Muqeet's POV
The way his puffy eyes widened was answer enough to me, I had hit the nail right on the head. What I failed to understand was who on god's earth was he crying over, the man never seemed to be interested in any woman no matter how desperately she tried.
Who on earth had made him look like he'd died and his burial was forgotten?
"Mash, I was worried for a long time about something." I began in a grave voice.
"Is it your new workout routine?" He asked in a monotonous voice. As if that was the only thing I talked to him about.
Admittedly I actually was pretty devoted to my body's fitness and hence made it a point to have a good routine. And as such had to share vital information like that with my only friend.
"No not that." I said with some dignity and a lot of disappointment.
"Is it about a new woman that dropped what she was holding when you smiled and how you're afraid your handsomeness is a threat to mankind?" He raised a bored eyebrow.
I shook my head summoning all my patience "Not that either, though I admit it is quite concerning, you see-"
"Are you afraid you're gonna be fired because your manager snitched on you when you were once again playing Call of Duty at work?" He asked cutting my sentence.
"Wrong again. It's about someone else."
"Whoa!" He actually had the audacity to look taken aback "I think this is a miracle Yeet, you've managed to think about something other yourself for once. Now go ahead and tell me who that is."
"Mash, you know you have been my friend for years right?"
"Yes, naturally. I can't ignore it when you've been attached to my sleeve like an annoying puppy for the past decade."
"All this time I have been worried about you." I looked at him gravely.
"Me?" He exclaimed, placing a hand on his chest "I'm not sure if I'm hearing right, but I'm immensely honoured."
I wanted to strangle the his neck but i remembered that he was depressed right now so I patiently continued "I always wondered if you were gay by any chance since you always seemed to repel all advances that girls made towards you."
For a long minute silence reigned between us as he stared incredulously at me "You really think you're funny don't you, you git. There's nobody that interests me" looking at me he quickly added "and that's not because I don't like girls, it's because there's only a specific type of girl that can attract my attention."
His eyes seemed to dim, making me groan internally. I knew exactly what or rather who his type was, nobody seemed to live up to her in his eyes. It made my heart ache for him, if things went on the way they did, he would remain alone forever.
I plopped back down on the sofa, leaning back into the cushions I placed a hand on my eyes. I hated getting involved with any sort of woman for this very reason…well not really. But this was one of the reasons I had decided to stay away from every woman around me who wasn't my sister.
And even she was someone I liked to stay away from since she was the most irritating and annoying human being I had the misfortune to know.
I turned my head towards Altamash who had his legs tucked against his chest, the discarded blanket now around his shoulders, the frothy white foam settling on the moustache that he hadn't shaved due his bout of depression.
"I think I know what has happened to you."
His eyebrows lifted up on his forehead, swallowing his sip of coffee he looked at me with interest, "You do? Well do enlighten me what you have deduced then Watson."
The curious glint in his eyes made me sigh in relief, the sugar seemed to be working its magic, he was already recovering. His voice had also risen from its gravelly pit and gone back to the normal one that I was used to.
Giving him a smile worthy of Sherlock Holmes, I sat up straight, placing my elbows on my knees "You my friend are lovesick, I bet the remaining five bucks in my pockets that you are suffering from an ailment of the heart. Now I advise you to cough up whatever happened quickly because if you continue acting like a moody pansy I'm gonna head straight out of the door. Because I swear to god it's annoying to watch you mope like a heartbroken teenager."
My threat had the desired effect as he let out a long affected sigh and placed the empty cup of coffee on the table before sitting up straight "Yeah, you're right I'm sad because of being hurt in the heart." I gave him a triumphant grin, but he raised a finger indicating that he wasn't done yet "But, I don't think I could call it being lovesick since I don't believe I'm in love."
I raised an eyebrow at him sceptically, not believing for a second that he was sad just because of being hurt by a random person. The romance novels strewn across the table suggested that he had voraciously consumed them through the night, and he only did that when he was hit by his occasional bout of regret and wistfulness that happened when he started to remember the days when he had run away from home in a fit of rebelliousness.
"Alright I believe you, you ain't in love. Not in the slightest. Now quit being tardy and spill." I urged him to continue in my most I-don't-believe-you voice. His narrowed eyes suggested that he was completely aware of the doubt in my voice but it seemed as if he decided to ignore it.
He pulled his hands down his face before running them through his hair, the action seemed to bring a bit of the colour into his face that he had decided to freeze off through the night "I met her again yesterday."
I froze at the mention of 'her' again. Trying to think of all the hers that he had in his life and coming up with only one answer.
Picking up the discarded remote on the carpet, I turned the cursed air conditioner off and threw the remote towards Altamash who caught it before it could crash against the wall behind him.
"This her you're talking about is the same one that you keep talking about? The one with a scar across her eyebrow?" I asked cautious, trying to ascertain that I was thinking about the right person.
He nodded his head, making me chuckle as I flopped back into the cushions propping my feet on the coffee table in front of me.
"Well, this time it was absolutely by chance. It was like something written straight out of a romance novel. It was strange that I was so happy to see her considering that the last time we had a proper conversation like that was eight years ago."
"What I gather from this is that you are a dumbass who is reading too much into two chance encounters and weaving it into one of your unrealistic romance tales." I astutely observed, earning myself a glare from the surly man. I raised my hands in surrender showing him that I wasn't going to interrupt, urging him to continue.
He shook his head as if he were shooing away my words like they were annoying bugs "So yeah, one thing led to the other and I messed up…big time. She seemed to hate me, and man when she looked at me with disgust in her eyes, I wanted to combust right then and there."
Seeing the vulnerability in his eyes and his slumped shoulders made me feel a tinge of sympathy for him, I swallowed the witty retort that I had in mind and roughly patted his back.
"Don't worry Mash it surely can't be that bad. And I really don't think you're gonna meet that bird again anyway. It was a one in a million chance that you met her once again, just think of this one as closure and let it go."
I knew very well where having expectations led you to, and I didn't want to see him hurt. If only to prevent having to fuss around his depressed arse if something untoward happened.
He put his head in his hands and let out a loud pitiful groan that made me wince, why did it hurt ME to watch him hurt for something that I knew he was better off staying away from. I felt my hand involuntarily brush against the wrappers of the grape candy nestled in the pocket of my joggers, the slight rustling making me sigh.
"I am a man who prides himself in being practical and sensible." He laughed derisively as if making fun of himself "Look at me reading so much into just a couple encounters with a girl that I'd met when I was seventeen. I must be a fool, but Muqeet no matter how irrational it is, I have this force within me that wants to see her smile."
"Yeah I won't say you're the sharpest tool in the shed but it ain't dumb."
I felt the twinge of sympathy bloom into empathy as I felt understanding for what he felt wash over me, I knew better than anyone did how dumb it was to want the approval of someone who doesn't care about you in the least.