The Intelligent Wish (Part 1+)

R.

He must have been a rather good poser, otherwise it is hard to comprehend how someone can change so quickly.

I have been, no I had been his friend for over a couple of years before he changed. In fact he was the first guy I could completely relate to in my college. We lived in adjoining rooms, had identical interests and basically were so alike it was hard for us not to become friends. He didn't give a damn about studies, so did I. We always talked about the goddman system and how we should escape it. We talked about larger than life ideas, personal rebellions, always the wish to do something new and not fall in to the trap of a 'routine.' There was one thing that he did not want was mediocrity.

He was a little weak in studies, and coupled with the fact that he did not take his academics seriously he faltered in his exams. He never failed but his grades were always low. And the stupid assholes of my class used to judge him at this value, they didn't see much beyond what he was academically, instead they saw him as a joker, an aimless idiot who they could laugh with when he was with them and laugh at when he wasn't. I hate people who do that.

I scored slightly better than him, but this never hindered our friendship. Not until...

I used to tell him about those who laughed behind his back, I knew it always broke his heart because he thought of everyone as his friend and he refused to believe in me, but he knew it was true. He said, "Give those guys a chance yaar, they are our classmates. They can't be as bad as they seem to be."

I said, "No you idiot, you don't realise. The other day I overheard A--- and B--- talking about you, and the only conclusion that one could draw from all their talk was that you were a Class A weirdo. Nothing more, nothing less."

He laughed and said, "Well maybe they are right, after all they are the toppers of the batch."

"Stop being such a simpleton! They are not right, they are just a bunch of losers!"

He would smile and say, "Then you are right, and this discussion is worthless, let's not waste time on it shall we?" And that would be the end of that.

I.

It was the middle of first year, and it was raining heavily that day. I was sitting with my friends S--- and S--- at the shed near the tea shop when he suddenly came running towards me all drenched and dripping and said that he wanted to talk to me, when I asked him what was it about he told me that he was in love with me.

As simple as that.

My friends were staring at me, everyone else at the teashop was staring at me, including the owner. I could literally feel my cheeks going red with shame, and all I remember asking him was why did he think that way. He said he didn't know why but he was sure of it, then he looked around and saw that everybody was staring at us.
Then as soon as he realised the situation he said 'Whoops!' or something and went running back into the rain with the same abruptness as he had come.
My friends started laughing, and soon they were joined by everyone else present, and all I could do was hang my head in shame. I felt I was the victim of some kind of a practical joke, but I wasn't the one laughing.

Later in the evening, I called him up, he sounded elated when he heard my voice, and the first thing the silly boy said was "So what is your answer?"
I felt so angry, I said, "My answer is this.." and I vented out all my frustration on him, calling him names, I asked him who did he think he was, I shouted at him for making a joke of me in front of everyone. I was met with silence in the reply. I asked him, "Don't you have anything to say for yourself?"
He said, "Look you are too angry to talk right now, so I'll call you later."

When my anger did subside, I realized that the whole morning situation indeed was funny, when the image of him running back into the rain came to my mind. I almost felt sorry for him.
After about half an hour I recieved an sms, 'i am too much of a coward to call you, i just want to make this clear that my intentions were never what you think, i guess i have hurt you enough, please forget the existence of _____ from your life, i will never bother you again'

I thought maybe I had overdone the shouting part when I had called him, so I called him again but he didnt pick up the phone. I called him several times but he didn't answer, so I sent him a message telling him that I might have shouted a bit too much on him, and that he shouldn't take things seriously so early in life. He replied asking for me to meet him, I agreed because I wanted to make him understand things from my point of view.

I guess I should not have agreed to meet him in the first place.