Ch.10 – Hatred
“Did she say anything?” Kabir was getting impatient with the matter now.
Vishal shrugged his shoulders. “You think?” He was clearly drained.
“I am telling you , its her! Why are you so adamant on finding a person who doesn’t exist. Fiza was the one, she said it herself!” Kabir stood up, towering over Vishal who just took a seat at the table.
“She’s not foolish and nor is she so kind to accept her mistake so easily. I know its not her. She’s hiding whoever it is.”
“That’s still bad enough. She knows and we can get it out of her!” Kabir’s voice grew louder.
Vishal gave off a little laugh, “You are so worried about a girl who didn’t even exist for you until a few days back. It’s funny. And even funnier is that a year ago, it was you instead of Fiza.”
“Watch it now Vish.” Kabir hissed at him. He had touched a wound Kabir didn’t want to open. “You are my friend so I don’t want you lying on a hospital bed.”
“Okay okay. Sorry man. I was just trying to lighten up. Your secret mission is slowly killing my nerve cells.” Vishal smiled, waving his hands in defeat.
Kabir was still not convinced, standing rooted to the ground with a stern look. If his eyes had flames, Vishal would be turned to ashes by now. When Vishal saw his expression, he knew he had messed up. In a second he turned around, running off. But Kabir was too quick and before he could escape Kabir wrestled him to the ground. His hand snaked around the neck and held him in a firm head lock, all the while laughing at his friend.
“Now say, what’s funny?”
“Sorry sorry sorry!” Vishal reached for his arm to pull it off.
“Say it again. I can’t hear properly.” Kabir joked.
“OWW…You’re hurting me man. My neck’s gonna break. I swear my brother will kill you if anything happens to me.”
“I am not letting you die until I hear a loud sorry from your mouth.” Kabir smugly replied to his friend. Even Vishal had to giggle through his chokes at the joke. Both of them were on the red and orange tiled floor, wrestling each other as they normally did. That was the way boys showed love for each other. It was different, completely different from how girls are with their best friends. For Kabir and Vishal, their friendship was special.
As the boys playfully punch each other, the screen shifts to another hallway where Fiza can be seen walking down.
“Fiza!” She turned around to the sound of her name. In real she wanted to run away, but the familiarity of the voice stopped her.
“I don’t know where Faisal is.” Fiza said monotonously and turned back to leave. That’s what Siddharth always asked of her. Where Faisal was. He has never said more than that to her the past 1 year.
“Be careful Fiza.” This surprised her a bit and she moved back to face him. She wanted to say something but her voice was lost.
He continued, “I understand friendship, but obsession doesn’t end well. Just be cautious who you try to help. I am warning you because I don’t want you to suffer.” Sid’s face completely warmed up to her. She never thought he had the ability to be so gentle with someone.
“Don’t worry. I will be completely fine. No one can hurt me.” Fiza replied a bit strongly, feeling the confidence build back after all the accusations she had to face so far.
“You know we all just want you to be safe.” Don’t f**k it up. That’s what he meant by those words. He was warning her to be careful because she might not have anyone behind her back now. Those who were there for her before were now at each other’s throat after all.
“I will remember that captain.” She saluted him with a smile and left for the auditorium. This needs to be sorted.
Scene Shift: Auditorium
When Fiza opened the door all she saw was darkness. There was pin drop silence and absolutely no movement. Anyone would have better sense than to look in this room, but she knew him too well. He loved to be alone in the dark. Moreover, this was the place he usually sat at when he felt accomplished. He had once shared something with her, something he called his “future”.
“The reason I sit here and look at the stage is because I can see myself there in a few years. Up there all on my own as everyone gives me a standing ovation for my achievements. That’s what I aspire for. I want to prove that I am not a nobody. I will be the best student this university has ever seen. Then I don’t need to hear people’s insults about my name.”
“Ishu?” Fiza’s call echoed through the closed auditorium. She felt blind as she edged farther in the room calling her friend’s name. She couldn’t see anything in the kohl darkness.
“Ishu, are you there??” She called to him again.
“Fiza? What are you doing here?” She heard his voice but couldn’t figure out where he was because it was echoing through the whole room. She was unable to find a source and felt completely paralyzed as she held onto a seat and waited for him to come near.
A small light flashed on suddenly and she saw his face as he walked closer to her, his phone’s flashlight aimed at her. After holding her hand, he went to the back of the auditorium and put on the huge lights adorning the top of the room.
Fiza saw the trouble on his face but he was not saying anything.
“Just say you didn’t do that.” She pleaded him, praying to god that her suspicions were wrong. She didn’t know what she would do if he was responsible for all the posters and jokes made on Sumedh and Siddharth and Aliya. She didn’t care so much about the other girl, but her friends were important to her.
“I am sorry.” His body seemed to shrink down in guilt. “I didn’t think this would all come on you.”
A hard slap landed on Ishant’s face but he didn’t flinch a bit. He stood there slouching and looking at the girl who was about to cry.
“I am sorry! Please don’t cry Fiza, pleaseee…” He was about to hold her cheeks when she pushed him away and a tear dropped down. “Listen, calm down. I will tell everyone right now it was not your fault. That I was the one. Just don’t cry! You know I can’t see you like this.” He kept inching towards her and every time he held his hand out to touch her, she slapped it off.
“Are you crazy??!!? Do you even have an idea what would happen to you if anyone got to know it was you?? All the Underdogs are looking for whoever did this because she was a part of them! And whatever you put up about Aliya, you think Sid will stay quiet after all that?”
“Listen Fiza, I had a reason-”
“You are out of your f**king mind! There was absolutely no reason for this. Sid and Sumedh already hate each other. ”
“Fiza just listen once I-” Before he could complete, she took one big leap forward and held his shirt.
“Why the hell would you do that?” He was a bit relieved that she didn’t cry after that one lone tear that had stopped half his heart. But somewhere he knew her fiery glares were worse.
“I…I couldn’t stand him.” He said after a long pause. For a few seconds Fiza looked at him clueless. She had no idea what he was talking of so he said, “He was gone for good. But now he’s back. He’s back all safe and happy. I couldn’t stand him!” His voice got nastier.
Fiza was a bit shocked by his words. She knew he hated Sumedh and Siddharth, but to this extent, she wasn’t aware of. After all, he was always around her and she was around Sid, but he wasn’t ticked off by that.
“Do you hear yourself right now Ishant?” She queried.
“Yes. And I mean every word I say. I want him away from me, as far away from you as possible.”
“You know he had nothing to do with us. I am telling you, even if he hadn’t said that to me, you would still have become my friend. Just my friend and nothing more.” Fiza touched his cheeks gently, trying to calm him down.
“No! I became your friend because you felt bad. You felt bad about rejecting me. You made me your friend because you pity me!”
“I never pitied you!!” Fiza yelled at him, pulling back her hands. She couldn’t believe that Ishant saw their friendship only as an act of pity. “You are my best friend Ishu. I would die for you if I had to. I can’t see you in so much pain you know it. I care for you not because I feel bad about saying no, but because I know that you will always be a special one in my heart. I know I have said a numerous times that we can’t be together as a couple, but we can be best friends Ishu. Love isn’t only for lovers.” Fiza was trying her best to convince him to come out of his vengeance mode. She knew the trouble he could cause if he tried. Everyone had always warned her about that. Sumedh of all the people, was the first.
“I loved you. I really did. And I still do. I always will love only you Fiza.” He held her cheeks as he said that, coming closer. She felt insecure, she wanted to break away from him and leave. But that would definitely make it worse. “What Sumedh did was not right. He…he forced you to say no to me.” His eyes shined like tiny stars.
“You are wrong Ishu. He never said anything to me.” How many times had she tried to clear this misunderstanding.
“HE DID!” Ishant pulled away from her, spinning around sharply and hitting the seat nearby. “He told you, he told the whole school that I liked you and I was going to propose. He, along with Sid, mocked my whole proposal, making fun of me, my feelings, and my family. They insulted me saying I wasn’t worthy to be near you because I came from such a background. That they would get me arrested if I were anywhere around you. They let the whole world know that I belonged to a mob (mafia) family.” He turned to her.
“I don’t care what family you are. You are and will always be my best friend.” Fiza reassured him.
“I couldn’t choose the family I was born in Fiza. I was never given a choice. But I had the choice to love you and I did. But Siddharth and Sumedh ruined everything for us. They are responsible for all the security you have, for the distrust Faisal has for me. They are the ones responsible for all the ugly comments I received from this college and they will pay for it!”
“Ishant! Are you out of your mind?!! They cared for me and that’s why they did all that! They are good. I will never forgive myself if anything happened to them. Please don’t hurt them. Not Sumedh. Not Siddharth. Please.” Fiza was again at the verge of tears and that horrified him. He closed the gap between them and hugged her.
“Okay. I wouldn’t do anything to him.” He muttered to her. She eased a bit.
Right outside the auditorium doors, stood Siddharth, arms crossed at his chest, witnessing the whole revelation.
EL FIN!
Please do tell me how this chapter was guys. 🙂 Its mostly about the supporting cast because I wanted to show you the whole scenery. Hope you guys liked it. Its a bit long 😀
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-Ruch <3