It was midnight of a very long day. My restless mind didn't let me sleep soon. So I was surfing through social media.
'When no one notices her,
All she does is to hold herself from breaking down... -Sita'
I double-checked if it was really Sita's account. When we were in school, the most fun part was to annoy her. Thinking about the past made me grin. Life had changed a lot in the time when I was striving to live a normal life and I didn't know what she was seeking. But one thing was sure, that we were not the same. At least, the 'me' that used to be carefree was still alive in the memories of people like Sita is what I thought.
And Sita could write up something deep like that, which was new to me. I hit the like button and decided to sleep.
That night, I was in my hometown in my dreams, having the breakfast made by mom and rushing to the yard to play with my friends. We were eight friends in the neighbourhood. And Sita was one of them. We were playing catch me if you can, the surroundings and the giggles were so vibrant to be a dream. The eldest one in our gang, Reema, was four years elder, she was an onlooker to the mischief we did, never did she ever tell on us. Then the twin trouble maker brothers, Ajay and Vinay. The 'soul sisters' they call themselves, Krithika and Karthika. Then my partner in crime, Kaasi. There was also Sita and me. We were so handful that our parents let us just go with our friends than stay at home to make commotions.
We got disbursed while some joined hostels for school and some for college. In our busy engaged life, our connection caught cut, we gradually forgot how close we were. Sita was pretty chatty, though I had no chance to talk with her much. We were friends who were not so close, I thought
While we're playing in the dream, Sita tripped on a stone abruptly and was about to fall down. Out of nowhere, I felt something falling on my back, I was awakened. Someone was laying beside me, concealing their face by resting against me. 'Holy shit!' For a second, I thought that it was a ghost. It was a girl, sweating like hell. She was terrified, and then finally showed her face in a few minutes. She was as horrified as me to encounter something like that.
'Sita? Why would she be here?' I was perplexed.
That's how she ended up in my room all of a sudden and she wanted me to bring her back home.
When I left for work today morning, I was worried if she could manage to be alone at home. I went to the office and the first thing I did was to ask permission to leave soon. 'Why is that all the superiors are unpleasant to deal with?'
"Depends upon how fast you finish up your job." is what he said with an irritated tone that morning. Maybe I was out of luck that day for Ritesh to take a day off that day to give me piles of work to finish.
For lunch, we had Channa bhatura with my teammate Raghav. Meena, who was a former teammate of Raghav joined us. I was a fresher that year. And Raghav and Meena were my seniors. Usually, I used to have lunch with my friends Manav and Neeraj, who went to the same university as me. The seniors took their own time chatting and gossiping about the officemates and I couldn't go back to work as for me, I had to wait for them as a courtesy.
I hated working in the afternoon, drowsiness conquered my senses for me to concentrate on my work. I decided to check on Sita. If she was lucky, Swara should be home. I called Swara. She said she was out shopping.
"By any chance, do you know what Sita is up to?"
"Are you worried about her?" I could hear her teasing smile over call, "She is with me, she is in the washroom. I can put her on call if you want to talk."
"No need. What about food?"
"Hey! I am not gonna starve her. I will feed her when we are hungry.", that was promising.
"I think I am gonna be late today, can you... If you are really free and okay with, accompany her till I come back?"
"Sure! Sure! Stop nagging me and go back to work. I won't leave her alone.", and she cut the call. I returned to the work that was waiting patiently for me.
I almost got my ligaments broken working at such a speed. It had a unique pleasure in finishing the day's work and go back home. It was just a bus stop away for me to reach home. Getting off the bus, I called Swara, "I'm got off the bus and am walking home. Where are you?"
"Are you already here? Then come to 'Heaven's cafe'."
I saw them relaxing with the cup of whatever drink they had ordered. I decided to stand there and wait for them, it was too crowded for me to scoop in. Swara got up after receiving a call and left. I rushed to get her, she said that Angad wanted to meet her urgently and sprinted off.
I still was standing in front of the cafe. 'Just what is that girl thinking? Can't she already come out?' I thought.
When the crowd left, she seemed to be searching for someone and that someone seemed to be the person behind her. They were talking about something. 'Wait! Why is she talking to a stranger?', I was frowning at them unconsciously.
Was I sulking? I worked so hard that day just to finish off the work and get back to her, thinking that she might feel out of place. But she was so busy becoming friends with Swara and some stranger guy. On the way back she just went on talking about shopping with Swara. All I wanted to know was about the guy.
I suggested getting dinner first and entered a shop. When I got a chance, I asked about the guy. She said that she was just apologizing for her mistake. And that guy asked her to meet the next day too.
"Are you going there tomorrow?" I asked.
"Why would I?", she mumbled with food stuffed in her mouth.