"I don't know. They're all so cool. And well-dressed. And they're just so confident. Why would they be friends with me?"
"Oh, you made it sound like I have none of those qualities.",
"No, that's not true. You were just a bit more approachable.", I tried to cover up for the embarrassment.
"Relax! Now that we're friends, you can choose to be yourself with me. Is that okay?"
I nodded my head with the widest possible smile on my face.
"Can I ask you for an advice? Only if you promise that I won't be judged.", asked Sneha, nervously.
"Definitely. I promise I won't judge you.", I assured her, sounding excited to hear what she had to say.
"I have a boyfriend here in Delhi."
"Well, almost everyone is having a boyfriend. Why would I judge you for that?"
"And I have another one. In Bangalore."
"Oh", I pretended not to judge. "Aren't you monogamous? And do they both know?"
"No, I am. I am monogamous. But there's something that's preventing me from breaking up with them. See, the one here in Delhi is exactly the kind of guy my parents want me to marry. He is rich, good-looking, owns a house, well-settled. In short, he's perfect and someone I can have a great life with. But the one in Bangalore is the person I can't live without. He is neither rich, nor is the most good-looking person there is. But I love him. And I feel guilty to be cheating on the two of them. What am I supposed to do now?"
"You're seventeen. Don't you think you're too young to think about marriage and stuff like that? And it's stupid to pretend to be in love with someone only because of his money and good looks. Choose the second guy, for heaven's sake. You love him.", I said, clearly breaking the pact of staying non-judgemental.
"Relax, miss judgy! I'm not as materialistic as you think I am. I love the Bangalore guy but long distance relationships suck. And I can't break up with the Delhi guy because I don't want to live a lonely, loveless life here in Delhi."
"Oh, then break up with the long distance guy."
"I can't. I love him. My bus is here. I got to go. Bye bye, judgy!",
Sneha ran fast and boarded the moving bus like she had been doing it for years.
Sitting at the bus stop, I kept thinking about her tumultuous yet colourful love life. While a part of me wanted to bash her for cheating on both her boyfriends, there was another that felt envious of her for being loved by two guys at the same time. That day, while waiting at the bus stand, I thought that being loved isn't so bad after all. And that maybe I had been wrongly judging Aakanksha all this while for wanting to be loved.