Rohit Ka Adda: The other Side ...

"What the heck!! Dude... Are you serious? ”, She asked me. I was shivering. I wasn’t able to maintain eye contact. I replied back, "Yes ...It’s true... I wanted to tell you before but... " . Before I could finish my words, she slapped me hard and started walking away ...

Me and Shruti were childhood friends and were very close. She was the only person with whom I would share everything, right from studies to relationships, from cricket to football. She was my best buddy.

Whenever I was dejected, sad or low, I would just call her up and talk to her for ages. That would just do wonders to my mood. Merely looking at her smiling face would end up all my miseries and worries. I never had any serious relationships and neither did she. We had promised that we would always be best friends and the friendship would last forever. But today I had broken the promise; I did tell her that I like her.

An hour passed by, I tried calling on her cell, but she didn’t respond. Initially I thought maybe she is angry for the moment and will eventually call back after some time, but now I had started fearing the worst. The caller ring was actually hitting me hard right where it mattered. "Why did I do it? I should have known that we would never be the same. Aargh”.I called her roommate and inquired about her whereabouts, "Hey Shalini, Rahil here ... yeah I am fine ... hey is Shruti Around ... ohh ok ok ... No nothing ... ya she was with me .. And just wanted to know if she has reached home... Ya her cell is not reachable... Do let me know when she reaches...ya thanks...bye ".

The beating of my heart pounded in my ears. I started cursing myself. "Where is she? How is she? Is she hurt? Why hasn’t she reached her place yet? Will she ever speak to me again? She stays at Bombay central and is hardly a 20 min taxi ride from Marine drive, then why hasn't she reached home yet?” lots of questions unanswered. . I decided to look out for her. I started running on the marine stretch searching for her but she was nowhere to be found. I tried calling her in between but no success. She was adamant as If she won’t answer even if I would have happened to be the last Person on planet earth! I sat there wondering and abusing myself, "what the heck have u done dood ... why ...! ".

The thoughts of informing the police started creeping in my mind. I took out my cell phone and before informing the police just to make sure that shruti has reached her place or not, I thought of calling her roommate Shalini again. As I was about to call Shalini, someone from behind whispered in a low controlled voice, ‘Rahil ...’

I looked back and it was Shruti standing in front of me. Her eyes were moist. I was relieved. I wanted to scold her for not picking up my call, but I couldn't do that... I started explaining...

"Shruti Listen... I am ...”

"No Rahil ... don't say anything. Please... I know you were worried about me, but there is something I wanted you to know before you could take any more decisions about you ... about me ... about us ..."

She now had tears rolling down her eyes... I was trying to be strong enough to hide my emotions, but I could not. Seeing her cry that way was killing me inside. I took a step towards her and tried holding her hands to make her comfortable but she moved away.

"Listen Rahil ... you are a very good guy ... in fact you are the best a girl would ever dream of having in her life…. "

I was looking down the whole time .I was still not able to maintain eye contact with her. She continued,

"But I am not the right girl for you Rahil ... I am not ... We were always friends Rahil and you were a very good friend... In fact you still are my good friend... I don't want to lose the friend in you. Please try and understand... I really don't want this to be another failed relationship!! .The mere thought of losing you sends me to blind panic!! I don’t want to lose you Rahil... I don’t want to lose you!! “Now she had started weeping.

All this time I was looking down, listening to what she was saying, but now I took out some courage and was looking straight at her eyes . She had tears tickling down her cheeks and her face. Her eyes were as beautiful as the night sky. At that moment at that very moment... I felt like letting her know How much I loved her, I Felt like letting her know how much I Cared for her ,I felt like letting her know that I want to spend the rest of my life with her .

I smiled. I took one step closer to her, held her hands tight and whispered in her ear...

"Best Friends Forever!” She smiled at me wiped her tears and gave me a hug and said...

"Thank you Rahil ... sorry for slapping you so hard ... Please forgive me you are the best ... You will get the best life partner and she would definitely be far better than me ".

“But She won’t be You Shruti ... She won’t be you “. I said in my mind, held back my tears & smiled.