His friends always tell him, “Be a little responsible, Saif! You’re old enough!.” He responses, “I’ll BE, when the time comes… it’s time to enjoy life!” He’s probably the most pampered person to his family and friends. Although being the eldest brother of his two other sisters, he has always received the love as the youngest gets. Everyone overlooks his flaws, all his wishes are fulfilled!
The joyous, full of life guy that he has always been, is becoming this lovesick puppy with all the love around. Everybody loves him! Except for one; the girl that he likes in his class. They were really great friends until he expressed his love to her. May be his love for her was just utter immaturity, but he took it as one great failure of his life.
He didn’t become alcoholic, neither behaved like a loser, but still that rejection was itching inside him. She cared for him, she held his hands whenever he needed her beside, she even responded positively when he indirectly hinted to those signs of his love for her. Then how come she denies at the end? Did she feel NOTHING? Or denial was just a survival act?
Like those chauvinistic males, he tells his friends, “Who? That bitch? I don’t give a damn to her now. See, how she manipulates those other guys around her; holding hands, faking to be so C-A-R-I-N-G! I’m sure she’s just using them. They might be dreaming if she’s interested in them. They don’t know yet that she is actually toying with them to see how high they get, to enjoy the scene of how far they fall!”
Saif knows, such dysphemistic comments won’t make his close friends believe that he has got over her, but still he tries his best to show that he’s cool with it and looking forward to some new relationships. Nevertheless, he and his close friends, they all wonder, despite knowing her inauspicious intentions of playing with others’ emotions, why can’t Saif get over her?
The girl and Saif don’t talk to each other in the class. But they sometimes indirectly nudge each other to see their reactions. Neither of them knows the reason why! May be he tries to see if there is any impact on her, and she wants to check if he falls prey to her again!
With the current tit-for-tat game, he’s going out with many other girls at the same time. As if hurting him, she has taught him the art of hunting too. He thinks, “It’s really overwhelming to see someone falling for you. And it’s more fun seeing the person getting higher and higher, and then falling far from the top, JUST FOR YOU!” With a quirk smile, he tells himself, “I think I’m learning how to put myself in her shoes”.
He stopped giving any attentions to her, quite willingly. Though, he’s not serious about the other relationships he is having, he tries to focus more on them rather than concentrating on the vain addiction he had. But after few days, all seemed to be back! He found so many missed calls of her in his cell phone, with a sms saying, “Please meet me behind the canteen tomorrow. I need to talk to you, PLEASE.”
There was a time when he used to feel for her, honestly. Will all those come alive? He asks himself in a tensed manner. He tried so hard to get over with these. But why did she has to come back when he was almost ready to get her out of his mind? He thinks, “Whom am I fooling? This is all that I ever wanted! She’s coming back to me! Tomorrow she’ll be mine!”
Barely keeping inside all the exhilarations, he met her the next day. She was waiting for him at the previously decided place. Without delaying further, she told him, “I don’t love you, Saif, and I can’t love you. But can we just be friends? Just like before?”
He was numb for a while. Suddenly everything became clear to him. All his excitements just have been replaced with some kind of self-elucidation. He didn’t need to prepare himself to say the last few words to her. “You’ve always been that selfish bitch. But it’s only NOW that I realized it! And you know what? Finally, I’m feeling that I GOT OVER YOU! It’s over baby. Goodbye and go to hell!”
He leaves without looking back. He’s glad, REALLY glad. And yes, the lovesick puppy inside him seems to have grown up too!
To Shravan,