Chapter 15 - Stop Trying

                                    

                                          
Muskan knew it wasn't easy for that boy to accept such know-it-all words coming from a stranger. But they were already too far into the conversation for her to leave it abruptly. Before she could reply to him, they heard a loud screeching sound and a few screams from the main gate's direction.
They ran towards the noises only to find a scared Kartik standing in a corner with his hands on his chest. An older man, probably the driver of the vehicle that had screeched earlier, was shouting at him. Muskan dashed towards him. "Kartik! Are you okay?" She asked.
"Go die somewhere else. Not in front of my car." The man warned him for one last time and drove off.
Muskan looked at him and asked, "Just- What were you even doing? How did you- What happened here?" She panicked seeing the whole situation there. She turned to the boy to ask if he had water. He did.
Kartik drank water and calmed down after a few minutes of back pats from Muskan. "I was standing there looking at my phone. A girl walked past me. I thought it was you so I didn't look at her and started walking. I thought you were still walking beside me so I didn't bother checking the road before crossing. I didn't know when a car suddenly came towards me. Thank god it stopped on time and someone pulled me to the corner."
The boy was still standing behind them. As soon as he heard the mention of a girl, he frantically searched for her, hoping to see who it was. A girl was standing near the gate. She locked eyes with him for a split second and then hastily walked away. "It was her." He said.
Muskan and Kartik turned to him. "Huh?" Muskan questioned.
"The one who deliberately brought him to the road."
"Your girlfriend?"
"Ex-girlfriend. I'll go talk to her." He said, ready to confront her.
"Leave it," Muskan said, stopping him from taking another step. She extended her hand, asking for her papers back. "Don't do anything unnecessary that would ruin your relationship further. It would have been a coincidence." She held her papers as he clicked his tongue. He didn't want to extend the conversation so he turned to leave. "Also, it is indeed easy for me to throw out advice. I'm not in your shoes, after all. But that's all I can do as a second person. The only helpful person would be the first person. You, that is."
He spared her one last glance, pressed his lip and went on his way.
After he left, Muskan turned to Kartik. "I AM GOING TO BURN THAT GODDAMNED PHONE OF YOURS! YOU HEAR ME, MR KARTIK JHA?"
- X - X - X - X - X -
In the evening, Muskan opened the apartment's door to an exhausted Aashna. She smiled seeing her super busy friend who was too tired to return the smile. Aashna's eyes were nanometres away from closing. She would be passing out anytime soon.
"Go sleep, my night owl," Muskan said as she took Aashna's bag to carry it to her room.
Aashna sat on the sofa, taking off her socks. "Can't. I've got to be on a call in some time."
"There you go again." Muskan shook her head as if it was nothing new for Aashna to disregard her resting time.
Aashna sat on her study table with a hot cup of hauntingly bitter black coffee. She started scanning through her research document to be prepared before the video call. Muskan sat in Girisha's room to study.
When it was time, Aashna and Abhimanyu joined the call together.
"Hello! We're on time." She said, initiating the conversation.
"Hi. Hello," He replied, still adjusting his laptop. He kept looking at a particular point to his side, probably the door of his room. That's what Aashna guessed. He finally settled on his laptop and got up from his chair. "Just a minute, please." He said and went away to close the door.