The girl glared at Seenu and shouted, "Seeing a girl alone, do you think she is your property or something?!" Pointing a finger at him, she continued, "If I see you near my friend again, I'll beat you so hard that you'll see every woman as your sister and mother, do you understand?"
As she berated Seenu, people around us began to stop and stare, murmuring among themselves. Sensing that the situation was getting out of hand, I quickly intervened. Stepping between them, I raised my hands in a placating gesture. "Stop, stop! There's been a misunderstanding. Can we please talk like peaceful people?"
The girl turned her angry gaze towards me. "And who are you? You seem decent, so why are you helping people like him?"
"I'm his friend," I explained calmly. "I assure you, there's been a misunderstanding. My friend is not like that."
"Your friend?" she scoffed. "Tell him to stay away from my friend, or I—"
Before she could finish, I interrupted, "As I said, there's been a misunderstanding."
"There is no misunderstanding!" she snapped. "I've seen lots of people like you who think every girl is their property."
I took a deep breath, trying to keep my tone soothing. "Miss, can we talk like civil and peaceful people?"
As the girl was about to say something, we heard another voice, firm and authoritative. "What is going on here?"
We turned to see another girl walking towards us, her expression serious. As she approached, she repeated, "What is going on?"
"Now, who are you?" I asked, trying to gauge the situation.
She pulled out her ID and showed it to us. "I am SI Bellam Sridevi, Sub-Inspector. Now tell me what's going on. Your noise is disturbing the public."
Realizing she was a police officer, I started to explain, but the angry girl, Maha, cut me off. "I am Maha, officer," she said, pointing accusingly at Seenu. "And this man is harassing my friend Suman." Then, pointing at me, she added, "And this man is his friend."
Hearing this, I said, "What the... Do we look like creeps to you? Seenu didn't harass your friend or anything." Before I could finish, SI Sridevi grabbed my collar.
"So you and your friend are harassing girls, huh? Let's go to the police station, and I'll teach you how to treat a girl."
I looked at SI Sridevi and, a bit angrily, said, "Now, this is too much. First, you, officer, release my collar."
Hearing my angry tone, SI Sridevi quickly released me. I continued, "As I said, there is a misunderstanding. If you still don't want to understand that, then..."
Before I could finish, SI Sridevi interrupted, looking a bit angry and nervous. "Are you threatening me?"
I could sense she wasn't the most confident or experienced officer. Taking a deep breath, I decided to approach the situation differently.
I sighed, about to say something to SI Sridevi, when I heard a familiar voice call my name. "Krishna!"
I looked in the direction of the voice and saw Rajan running towards me. A smile spread across my face as he approached. Rajan reached me and hugged my leg tightly. I bent down, rubbing his hair affectionately.
"Rajan, what are you doing here?" I asked, amused. "And where is Balu?"
Rajan pointed in the direction of the ice cream stand. "He's over there."
I looked over and saw Balu approaching us with a smile. As he came closer, I extended my hand for a handshake. Balu grasped it firmly.
"Long time no see, bro. What's going on?" I asked.
"Nothing much, just the usual," Balu replied.
Before we could catch up further, the girl, Maha, interrupted, "Don't ignore me!" She turned to SI Sridevi and demanded, "Officer, arrest them!"
SI Sridevi looked conflicted, about to speak, when Balu interjected, "Hey, what's going on here?"
Maha pointed an accusatory finger at Seenu. "This man was harassing my friend." Balu frowned, looking between Maha, SI Sridevi, and us.
Seeing this, I said, "They think my friend Seenu here harassed Miss Maha's friend."
Balu laughed lightly and turned to SI Sridevi. "What?" He chuckled. "Sridevi, this must be a misunderstanding."
I nodded in agreement. "That's exactly what I've been trying to tell them." Then, turning to Balu, I asked, "But Balu, do you know her?"
Balu grinned. "Krishna, let me introduce you. She is Sridevi, my girlfriend."
I was taken aback, about to say something, when Sridevi interrupted angrily, "I am not your girlfriend!"
Hearing this, I looked at Balu, who shrugged and said, "Ignore her; she's always like that. But she is my girlfriend."
Turning to Sridevi, he continued, "Sridevi, I think this is really a misunderstanding. He is Krishna Prasad, CEO of Nirvana Enterprises, and this is Seenu, Director of Nirvana."
Sridevi's eyes widened in surprise, and she said nervously, "S-sir, I'm sorry. I didn't realize you were Mr. Krishna."
I sighed, waving it off. "It's nothing."
But Maha, clearly still upset, cut in, "Don't ignore me! You can't just walk away from this."
I turned to Maha, trying to stay calm. "Miss Maha, I assure you, Seenu had no intention of harassing anyone. We came here to meet some friends and enjoy our evening. I'm sorry for any misunderstanding."
Sridevi stepped forward, now more composed. "Maha, let's not escalate this further. It does seem like a misunderstanding."
Hearing this, Maha was about to say something, but before she could finish, a group of girls rushed over. One of them, who I guessed was Maha's friend Suman, exclaimed, "Maha, what the hell are you doing?" Looking at Seenu, she continued, "He's not the man. The t-shirt is the same, but the individual is different." Pointing to a man a little further away, she added, "That's the one."
As soon as they pointed at him, the man bolted. Maha, realizing her mistake, turned to Seenu in a hurry, "Sorry, sorry, I'm really sorry. Don't feel bad!" Then, they all ran after the real culprit.
Watching them disappear into the crowd, I let out a sigh. "When I was telling her it was a misunderstanding, she didn't get it, and now..." Sighing again, I turned to Seenu. "And Seenu, why didn't you say anything when I was trying to defend you?"
To my surprise, Seenu was smiling like an idiot. "Seenu, are you alright?"
He looked at me dreamily and said, "Krishna."
"Yes?"
"I'm in love," he declared.
"What the hell?" I exclaimed, utterly baffled.
-------------------
Currently we were seated in the bustling cafeteria inside the mall, surrounded by the lively chatter of shoppers. After the incident, we had met up with Anu, Ammu, and Raji, and decided to take a break here. Hearing what had just happened with Seenu, the girls couldn't stop laughing. Seenu rolled his eyes in exasperation.
"What's so funny about this?" he grumbled.
Ammu, still giggling, replied, "What's funny? Everything is funny! First, there was the misunderstanding and that slap, and now you're in love."
Seenu rolled his eyes again, clearly annoyed but unable to suppress a smile. Seeing the humor in the situation myself, I smiled too and turned to Balu, Rajan, and Sridevi.
"So, what are you doing here?" I asked, curious.
Balu shrugged nonchalantly. "Nothing major, just Rajan was feeling bored, so we decided to come here." Sridevi quickly added, "I'm here on patrol."
I nodded in acknowledgment and took a sip of my chocolate shake. Anu, who was sharing the shake with me because she couldn't finish the whole glass, was glancing at her phone with curiosity.
As I savored the creamy richness of the shake, Anu held out her phone and said, "By the way, Krishna, can you explain what this is?"
I looked at the screen and saw a reel of Aamukta and me playing. My brows furrowed in confusion. "What about it?"
Anu raised an eyebrow, still holding the phone out for me to see. "About what? What's the deal with this reel and why are you in it with her? You mentioned you were heading to a meeting, and you have an Instagram account we didn't know about?"
I sighed, realizing where this conversation was heading. "It's not like that. The reel was just a fun, spontaneous thing. I didn't expect it to blow up like this."
Raji, leaning in with interest, added, "Oh, so it's not like that? Then what's this? Your reel and hers are trending on Instagram under #Krishmukta and #Cutecouple. Why is that?"
I shook my head, trying to keep my voice steady. "I really don't know how it got to be trending. People create hashtags and trends out of anything these days. It's just a catchy name people are using. We're not a couple,for now we are just friends."
As I finished my explanation, I noticed that everyone, including Rajan, was looking at me with a mix of shock and confusion. It was clear they were processing the unexpected revelation. "What? Why are you all looking at me like that?" I asked, trying to deflect the growing tension.
Anu, clearly irritated, suddenly pinched my arm. I flinched and looked at her, bewildered. "Why the pinch?" I asked, rubbing my arm.
Her expression was a mix of annoyance and frustration. "You just said 'for now.' What do you mean, 'for now'?"
I tried to explain, "I mean, we're just friends at the moment, but we're going on a date tomorrow. If—"
Before I could finish, Ammu cut me off, her voice rising in irritation. "Don't say 'if'! How shameless are you, Krishna?"
I saw how upset she was and decided to lighten the mood. With a grin, I said, "Hey, it's not my fault that I'm this handsome."
Hearing this, Ammu and Anu both punched me. What should I do, Krishna? What should I do?
As I was lost in thought, trying to figure out how to handle the situation, I suddenly heard a voice cut through my reverie. 'It's not my fault, Bhaanje; it's your problem. Solve it yourself.'
Startled, I spun around, my heart racing as I searched for the source of the voice. My confusion must have been evident because Ammu glanced at me with a mix of concern and exasperation. "Krishna, what are you doing?" she asked, her voice tinged with worry.
I looked back at her, still grappling with the disorienting sense that someone had spoken to me from nowhere. "Didn't you hear someone call me Bhaanje?" I asked, my voice trembling slightly with bewilderment.
Ammu's voice cut through my confusion. "We didn't hear anything. Don't act stupid," she said, her tone firm but laced with concern.
I stood there, feeling a bit foolish. Maybe it was just my imagination running wild. Just as I was about to dismiss the whole thing, I heard a faint, mocking laugh—'hahaha'—echoing around me. It was so disorienting that I spun around again, desperately searching for the source of the sound.
Ammu's patience seemed to be wearing thin. "No one is calling you. Look at this watch, I buy this today" she said, holding up her wrist to show off her new accessory. "Isn't it beautiful?"
I forced my attention to the gleaming watch on her wrist. It was indeed stunning, but my mind felt foggy and unfocused. As I tried to ground myself in the present moment, I realized I might just be exhausted. My thoughts were becoming a tangled mess, and I was probably just seeing things that weren't really there.
"I must be more tired than I thought," I murmured to myself. "Maybe I need to get some rest."
(Word's Count:-1941)