chapter 40

Ruhan became a bit puzzled hearing Ira's words. He couldn't decide his feelings for her suddenly and felt that Ira was unnecessarily rude to him. He got up in anger and spent the rest of the day with frowns and agitation. A few days later he got a call from Aditya."Hey man what's up?""All good just called you up to check if you are still the same Ruhan or not.""What? Are you kidding who said that I've changed?""Your attitude perhaps."He laughed a bit."Was just asking if you are up for a hang out.""Oh yeah sure I'm up!""Shall we make it a couple date with Siya and Ira joining us?""Oh wow is Siya ready to join me? She was so angry on me about that Anshika thing.""Oh not anymore. Anshika is happy now so Siya is also good.""Oh that's good.""So are you bringing Ira as well? We have never met.""We actually broke up a while ago.""Why what happened?""She says I'm not giving time to her and all. These girls!""Why are you blaming her? We all know how much you neglected Anshika and now Ira.""What? Where is Anshika coming from in this conversation?""Ah nothing. Tell me if you're up with just both of us hanging out?""Oh yes I'm!""See you then.""Yeah."Ruhan disconnected the call and went through his projects. However he lacked concentration and got up and walked to and fro the balcony. He thought about Aditya's words. Was he the one to be blamed then? Why? He was only doing his work and it were the girls who were nagging for attention. How could it be his mistake then? The friends met in the evening and conversed over beer by the beach."It's been long we have been out and talked. Tell me how are you and how are your projects going?""I'm doing pretty good." Ruhan said sipping from his bottle."How about you and Siya?""We're good. She recently got her job as a microbiologist.""Oh that's great. I was thinking to look for another company. You know working as an intern in here is good but I was looking for better.""Ah, that's something to look for. We are still having placements and probably I'll be hearing soon from my interviews.""All the best for that."They spent long hours of conversation till it was night.They got up after a long session of old talks and new plans and about friends.The long conversation with Aditya helped freshen up Ruhan's mind and led him to introspect himself. The next week was important for Ruhan since he would be hearing the results of the company he had newly applied to. The week passed quite swiftly with him getting his job. However his happiness seemed little. He wanted to celebrate his success but he had no friends to call for. Aditya was out of station for his internship and he had no friends to share his success with. He realised that he had separated himself from everyone in his hustle of finding a job and setting up his own company.