Inquest (Completed)

Flashback

The bus accelerated with a jerk. Dhruv held on to the rod overhead for support. 'Does it matter to me whether Krupa is in a relationship right now?' he asked himself. He gazed out of the window. After some deep self-reflecting moments passed, he decided it shouldn't worry him. 'It's not like I'm going to confess to Krupa anyway...'  he decided. He felt relieved. He put on earphones and started listening to songs: shuffled. 'Roads Untravelled' by Linkin Park began to play first.

Almost half an hour later, he was running towards the first-platform of Thane-railway-station to catch a train to college. It was the last day they had lectures in college. Their Practical-exams were about to begin next week. Dhruv sat with Pritam for the lectures. "Jyotika and other girls aren't coming today", Pritam informed Dhruv. The teachers wished them luck and told them to study diligently:  they didn't have much time before their final-exams. Dhruv met a school friend while returning from college --the second school-friend he was meeting on the same day. It was Karthik, the guy who used to sing in school. The two exchanged greetings, followed by the queries regarding who's in touch with whom. Dhruv wasn't in touch with many classmates; he hesitated to reveal he was still in touch with Krupa, but he eventually did. Apparently Karthik wasn't in contact with her. Karthik was studying in  Kelkar college in Mulund. He was still in contact with some of their classmates. The two talked till they parted ways at Thane-railway-station: one going to the TMT Bus Stop, and other to the ST Bus Stop. Karthik had reminded Dhruv of school, and the consequent train-of-thought led to the event that took place after tenth-grade's final-exams. When Dhruv went home, he took his Diary from his hiding-place. He decided to record what had happened in school, he believed it to be the cause that made him lose trust in people, and in himself.

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[This is the actual description of what had happened, not what Dhruv wrote]

Krupa changed division from another class to Dhruv's --B division-- in the beginning of ninth-grade. The first significant event when the two spent some quality time together was during a school-monsoon-trek in the month of August. Dhruv was fascinated by her thoughts and perspective. They befriended each other on Facebook, but started chatting often only around the end of ninth-grade: during their school exhibitions. Dhruv had chosen to participate in Geography-Exhibition so that he could spend more time with Krupa. Slowly, Dhruv started to know her likes and dislikes, her interests and tastes. And he began sharing these things about her with his then trusted friend: Gaurav.

Gaurav and Dhruv were in the same class since sixth-grade. One fine day in ninth grade, Gaurav passed a comment on Krupa to Dhruv- "Krupa's surname is Patel, but she says she's not Gujarati by descent...", and Dhruv clarified, "That's because her paternal-grandfather's father is from Gujarat, but settled in Bengal long ago..." Dhruv was excited  to know something about Krupa. Gaurav asked Dhruv how he came to know about this, and Dhruv said she had told him when he had asked. Gaurav slowly figured out that Dhruv had a crush on Krupa, but he didn't tell Dhruv that he knew. He felt Dhruv was not Krupa's type, considering how shy Dhruv is. He slowly and subtly extracted all the information Dhruv knew about Krupa without making Dhruv realize what he was doing. Gaurav had also started liking Krupa.

Two months before their tenth-grade-final-exams, Gaurav confessed his feelings to Krupa without anyone else getting a clue, not even Dhruv. Krupa thought he was a good person, also taking into account the fact that Dhruv hung out with him a lot, so they might be of similar temper. She stressed that they don't start dating right away but first get to know each other better. Gaurav agreed. He knew a lot about her already but he didn't reveal his source, and Krupa thought he must have observed her for quite some time and thus noticed these things. They didn't reveal their relationship to anyone else.

The students met in January end for practising for certain performances for School-Farewell. Their class had a group performance: group-singing with accompanying guitar and piano-keyboard. Gaurav, Krupa and Dhruv weren't a part of this group, but came anyway. Many other classmates came too. This practice took place for three-four days after their Preliminary-exams. A final practice (which only the performing-group attended) would take place after their final exams.