Last update for this week probably. I have an exam on Friday, so I'll be back again after that!!

Meanwhile, vote, comment and enjoy!

I ended up texting Tuhin. And the first thing that bastard said when he called me up at half past midnight was :

"Is this about Yash?"

I sighed. "So you've already heard."

"Mhm. You've told him everything and he's currently freaking out and seeking Ishan's advice. That poor guy didn't even want to talk to his ex-crush but now here we are, thanks to you."

"We kissed."

"You- what?"

"Yash and I had just stated getting closer right before this. We first kissed a week ago."

"Oh well, this is bad." The way he said it, left a sour aftertaste in my mouth.

"Should I have not done it? Left him to find out by himself?"

"If it had been me, I would've been pissed off either way."

"You're not helping."

Shouldn't have approached him in the first place. All those assurances he had spouted when we had first butted heads over Ishan, were empty. They must have been only out of politeness. A simple strategy to win Ishan’s approval.

"Sorry, man. I'm really out of ideas here."

Fucker. "Me too. I don't know what I am supposed to do."

"Do you want advice or do you want to vent?"

"You're probably the best and worst person I should take advice from."

"True that."

"I just want him to see me for myself, Tuhin. I want him to understand that I'm trying. If we're doing this, I wanna do it right this time around. And for that, I need him to know everything and proceed with every caution that comes from that knowledge."

"It's not his responsibility to be cautious of your bullshit always. It's your responsibility to keep your bullshit under check."

"Can you stop with the reality checks already?" My bottom lip quivered.

I'm not crying on the phone with Tuhin, goddammit. Not again.

"Alright," he didn't speak for a while on the other end. "Do you have mutual friends? Judging by what Ishan said, Yash would probably not be interacting with you for a while. So the only way of communicating your good intentions is through your mutuals."

"Every relationship won't go the same way yours did, Tuhin. I don't know any classmates except him."

"Dude." He sigh was audible. "Just... how? You used to be the outgoing, jeering bully, talking that big mouth of yours... where are your social skills now? At least I had none of that!"

"The last thing I need to be is who I was two years ago."

"I know. Then I guess all you can do right now is to wait and give him time to process everything."

"I'm worried about him, Tuhin. How bad was his past with Ishan?"

"What do you mean?"

"How bad was the rejection? Was there a big argument? A fight, maybe?"

"What the fuck are you saying, Riyaaz?" I could tell Tuhin was getting agitated.

Did he not know anything at all?

He sighed loudly again and said in a calmer tone, "As far as I know, nothing of that sort. Yash didn't even get a chance to ask him out or anything. Tuhina told me that she had scared him away before he could get to that point."

"Oh, really?" I wanted to tell him about the painting. The painted face of Ishan burning with colours. "His creative outputs beg to differ. He is a brilliant artist, no doubt, but one of his paintings depict Ishan amidst some harmless flames."

"I- I uh..." Tuhin’s voice faltered. "I never suspected it would affect him so much."

I shrugged in spite of myself. "Well, you know us arty people, it might not mean the same to him what the immediate symbolism means to us. Or maybe he had some other ideal in mind, once he saw it turning out differently, he simply stuck to the painting since it was coming off pretty well."

I was worried about Yash. The painting didn’t look like it didn’t hold any meaning for him. If I remember correctly, he had seemed a lot more fidgety lately, like the toll of painting his emotions were getting him finally.

Maybe that's why he had kissed me and wanted to spend time with me. I was the rebound he tried to fall back upon.  Even before I unloaded all hell upon him, he had already been looking like he was going to be sick from the sheer exhaustion.

"Just tell me already that you don't believe that nonsense this time."

I chewed on my lower lip. I hated being the bearer of bad news. "I don't believe that. I think there was some altercation that affected Yash."

"Ishan hasn't told me anything about it except confirm whatever Tuhina had said about Yash back then. I'm in Delhi right now for a game, and I was actually with Ishan when Yash's messages came in. All the while Ishan didn't really mention anything new."

Well, shit. What have I done.

"It’s not like I don't trust Ishan," he was quick to add. "I just... should I be worried?"

How the tables have turned.

I sighed.

No, the tables haven’t turned, we’re both just stuck in the middle of an abandoned, grotesquely huge dining table whose ends were unfathomable.

"Welcome to my world."

"I just don't want him to hurt Ishan now because of this. As long as Yash vents without affecting Ishan."

"I wish I had the chance to let him know of your terms and conditions," I rolled my eyes.

Why was this becoming about Tuhin again?

Tuhin cleared his throat. "Have you spoken to Divya lately?"

"Yeah." He was definitely going to bring up my altercation with Nisha.

Finally. We’re back to the topic I like the most – let’s all talk about poor old me.

"She's still holding it together. Surprisingly, pretty well, although she has stopped coming to my place on Fridays. Zara misses her."

"I don't think she's doing so well. She's just putting up a front. Divya used to be head over heels about Nisha since even before they got to know each other. She was probably happily oblivious about the way Nisha was not into it anymore."

"She wasn't oblivious," I assured him. "She was aware of it. Divya knew Nisha was losing interest, but what none of us knew was my involvement in all this."

"Really losing my touch with everyone, ain't I?" I could recognize an all familiar sadness in his voice. Maybe... just maybe, we were not that different – he had just made better choices than I did.

"Divya, Tuhina, Afzal and Manish will never let you fall behind even if you tried hard. And you have that annoying senior Rakesh keeping y'all together real snug like a mama bear."

Tuhin hummed. "Heard you got an earful from him on new years'? Maybe he has begun to see you as another of his cubs," the brat had the audacity to snicker.

"Whatever, Tuhin. Shut up."

"Anyway, so what are you going to do about your thing with Yash?"

"I'm not sure I can just sit around watching him lose his shit over me. I don't know what I was expecting out of this, but I sure as hell don't want to be the one who caused him a meltdown." I took a deep breath and continued, "I'll apologise to him properly and probably see myself off entirely from his life."

"Stop running away, Riyaaz, that's -"

"There's just a tiny problem, you know," I interrupted him. "We have to sit together everyday for the first period, and I don't think we can avoid it. That is going to be awkward."

Have a good week ahead! See ya!!