Kraant

Chapter 3

The ringing of the bell announced the end of the school day. Loud groans of relief filled the classroom as the students eagerly gathered their belongings and prepared to depart for the day.

Abhishek quickly shoved all his books in his bag and waited for Shubman to do the same who meticulously organized his belongings according to the schedule of the first and last periods.

"Aren't you eager to see your Ishan? Come on fast, fast." Abhishek dared. Mayank and Ishan had chosen different elective subjects because of which the group had to separate.

"Well, someone backed off their best friend duties today. So, why should I listen to you?" Shubman said, organizing his things in the same pace.

"You mean I should have supported your little criminal hunt like you did when I was convinced that Mayank was happy with Rohan." Till then, Shubman had finished his packing and both were walking towards the door.

"How was I supposed to know that Mayank was in an abusive relationship with Rohan? He acted perfectly fine with us. Even Ishan couldn't discern Mayank's lies." Shubman said.

"Yeah, but if I see the bastard troubling Mayank again, I am going to kill him." Abhishek threatened. "That was the part of my life where I learnt to not blindly support my friends."

"Ok, ok, Mr. Killer, but don't call me when you need to hide the body." Shubman playfully swatted at him.

Abhishek scoffed but said, "Worry about yourself when I tell Ishan that you called me your best friend."

"That's not fair." Shubman whined.

______________________________________

"It is." Mayank laughed.

"It is not." Ishan denied.

"It is."

"It is not."

"It is."

"It is not."

"It is not."

"It is."

"What did you just say?"

"......."

"What?"

"Forget it." Ishan grumbled making Mayank laugh out louder.

"Only on one condition, you have to tell Shubman about your feelings." Mayank stipulated.

"No way I am going to do that." Ishan said and started walking faster, leaving Mayank behind.

"Hey." Mayank jogged a bit to catch up with Ishan. "Come on, you have to do it sooner or later. You can't just keep it bottled up forever. How worse can it be?"

"The worst case scenario is Shubman getting disgusted by me which could potentially destroy our friendship and ruin this group." Ishan confessed, indicating that he must have given this a lot of thoughts.

"Alright, the likelihood of that happening is close to zero. Even if you consider the possibility of Shubman not liking you, which is highly unlikely, why would he be disgusted by you? Didn't he come out as bi last summer?" Mayank said, clearly tired of his friends mutually pining for each other.

"Won't you feel disgusted when you find out the friend with whom you had literally slept together on the same bed likes you?" Ishan questioned Mayank.

"Actually, I felt really happy when that happened," Mayank said, a smile spreading across his face as he reminisced about the time when Abhishek confessed, or more accurately, shouted his feelings to him.