Sitting inside his cabin, Ramit could see everything that was going on through the glass. They were definitely talking about the failed negotiation. Emma seemed to be blaming Geetha for his incompetence. In turn, Geetha said something. Of the people he knew, Geetha was the best at forcing people into making the weirdest faces. Looking at the expressions of the people standing around, it seemed she did it again. He leaned on his desk.

He sat up straight after 10 minutes. He thought she'd barge in but somehow everything was peaceful. He knew he had little control over his words when he was upset. He also did things without much thought.

He soon wrote out an email summarising the meeting and asked Veeru to explain it to them. He was in no mood to work on anything new.

When it was time for lunch, he spun his phone. Should he call her or text her? After spinning it around another 5 times, he decided to not do anything at all.

During the afternoon he did not see her around.

He hesitated at first but decided to ask. He walked up to Veeru's table, which was right outside his office. "Where is Geetha?"

"She left... right after..." Veeru did not know what to call the fiasco. A fight? An argument? He did not have to think much though, since Ramit nodded.

He left the office too. He called up Abhay, his friend. They met after his accident once, and that was just a week ago. The main agenda had been to help him think clearly. It was the same this time too.

Abhay was Ramit's go to person.

It was the same for Abhay. Ramit was the oldest friend he still kept close with.

It all started when they were in 2nd grade. Abhay had a mole over his lips. To say he was the most beautiful in the whole class would not be enough. He was taller than most and had a fair complexion. Everything added to his beauty. He was the perfect target for bullies and the object of jealousy for all the little girls united. It had been that way for a long time, starting from primary school until he hit puberty.

No one played with him and if he ever ate a cake someone would come over and call him a girl and laugh at him. If he stood up for himself, he was able to look down at his heavy bully, but being lean, he knew he would get beaten up. When he complained to the teacher, the bully and his friends would change the story. He was an innocent young boy, unable to fight with words.

It was during that time, when the fat guy stomped his lunch on the 3rd day in a row, that a guy ran over and pushed the bully off. The guy was just an inch shorter than him. He was lean, just like him. That afternoon, both of them ended up with bruises on their tender arms. The boy's interference angered the bullies and they turned violent, for the first time. Finally, while the two were sent to the infirmary, the teacher punished the bullies.

There they got to know each other. Ramit was in the same class but in a different section. Through the rest of his 2nd grade, isolation only worsened and the next year he asked his parent's to talk to the teacher to put him in the same section as Ramit.

Since then, they had been deskmates until they passed out of school. Of course the new classmates were not all welcoming to him, but they all liked Ramit, who would give any of them his notes at the first request. It did not take much time for things to change. Now that he had one friend, his natural outgoing self came to the forefront. As years rolled by, he became the one to introduce his new friends to Ramit. They had also become so talkative that after many complaints from other teachers, their class teacher decided to throw the two to a corner so that the rest of the class was undisturbed.

The teacher knew that making them sit apart would only have crumpled papers flying across the classroom. Throwing them out of the class was also not an option. While Ramit showed some guilt and took the punishment, Abhay would sneak their phones out of their bags while he shouted at them and would drag Ramit to some empty room in the building to play games. That boy was not notorious for nothing!

∼•∽

In the club, the membership fee to which was split between the two friends, Abhay ordered a plate of every variety of mutton and fish. They started speaking as they ate.

Ramit sighed and threw his head back as he slumped into the chair. "I became angry at her again."

"You want to apologise?" He also sighed.

"No." He looked at Abhay and shook his head. "She deserves it." She was so heartless to friendzone him. However, when he said that, he looked so down.

"Then why are you sad?" Because had he been a little more calm, he might not have been that harsh.

Nothing came out of Abhay's patient questions. He slapped Ramit's back and said, "Let's go to the pool."

Ramit's headache had not gone down yet, but he did not want to be a spoilsport. In fact, he badly wanted a change of mood.

Given the chill of December, there was hardly anyone in the pool. The sun was warm and the water cold. They swam across the pool.

In the middle, Abhay's phone rang.

"It's Deepa," he said, climbing out of the pool. Deepa was his fourth and current girlfriend. Ramit hoped Abhay would get married to her soon. They were only a month apart in age. How can their marriages be so far apart?

Ramit dunked in to swim across once again. Left to himself, his thoughts were jumbled, feelings messed up. He had little clarity on what he was doing. This was what he went through everyday. 

When he came up for air, a strong breeze blew over the surface. He was about to take a gulp of that air, but a small wave came his way. Water entered his nose and suffocated him. His headache heightened too. His mind was racing with thoughts of what seemed like a dejavu. No thought was consistent. He closed his eyes to regain focus, but they did not. Frustrated, he pulled the goggles away. Amid the struggle, he dived deeper into the pool. The water pushed him up as his muscles turned feeble and his heart weighed him down. The tears his eyes shed washed off in the water. The lack of oxygen took a toll on him as he lost consciousness and his lips parted.

∼•∽

"She called to say," Abhay started as he returned, but stopped soon. Finding Ramit nowhere, he turned to the showers. Then from the corner of his eye he spotted Ramit under the water.

"Come up. Come up. You didn't hide well." He jumped in. When he shook Ramit's hand, he felt no resistance at all. Fearing the worst, he pulled his friend out.

He pressed on Ramit's stomach a few times until he expelled some water. Then he did the CPR. After a few tries, Ramit sat up.

"You scared me!" He said, pointing his finger at Ramit's face. "How did you drown?" They both knew how to swim and they swam together every now and then. He looked around to see if could catch someone suspicious. Who wanted to take his baby's life? "Why are there no swimmers around today?" They should be stationed in case of any emergency.

Ramit lay back and rolled to one side and coughed. He said one sentence before he fell asleep. "My headache is getting worse."

Abhay dragged him to their room and placed him on the bed. Then he called the reception and lectured the woman who picked up the phone for a good half an hour about the missing swimmers. He did not hold back on profanities in the process.

Next he searched, 'Witch who trapped my baby' and dialled up. Ever since Ramit and Geetha dated for a week and broke up, he started calling Ramit baby. He could sing out his girlfriend's name but Ramit's name was not made to be dragged out. It sounded like a completely different word. So somehow, remembering the issue when Ramit was in the sad situation, he told him, "Don't worry. What if she doesn't like you? I'm there for you. I'll call you my baby." In return, he earned a kick to the butt, but did not give up on the endearing nickname.

∼•∽

He thought about everything that transpired that afternoon once again. How could someone who knew how to swim drown in a pool? He had no doubt. He called up the said witch.

The moment she picked up he said, "Ramit tried to commit suicide!"

Geetha was deep in her slumber when she received the call. When she slept she hoped she wouldn't feel as sad as she did when she woke up. But the call slumped her mood further.

"Abhay?" she checked if she recognised the voice right.

"He drowned himself just now."

Geetha paused for a while. "Are you serious? Is this a prank?"

"He really tried to kill himself just now."

After a few moments, she said, "Thanks. Is he fine?"

That smart witch knew he had saved Ramit, he thought. "He's sleeping."

"Where are you?"

"I'll send you the address."

"He doesn't want me around. He's upset because of me. Should I come?"

Abhay sighed. "Come over. I don't know what he was thinking but if he knows you didn't come even after you knew what he did, you'll not have the slightest chance with him. I heard you were trying all the weird things to be with him."

Geetha's smile was very faint. Weird things, huh? "There are no secrets between you two, are there? Thanks, I'll be there soon."

The call ended and Geetha went to wash her face. In the mirror, there were traces of tears on both of her cheeks. She had wanted to eat lunch with Ramit, but she left before and had a lonely meal outside. Then she reached home and cried a little, very little.

∼•∽

When she reached the club and went to their room, Abhay pointed to a door beside the sofa and told her that Ramit was still sleeping.

Geetha and Abhay sat facing each other. "What happened?" she asked.

"What else? He became so sad because of you, he decided to end everything!"

"Did he say that?"

Abhay rolled his eyes at her. "Does he have to say it out loud? I can see it!"

She nodded. "May I ask you for some help?"

He gave her a once over hearing the formal and respectful tone. He raised his eyebrows at her.

"When we spoke on the phone, you said I was doing weird things. What are the proper things I should do?"

He looked at her surprised. "Are you really serious about him?"

"Why? Did he tell you I'm playing around with him? I'm not. I am very serious."

"Then what's the problem? He'd be happy if that's true."

"He's avoiding me. He has not talked to me for ten days."

He rolled his eyes again. "Then let him be! He'll come around. Didn't he give you enough space all this time?" Ramit had told only him about all the problems in his personal life. He suggested a lot of times to look at other girls but what happened in return was their friendship was put on hold for a while.

Geetha frowned. Since when did Ramit need time away from her?

"Don't worry too much," he said. But it was really fascinating to see her worry over his friend after all this time. "When you came back to India, I wanted to visit but I was busy. We spoke on the phone though. He was serious about your divorce. That time he was sure you'd happily leave. But he was really sad. But then the last time we met, he said you were acting abnormal. He said after a while, you will become normal..." Abhay trailed off, recollecting a certain warning. "He told me not to tell anyone. He warned me very seriously," he said with a worried face. He hoped his baby would not get mad at him.

Looking at the concern coupled with shock for committing treason in his eyes, she laughed. "He said I was abnormal? How was I abnormal?"

"I don't remember what exactly he said, but that was what it meant."

This time Geetha rolled her eyes. No wonder she always thought Abhay was an idiot. If only he remembered a little clearly.

"That's all fine. Tell me what I should do."

"Can't you see the situation? First, stop making him sad."

Feeling she gained no important information from him, she gave up. She was a fool to think he would be of any help.

After a while Ramit came out of the bedroom freshly bathed. He heard the two voices when he woke up. He saw Geetha sitting on the sofa but shifted his eyes away from her.

Abhay went and hugged him. "You scared me. How did you even do that?"

"Do what?"

"Did you really want to die? Why? Because of me?" Geetha interrupted them.

Abhay had his mouth agape. "That's the first thing you want to know?"

Ramit held his forehead, covering his eyes in the process. "What are you talking about?" He felt his headache coming back.

Geetha sighed. She also didn't want to talk about anything in front of a third person. Since he was fine, and didn't like her to be around, she should leave. Moreover, who knew what the answer to her question could be. She did not want to face it.

"I can see he is fine. Here." Geetha handed a strip of tablets to Abhay. She bought them on the way there. He had a headache in the morning. "If he still has a headache, give him one."

Abhay took it. Ramit did say his head ached when he drowned. "Where are you going?"

"Home," she answered weekly before turning away from them. She badly needed some alone time to cope up with everything. She also did not want to face any of their problems.

∼•∽