"Why were you looking at her?" He
questioned me furiously.
"I wasn't looking at her man, I swear to
God!" I rebuked.
"Oh, Ok. In that case, I am really
sorry." He apologized and started to return to his girlfriend (or perhaps
may be wife.)
"To be honest, I was looking at her ass, nice
cute rounds." I winked at him, cunningly.
Bam!!!
A punch, right across my face that is all I
remember of that day. Next, when I opened up my eyes was in a hospital ward
with a glucose drip pinned on my arm.
I did remember arguing to the fat guy(most
intimidating biceps I ever saw), that I was born with two eyes and I have a
right to perceive things and enjoy the delicacies of life and nature. And yes,
he did try to hit me back but I was later on told that I went unconscious right
after the punch and the guy was pulled over by security, a hell of a dream. The
guy dropped by two days back to apologize but I was asleep.
"Wait, what? Two days?" I went
startled, "I've been unconscious for two days?"
"Three days...", looking at her watch,
"...and 8 hours, to be specific." Ira, my most loving friend, replied
(friend indeed, not girlfriend as you may think.)
"3 and almost a half day? I am surely not that
weak. You know that Ira." I took the support of our subtle intimate
coalescences.
"Of course not.." She smiled and winked
at me.
"...You had shed too much blood. The bleeding
must have caused weakness in your body and on top of that, all this morphine
and antibiotics. Docs had a notion that you might sleep for another 2
days."
"Are you kidding me? Huh!" I obnoxiously
questioned her.
However, to my dismay, she did not reply. It was
altogether a different show of Ira's body language. She seemed uncomfortable.
I flee off my bed to her, my legs were numb and I
limped. She ran towards me and held me..
"Don't...” she said in a disturbed voice.
"Why?" I questioned her before she could
even finish her statement.
"The doctors said that you could go into
coma..", tears started to roll off her face and I could feel the intensity
of her concern.
'I am an asshole', I said to myself watching Ira
shed tears. I know she didn't want to lose me, neither did I. We had something
in our friendship. There was a bond we had developed over the span of our
acquaintance and I did not realize that, for Ira, it had changed into love.
"I am sorry Ira." I murmured.
"You are the last person I'd want to lose in
my life." She revolted and hugged me hard.
I could feel the warmth of her body and breath. Ira
was a bomb and was an allure to anyone's eyes. My friends were jealous that I
was friends with her and often pushed me to get into a relationship with her.
She plunged her 32C into my chest and my hand automatically rolled over her
buttocks as usual. Her embrace was strong and somewhere deep inside I did not
want her to leave me at that moment.
However, I knew I did not love her and wanted a lot
from my life. I wanted to be big and famous. I held her but in fear. Fear, that
I might hurt her and it would be intentional for she hadn't disclosed her
feelings for me but deep within I knew that she had fallen in love with me.
"I love you." I said not wanting to hurt
her anymore. Trying to be responsible enough and willing to lead my life on the
path she chooses for us.
"I love you too Abhay but you cannot just go
into eve teasing other guys' girls. It's inappropriate." She managed out
of my clutches and looked into my eyes.
"If you just wanna have sex, we can find
someone for you but promise me you'll never do anything like this ever
again." I started to think, 'What is she saying?' I could see her eyes
questioning me, seeking an answer.
"What can I say Ira, I just did it for fun. Do
you think I am that desperate?" I tried to sway her.
"I've been your only friend for 7 years now. I
know you more than your parents do." She continued staring at me.
"No, it isn't like that. It's different, I've
been kidding around all the time. You know that sweetie."
"Oh! Are you? I am so skeptical about
that." She confronted me with the truth and I was baffled. I had
nothing to say and was standing in front of her ashamed at myself, in despair.
"I am sorry." I blabbered.
"That's a nice way to apologize. You should be
apologizing to yourself. Try and think what you really want to be in life.
Don't throw your life away." She was going ballistic on me.
"I know what I want to do. Don't judge
me..." I revolted, "...I don't want to be somebody's expectation and
live my life at their expense." In a flash, I was back to square one. The
ambitious Abhay.
"Abhay, I know you're very talented and smart.
I adore you for that but I don't want you to die because of all your ruts. You
need to grow up." Ira smartly caught hold of my Achilles' heel.
"You're the only person I have whom I can deeply trust. At times, I ponder
upon the question that I might lose you and that day would be the saddest in my
life."
'Knock Knock...'
