at school one other time too! You were talking to my friend Kenny about your girlfriend and I was sitting right there! Remember that?”
Arjun was surprised. Strange. He didn’t remember any such thing. Anyway. So this girl already knew about his girlfriend too then. “Yeah I think I can recollect something of that sort.” He didn’t actually remember anything though.
“Yeah so what’s her name? I guess I didn’t hear that correctly that day.”
“Samaira. She’s a junior at school.”
“Yeah okay. Never heard of her before. Anyway, so tell me,……”
Arjun loved the girl’s excitement about everything. She was always ready to talk, which was a great relief for him. And not just a great talker, she was also a great listener. And yes, very inquisitive. Radhika kept asking him questions about his relationship with Samaira and he dutifully answered them. By the time they said goodnight to each other, he had an increasing feeling that this friendship was going to last a lifetime. They were very similar in their natures, after all. Both loved music and her biggest dream was to meet Arijit Singh some day. She completely adored the singer. Arjun smiled remembering her excitement when she tried to show off her knowledge on Arijit. Cute girl she was.
Radhika, on the other side, was re-reading the entire chat she had had with Arjun. So she had gotten to know a few new things about Arjun today. One, he was a great talker. He never got bored and could go on endlessly on any topic. Very different from most guys. Two, he had a girlfriend two years younger to him. Apparently she was studying at the same school Radhika and Arjun had just passes out from. Though she had never met Samaira, Radhika was sure she must have been a pretty awesome girl. And third, Arjun and she were very similar. She had had enough experience in her life to tell her this friendship wouldn’t last long.
As she retired for the night, Radhika hoped otherwise. She didn’t like people leaving from her life. She had been so hurt in the past that she had formed this high, impenetrable wall around herself. Not that she was going to enter into a relationship ever again. But still, a permanent friendship never harmed anyone.
……
(Present)
Radhika knew she had to reply. She’d seen the message already and what she herself found rude, she couldn’t do to anyone else. Keeping the past memories at bay, she mustered enough courage and replied to the person.
An extremely impatient Arjun saw, on his screen, Radhika’s status changing from online to *typing*. As he held his breath anxiously waiting for her reply, he was shocked to see the message his screen displayed. He felt confused, sad, angry, and everything at the same time. He couldn’t believe Radhika had typed all that. As he felt the entire world fade around him, Radhika sat biting her nails waiting for his reaction. She had sent him a tough message.
“Hey. Hope you’re okay. I just came back because I hate abrupt endings, when peaceful closures are a possibility.”
Precap : Flashbacks of Ardhika becoming best friends, Arsam’s relationship becomes tumultuous.
(Author’s note. Won’t say much. Just keep commenting and supporting. 🙂 You people give me the inspiration to keep writing. Love you. Also this is unedited coz i wanted to submit something and am damn sleepy at the same time. Sorry for grammatical errors, if any.)