He came again today to get his regular juice. The last time he visited the shop, he was upset that his favourite flavour had been out of stock for two days in a row. I sneaked from my spot to the refrigerator, there were many flavours but pomegranate was missing. I searched through the cartons and found one as soon as I arrived. I knew it was sly of me but I kept the hidden carton in the front, for him.
When I met him for the first time three months ago, I thought he was weird but he was so genuinely worried about me. He often asked me about my grades, he sounded like a boomer. And some days, he just dashed off in silence. He looked aloof and lost in his own thoughts as if the present was the place, where did not want to be in. He was not like me, but he had his worries within him. Sometimes it made me wonder what loneliness is.
He looked tired and so fed up that day too. As predicted, he walked right towards the juice he usually got. And to explain my satisfaction when he sighed in relief and smiled couldn't be contented with words. Somehow I heard about Ashmit and his past relationship with a girl from his year. It explained why he was so sullen all time. He thought that he did not show it in his face, but he did.
I returned to my seat when another customer walked in.
"Ash!!!"
When he heard the voice, he immediately hid his face from that person and tried to smile before facing him. 'Why is he still in such pain?', I asked myself this a lot of times. Was it loneliness? 'Is loneliness an absence of suffering that comes along with a companionship?'
"Risha!!", he was knocking at the table and his friend was standing beside him staring intensely at me.
"Ah! You must be his junior from the college, right?", his friend predicted right, so I just nodded. I was the same as when I first met Ashmit, speechless, although we had met several times in the shop. I had sought his help during my exam times, he was kind enough to stay at the shop to help with my studies while I ping-ponged between my part-time work and exam preparations.
"He's my roommate, Anand."
Once again I smiled without uttering a word. I watched him leave as his friend was poking at him, teasing. 'He must be smiling!' my mind spoke some weird thoughts to me.
And a sharp pain in my shoulder, killed me one another time reminding me to mind my own business. I fought back my tears but failed when I saw another carton left behind within my reach.