When U Say Nothing At All, MN, Pt 7 Pg27 19Jun - Page 3

Mayank waited for the call, why the hell was Nupur not calling him back? Maybe Deodar sir had called her during the break? Or had she forgotten? She wouldn't forget would she? His best friend? Not just his best friend, something more, no much much more (to him!)

She was the girl he loved, the complete drama queen, the chatter box, the free spirit, he had probably fallen in love with her way before he realized, she did everything in a way he couldn't comprehend, Initially, he found it hard to even accept! She changed the way he looked at things. Though his maa often told him to enjoy life, he was too stubborn to do so, but Nupur had wrested her way into his heart unlocked it and thrown away the key. She made him dance in the rain and actually enjoy it, she made him look at life with all it varied colours, she brought out emotions from him, he thought dint exist. She had done all that fair and square, challenging him in academics, being wonderful in the competitions and by just being herself.

Nupur looked at her phone and realized with a jolt that she had wasted a precious 5 minutes of time to be spent talking to Mayank by simply dreaming about him. She dialed his number, he picked up before she could even hear her the favourite line of the song, ye dooriyaan - that was his caller tune, ofcourse she had forced him to put that song only for her and he had obliged, she thought happily. However the voice at the other end made her heart beat faster.

Quite un-necessary really, considering he was her best friend and when he was studying with her they used to spend a lot of time together without her heart acting erratic (except when he was in one of his charming modes, then God save me!). The distances had indeed done the trick, it had made the heart grow fonder. Now, she dint really feel that him being an akdu sadu was such a bad thing. Infact she missed it. He was, more often than not, nice to her on the phone. sigh, so unlike him yet so like him. They hardly fought too, that's bad actually, she missed their small fights, their own nhok jhoks that they enjoyed and couldn't live without. Samrat would often tease them saying they were showing their love that way, through their Nhok jhoks. What would that idiot know about love? She thought viciously - While he was so oblivious to his own love for Gunjan. Poor Gunji, she suffers a lot due to him. Wish I could do something about their story.

Oh wait a min, I need to talk to Mayank now. We talked and we talked and we talked. I bunked a class actually though I dint tell him explicitly (I'm sure the earlier Mayank "sadu" Sharma would've disapproved, but this was my sweetu Mayank (can't imagine the expression on his face,if I ever dared to call him that he he!) ). Thankfully he had lost track of time, I told you I had lost 5 mins of time, day dreaming about him, I just wanted to make up for lost time, umm by speaking for another 50 minutes. Though it just doesn't seem enough. Sigh.

How can it be enough? Just a few minutes of phone conversation with Nupur was just not happening, it was driving me insane. I needed to hear more of her vibrant chatter. To think I had hated her chatter once, what an awful waste of time, all those days I tried to shut her up. I even put cotton in my ears once. In front of her. I know, I can be very rude! Then again, she still talked to me, inspite of me being this rude insolent person. She would call me akdu, sadu (on my face!) but would never leave me and go because of that. That's why she is special. She took me head on, and here I was so totally in love that I feel (more than) a little lost without her.

Maa has rightly guessed I'm madly in love with Nupur, I dint agree with her ofcourse. How could I? Like she doesn't pull my leg enough about Nupur.hmmp! The very first time when I took Nupur to the beach to cheer her up, maa totally had a ball, pulling my leg saying it was a date. Now however, she feels a little sorry, after all she was the one who had lost her job due to recession and finally found a job in Banglore., because of which we had to move. Ofcourse I dint resent that, maa was the single most important factor in my life, but then I miss Nupur here. We had only one and a half years together. She joined mid first year and we had the entire second year to ourselves. By the final year second month, I had gotten myself a transfer. I can't ever forget the look on Nupur's face when she came to see me off, she came alone, she dint cry though, always the brave girl that she is, but she did look like she would burst into tears any moment. She held on until the bus had left even gave me a weak smile, I couldn't even manage that. Maa had hugged her and blessed her. I couldn't even hug her! We were only friends you know not the hug-hug kinds.damn.

She had cried 2 days straight after Mayank left. Though she held on until he left, the moment the bus had moved, the tears had started flowing. She had come home and shut herself up and cried. She dint know why she cried so much. In between the crying sessions and talking to Mayank over the phone, she had realized that she had fallen quite badly for her best friend. She dint tell him ofcourse, she dint tell anyone infact. She dint want Mayank to stop talking to her. Never ever.

She suddenly heard her name being mentioned, she peeped from behind the pillar to see Benji continuing his story telling session after the class. Uday Bhaiya was there too, he had added valuable bits in between taking large bites of his burger. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Their story (hers and Mayank's) wasn't so long was it? Or maybe it was, She eavesdropped their conversation, again.

So then Mayank and Nupur became good friends after the trip to Ahmedabad, then they dint fight much. Benji tried recollecting what happened next.

Benji, dude, don't you remember the play? Tam? Uday said.

Mam, Benji completed. Oh yeah, they did this play they played the main characters, so they spent a lot of time together and became really good friends. Then'umm they remained great friends I suppose, he finished lamely.

This time Nupur did roll her eyes, ok that was quite lame. Their story was far more interesting than that.