“Is that all you have to say?” I was shocked to say the least. We didn’t miss any opportunity to gather information about St. Peters and here was Arpit telling me it was nice?
“Yeah, I am thinking of trying for some other colleges.” He said, shuffling his feet.
I’m not kidding, when he said that, my jaw dropped. Literally. Instinctively, I glared at Sneha.
“Let me guess, you’re trying for the same colleges Sneha is trying for?” I said, my voice filled with contempt.
A look of surprise passed over his face, “What if I am?”
“When did you become such an idiot!?” I couldn’t believe it. 3 days! That’s all it took. 3 days, to change all his dreams. Urrgggh! I could have killed her at that moment.
He bit his lip, “You’re not going to believe me if I say it’s got nothing to do with Sneha right?”
“Bullshit!”
“Then I’m not going to try. Look, I don’t have to justify to you but I happen to be interested in other things. Things that St. Peter’s doesn’t offer.” There was silence around us as I tried to digest what he was saying. After years of working towards it, suddenly Arpit was claiming he was never interested.
“I want to get into research.” He said slowly.
“Research??” I asked dumbly.
“Uh huh.”
“And what does Sneha want to do? Research as well?” I asked spitefully.
An awkward smile appeared on his face, “She said you would say that.”
“What? You gossip about me now?” I asked incredulously.
Arpit put up his hands, exasperated. “Gosh! Naina, I don’t know how to deal with you anymore. You get mad at every little thing! You know I don’t.”
“I just don’t know you anymore.” I said softly and walked away.
Was it Sneha? Me? Or Arpit? I couldn’t tell whom to blame. All I know was that before this Sneha episode we were happy. We had our differences, but never so serious that I thought about them afterwards.
I avoided Arpit like plague after that. I wasn’t ready to forgive him just yet. But I looked at him openly, willing him to see the hurt he had caused me. At least my look was making him miserable. Somehow, even though it sounds sadistic, it made me feel better. Misery certainly loves company.
I got on to the bus as usual, anticipating St. Peter’s arrival. I peeped out of the window as we approached the stop.
No Dhruv. I was puzzled, Dhruv should have been here. Not like we had planned to meet up, but he usually was at the stop by now. I kept an eye on the people getting in, cursing Dhruv under my breath for missing the bus. As the bus started moving away, I took one last glance at St. Peter’s gate, no sign of Dhruv. I had to now turn back completely to look at the gate.
In that split second I made an odd decision. I got off at St.Peter’s.
