Seventeen

Chapter 3

(Arjun's)

Jiggy and Farhan ran off to the playground when we reached the apartment, and it turned out that Suhana and I had to take the elevator on our own.

"Had so much fun after so many days..." Suhana was saying.

But I was not in the mood to laugh with her.

"Right?" She asked.

"Don't you think you went a bit too far?" I had finally snapped.

"What?" She asked, looking clueless.

"What else? The prawns' case. You already knew that Adithi does not eat it, and yet you had to order that...That too, two times. Don't you think you are a bit too selfish?"

"Selfish?" Suhana asked, "Me?"

Ah... Irritating, seriously. She does not even get that she is being selfish.

When I was younger I really did not know and did not have enough wisdom or knowledge to figure out what is inside this beautiful angel, and really did like her. But I am not 8 or 12 anymore. And I can see... and feel... that Suhana was more than her beautiful face.

Ishan, Farhan and Jiggy were too blinded in the love for her to notice. But I can see... The Suhana was not an angel or something... She can be mean and selfish sometimes. And I really do feel sorry for Adithi sometimes.

"Do you really think I am selfish?" Suhana asked me as if she still can't believe that I called her that. Because well yeah, two or three years back, I would not have. And still, the other three boys would not have said that. Even if they might have felt that they surely would NOT have said that. The worst thing is not the fact that Suhana was being selfish or being mean to Adithi, it was the fact that none of the boys talked back to her about that. Not even one of us will ever yell that this girl for anything she does...

Back there in the restaurant, see how Ishan kept silent. He is supposed to be Adithi's best friend... And then...he did not speak up. You know why...because no matter how much he cares about Adithi, he won't dare speak against Suhana and make her sad. That's the power Suhana held against the boys...

And I was included inside that power circle... But no, not anymore.

I want to grow up. I could see her mistakes... I did not just want to ignore it and pamper her... Not anymore.

"Are you not?" I asked her.

She seemed to consider that for a second... I expected her to deny it. With her princess syndrome, she might deny the accusation.

"Yeah, okay... I am. I could be." She said. "So?"

"So?" I asked.

"Yeah... There is no rule that everyone should be nice and caring. And no human can be perfect." She said.

The elevator door opened on our floor. But we did not step outside.

"Ah...people should see what miss angel's real face is like," I said. Okay...now I was in inner conflict with my older self who used to have a crush on Suhana. That older self was cursing me and hitting me for being this rude to Suhana.

"In the first place, it was you boys who put me up in the angel place, right? Did I ask you all to like me or treat me like a princess...? I just wanted to be normal friends with you. And I never claimed to be an angel - or a nice person. Okay. I am just a human. A mere human. But..."

Her words were making sense weirdly...

I saw that Suhana's eyes were a bit wet...

"I know I am not exactly such a nice person. And I don't claim to be okay... But...I don't think I need to get criticized for that. Especially by you guys. Because it's you guys who idolized me and want me to be a perfect person... I am not. I just am not. So what? What's the big deal?"