Am always with you.....

Chapter 17

ZACH

I spent the next few days in dilemma and almost every night in unrest. I kept on apologizing to Yash, to the point he got agitated with my messages. He warned me that If I sent him one more message, it would affect our friendship. So, I stopped my apologies. I called him on Wednesday.

"Hello." He sounded distant.

"Hi. How's the day?"

"Get to the point. Like you always do."

"I wanted to ask something." No reply. I continued.

"Are you okay?"

"Will you stop this please? This is getting annoying. Might as well block your number now."

"Yash, I do care and worry about you."

"Yeah, I know. Your care has occupied me so much that now it is hurting me. Zach, do me a favour- stop calling, messaging or contacting me. I know you want to save our friendship, but this is not helping. Just give me some time, I promise I'll call you."

"Okay." And thus, I ended the call. Somewhere, I was now feeling that I lost a very good boyfriend. I decided to do something- if I wanted to apologize, I should it in a way Yash won't be able to refute.

He once wrote a poem for me, didn't he?

I sat down to write few lines. Soon, I wrote something after tearing up pages and erasing lots of my incompetent words-

You called me angel, I ended up being a devil stabbing you.

You called me silver lining, I ended up being a lightning striking you.

You called me innocent, I ended up being a sly fox fooling you.

You thanked the Lord, I ended up betraying both of you.

You think you owe me, but I owe an apology to you.

Now I say thank you- for having me in your life,

And now I say sorry- for hurting you.

It wasn't as great as his, but I tried to convey everything I felt. I sent him the poem as a message instead of posting it on IG. Of course, he didn't see the message. But I really hoped he would.

In the evening, he called me. I nervously picked up the call.

"Hi."

"I forgive you."

I skipped a heartbeat. I cautiously continued, "Thank you, Yash. And once again, sorry."

"Enough. I just wanted to tell you this." After a pause, "And also, I met Ben today- at the Momo shop."

"Why?"

"I actually went to grill him; but I saw how he is and what his feelings are for you. I saw why you like him."

"So, what do you think? Did he pass the test?"

"Well, he honestly apologized for ruining our date that day. It must have been hard to do so; when he actually has feelings for you. But his care for you made him do it. I probed him by bragging about our relationship, but he kept calm. I could see the jealousy and his efforts to avoid my probing. His feelings for you are evident here."

"When he went to place the order, I was watching him all the while. My attention was diverted to a nearby table, there was a young lady with her one year old child. The child was crying for a long time and she was trying her best to calm him. All the people around were agitated with the ruckus. She was somehow trying to finish her food when her child spilled it all on her. To add this, when she was rushing towards the washroom, her child suddenly vomited on the way. I felt bad for the lady and turned my attention back to the queue. But Ben was not in the queue. I wondered where he went when it was almost his turn. I then found he was rushing towards her. He called the waiter and asked for something. The lady tried to shoo him in her agitation, but he still asked her to calm down and helped her clean up the mess. He accompanied her to the washroom. I followed them and saw that Ben was pacifying the child while cleaning his face. The lady came out after cleaning her dress. She thanked Ben, while I rushed back to the table fuming with anger. Since the counter was far away and the shop was crowded, I decided to feign ignorance to the commotion. I was angry and jealous of him; I realized why you liked him. When you spoke about his kindness, I didn't take it to heart, but saw his uniqueness after witnessing this. When it comes to helping others, he really does things others hesitate to do. I was so pissed that I took out my phone to distract myself."