Different

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“Anything else Sir?” The waiter asked

“Sir??” He stood there for a while confused, looking at my unresponsive lips. Cluster of thoughts were circling inside my mind. The half sipped coffee in front of me was losing its charm and warmth.

“No. I.. I’m good” I shoeed him away, I couldn’t believe on my eyes. She was sitting right in front of me. Hardly, fifty meters away from my table.

I still remember the day how it all started? When she came into my notice. She was thrashing a guy. Yes, she was actually throwing punches and hurling abuses on a guy who happened to be a senior of ours. It was quite a show and because she wasn’t friends with anyone. So, nobody intervened and neither did I. Finally a female professor settled it and ended the commotion. Our whole batch, including me was amazed when we saw that. She was well known for not talking to anyone, not even in at lunches. Pretty much reserved in her earphones and books most of the time.

I tried to get in touch with her on social media. Unfortunately she was a reserved person there too. Hardly any friends there, No status updates, No check-ins or pictures. In fact, one look at her profile and anyone can tell she hadn’t been online since months.

She had just one picture of her as profile picture and nothing personal was ever posted. Even her Instagram bio was selectively answered.

I wanted to talk to her, if for nothing, just to get inside the mind of most private person I had ever seen.

“Hi” I said.

“Hey” She replied instantly while drawing something on her notebook, without even looking at me.

“I’m V..”

“I know who you are” She said without even letting me ask.

“How?”

“Attendance. Duh” She finally gave me a look. A what-are-you-retard look.

“So why did you beat that guy the other day?” I asked

“Are you his friend by any chance” Her expressions changed as she rose from her desk.

“No. No I’m not.. Please sit” I clarified quickly scared from the wrath I’ve seen in her.

She smiled at me for the first time, may be, because of my scared version or my desperate attempts of talking to her. She sat down and moved a bit to make space for me to sit.

“Thanks” I sat down next to her. “I was just asking like that”

“He was intentionally parking his bike in front of my scooty everyday. I warned him several times”

“And?” I was expecting more of it

“Yesterday I deflated his bike tires. So he came here to threaten me and rest you must’ve saw” She replied in a real casual way.

“You broke his jaw because of a parking space!?” I was baffled

“Not Jaw. Just two Premolars” She winked at me and I helplessly smiled back.

“Why you aren’t active on social media?”

“Firstly because I do not like socializing and secondly I can’t pollute my moments for the sake of taking pictures and posting it for the people I hardly know.” She Paused “And you hadn’t been here if I would be active there. Right?”

She did catch me offgaurd. “Maybe... Yeah” I fumbled

“You should get back to your desk now” She said signaling me to look back.

Almost half of our classroom strength were staring at us. I couldn’t blame them. She was an alien to them. A weird girl with Black nail paint, Loose Tees and Jeans, and one same pair of sneakers everyday, who doesn’t talk to anybody, was talking to a guy. This was something to watch.

That day after, everything changed. We start hanging out together; we let the people think what they wanted to. After all, I knew they would never understand what she is? She was intriguing but non expressive, She was fragile but too hard to show. We had hold hands, hugged each other, been to movies together, shared dirty jokes and tear stained laughs. even spent hours behind closed doors. But never ever a thought of any relationship came across.

Relationships are like a bag full of gifts. The moment we get it we are excited to open it. But after we find out what the gifts are, the excitement fades.

I always knew we can never be together. She wasn’t a girl whom you can name as your “baby” or “love”, she was someone you name a hurricane after.

She was a companion but a weird one.

We spent three years together. But neither as friends nor as any couple. She told me so many weird stories about her past and relationships that I couldn’t understand which one to believe.

Not only her stories but everything she did was weird too.

She would hold a bunch of her hair and then separate each single strand and count them.

She would dip her finger in steaming hot tea and not scream.

She would hold ice cubes on her palms until they melted and not flinch.

She walked barefoot on the glass pieces.

She would scratch the tip of the compass on her forearm and make patterns.

She would sit in the balcony for hours without uttering a thing.

She danced on the busy streets and sang farewell songs to the stars at 4 in the morning.

She always used to say that nobody can ever know her completely.

We were in touch till the last day of our college. She hugged me for some good 15 seconds at our last meeting. She vacated the Hostel and moved out of the city that very night. It was unexpected but I wasn’t amazed as she was like that only – unpredictable. She must’ve planned it before.

It’s been seven years now. And here she is, sitting in front of me, wrapped in a peacock green sari, spoon feeding a three-year-old kid with a man holding it on his lap. She is laughing, looks amazingly beautiful with that little makeup and tinkling bangles.

We made eye contact. Her eyes twinkled and I can see the same feeling of reminiscence on her face which I had a few minutes ago. She smiled and looked away.

I too shifted my gaze at my coffee. Gulped it down and walked out of there. As I walk near to my car I recalled her words clearly – Nobody can know me completely. It was the utmost truth. Nobody can. Neither me nor the kid she was feeding or the man she was married to.

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