Inquest (Completed)

Prima facie

After Maths lecture, Dhruv went with the sir to keep the heavy R.D.Sharma books back in the staff-room. When they reached the room, turns out Satish Sir was searching for the books which Dhruv had taken thinking Mahesh Sir might teach from those. Dhruv had an apologetic expression on his face but couldn't say the words out loud. Satish Sir laughed. They said bye to him, he was still wearing the apologetic smile.

Next lecture was Physics, followed by Computer science. As soon as the Computer-science teacher stepped out of the classroom on the commencement of the recess-break, most of the students rushed out. Dhruv went to the washroom, washed his hands, returned to the classroom to see Pritam sitting near 'his sisters' in a different row. Dhruv usually sat for his lectures with Pritam, a guy taller than Dhruv but of similar complexion, on the second or third bench, because they both wanted to avoid the title of 'First-benchers'. There was also a group of girls which attended the lectures with similar diligence. And hence Pritam had somehow become a brotherly figure to them, but Dhruv had dodged it, or that's what he thought.

Dhruv quietly went and sat alone in his place, took out his tiffin-box and ate in silence. He couldn't help overhearing the narration to Pritam and couple of other girls- Sarita and Yashika. They were talking about something that had occurred on the same day outside college, to Jyotika, who didn't speak during this narration.

"We were standing outside the college gate," Lavanya began, "a boy, who looked like a senior whom Jyotika has never spoken to, came towards us and said he liked her, and even asked her out!?!" Pritam laughed scornfully. Dhruv was leaning sideways towards this group.

Kirti continued, "We just stood dumbstruck for a moment, but that boy's eyes were repeatedly glancing towards a group of boys standing at some distance, who were sniggering and staring at Jyotika. Evidently, this boy had been asked by them as a dare to ask her out.

"Jyotika had understood his intentions," the narration continued, "obviously she said no, and after the boy pressed for some time longer, we all ignored him, and he left, getting some yells of congratulation and thumps on his back from those boys."

Dhruv wondered why anyone would play a prank like this for something as trivial as a dare. He wondered whether something like this had ever happened with Krupa, not that he would ever ask her. Now that the narration had ended, the girls were eating their tiffin, sharing it with Pritam and he called Dhruv to come and sit near him. Dhruv hesitated, but concurred. The girls asked Dhruv why he had brought the wrong book during maths lecture. He couldn't reply. They always found his shyness cute: he was like a cute brother to all of them, but they didn't say it out loud. They shared their tiffin, Dhruv had brought chapati and potato curry.

After college, when Dhruv was heading out, he saw Pritam and Jyotika walking towards the station as well. Both of them didn't travel by train, so it was odd. Dhruv walked faster till he sneaked up on them. Jyotika was talking to Pritam about her boyfriend. When they noticed Dhruv, they laughed at him for sneaking up on them. The topic continued. Dhruv wondered how she could talk about something so personal so openly with someone she only met in college. He asked them why they were headed to the railway station, they explained that Jyotika had to go to a relatives's place at Mulund, and Pritam was simply accompanying her till the station. 'How noble of you, Pritam!' thought Dhruv.

___

They reached the ticket counter. Dhruv had bought a return ticket in the morning; he had decided not to make a train-pass after vacations, for he wouldn't attend lectures December onwards [the population in class was already dwindling, plus most of the teachers themselves suggested the students to stay home and study]. So Dhruv patiently waited for Jyotika to buy the ticket. Pritam bid farewell, telling Dhruv to do the rest of the 'accompaniment' just before leaving. Dhruv didn't get a chance to reply, not that he didn't want to accompany Jyotika, but he didn't know her that well, and obviously he felt shy towards girls.