Phone Numbers

Kritvik Bhatt

“For some reason, I liked chatting with Jiya over texts. Both of us still vibed so much. And, that’s something I’d never thought was possible. Days went and nights passed as both of us continued to send texts to each other and share funny content on that site. Maybe, we were getting closer… again. But, in a new form. Damn, man, I didn’t even know if that was possible! This way… It told me that… that we were still around each other.”

‘So, give me your phone number,’ Her message came one day.

My thumbs then turned to the top line of numeric keys on the top and started typing a phone number.

My right thumb then clicked on the send button.

‘Okay!’

***

“Some days had passed since both of us had last chatted, for some reason. The Hindi exam was over, and only one exam was left—social science. And, the exam was just the next day. I had about a chapter or two left to revise.”

The sky had turned completely dark. It was around six in the evening, maybe. The street was silent and dark, with some scars standing on the edge of the street. It looked the usual, no doubt.

I was in front of my studying table, reading the text of the open book in front of me. The room was brightly lit up by the modern LEDs, and both of the doors were kept closed. I wore a fluffy mustard-colored jacket on top of my black pants as I glared at the book, religiously studying it.

“And… something happened that day… that truly…”

Ring!

The doorbell rang. I turned to my door, pushed my chair back, stood up, and walked to the door slowly. Clomp. Clomp. Clomp.

I then twisted the doorknob, opened the door, and stepped out into the dimly lit drawing room, which had just a single bulb turned on, for some reason. I walked from the doors to across the sofa and the television set slowly, my gaze fixed on the door.

I opened the entrance door of the house, and on the other side, in between the all-gray background, stood Aaryan, who was looking at me with his narrowed eyes, his hands crossed in front of his chest as he stood on the common area of the floor.

“Coming today?” He asked.

I smiled and shook my head slightly. “Man, I got my social studies’ half-yearly tomorrow.”

He frowned in doubt. “Half-yearly?”

“Yeah, man. Didn’t I tell you that my school postponed it because of some stuff?”

“Oh yeah.”

“Yeah, so I gotta study. I’ll come tomorrow, man—no doubt.”

“Okay, pal.” Aaryan nodded in agreement as he turned back and walked back toward the elevator.

I pulled the door closed, turned to my room, and started to walk back to my room. I walked across the sofa and the television set of the drawing room, turned to my room, pulled open the door, walked in, and closed the door behind my back. I walked back to my seat and seated myself, focusing on the book again.

Both my arms were on the two edges of the book as I read it. Beside my right arm was my black shining smartphone.

“And… what that incident did… was that it made me think… about…”

My phone started to buzz. Beeeep. Beeeep. Beeeep.

I turned my head from my book to my phone. Upon the white screen was an unsaved number. I picked up my phone, looked at the screen in my right hand, and thought, “Another guy from some coaching class, maybe.” So, I clicked on the red button on the left side of the screen. Keeping my phone down, I turned to my book again.

But, for some reason, just as I was about to move my hand away from it, it started to buzz again. I turned to my phone again.

It was from the same number.

I frowned as I moved it up again. Obviously, it was kinda suspicious that a coaching center receptionist would call the same number twice, especially after being cut off at once. This time, I decided to tap on the green button and move the phone to my right ear. “Hello?” I inquired.

“Hey, Kritvik!” A cheerful feminine voice replied from the other side. “Why did you cut my phone, bro?”

“Damn, man! Jiya!”

“Guessed it right!”

My face turned into a big smile and grin. I was shocked, excited, happy, and on cloud nine—all at once. I moved my left arm on my forehead. “Damn, man!”

“That voice… That was the voice that I was striving so much to hear.”

“Hey, cool kiddo from the big city! How’s life in Noida?!”

“AK…?”

“Yo, Kriti!”

“Aishwarya…”

“Hi, Kriti!”

“Madhav… Man…”

I gulped in. I opened my mouth. My mouth was filled with saliva, for some reason. And my eyes were filled with tears, man. I… was getting emotional, obviously, because of those guys.

“Guys, how are you all there?!”

“Stop about us, bro. We’re still living the same mundane life we used to.”

“Yeah, Kriti,” Madhav said. “Tell us about you. You must be living a roller-coaster of a life there, right?”

I shut my mouth and smiled. “Damn, man. You all know everything about me, huh?”

“Sure, this fatass knows everything,” AK came in. “Now, you bitchless baka, did you make new friends?”

“Yeah, man.”

“Any wahmen in the group?”

I chuckled out. “Yeah, man.”

“They hot?”

“Stop it, AK!” Jiya came in.

“Yeah, just step aside, you baka!” Aishwarya said.

“You baka! Go away, you fat bitch!”

“Shut up, or Imma kill you for sure!”

“Huuuunh?!” He sarcastically replied.

“Yeah, and then I’m gonna chop all of your…”

“Hey, the phone!”

“Bro! You two continue your fights, and let us talk to him!” Jiya stepped in.

“I don’t think it’s right to snatch your phone like that, Jiya. It might get damaged.”

“Doesn’t matter,” She replied to Madhav. “I’m gonna get a new one this Christmas anyway.”

“Haha.”

“Hey, wanna play football next?” Aditya asked in between.

“Nah, bro. I’m wearing sandals.”

“And I’m not in the mood to play something like football,” Aishwarya added.

“Come on, man! Why are girls so boring!”

“Shut up!” Aishwarya said again.

“Bros, stop it. I guess we can decide on that later.”

“Kritvik’s still on call, guys,” Madhav said.

“Yeah,” Jiya said. She then finally said to me, “Hello?”

My head was tilted down, my face filled with a slight smile. I thought, “Yeah, it was all an… illusion… All that stuff that… I will be able to maintain contact with these guys like I used to… All of that stuff was an illusion, huh? After all, I… I’m still not physically among them, and… I can’t be with them now. No doubt—never like this.”

“Hello?”

“H-Hello,” I said in a weaker voice.

“Hey, so, sorry for it, Kriti. They have gone mad today.”

“Yeah, I understand.”

“Yeah.”

After that, for some reason, there was a little silence between the two of us. A second passed, then another, then another, as I continued to glare down on the floor.

“I don’t belong here either now. At least, not over a phone call,” I thought. “For some reason, I wanna be there too. I… wanna relive those moments. I wanna talk stuff like that again, cracking dumb jokes and laughing over cringe stuff.”

“So, uhm… Wanna talk more to these guys?” She asked. “For real, they are gone nuts today, because they’ve met after such a long time.”

“Yeah, I understand. I gotta go too. I have an exam tomorrow.”

“Exam? Which exam, Kriti?”

“Social studies.”

“Huh? Social studies?”

“Yeah.”

“Yeah, bro, okay then.”

“Yeah…” I said as I turned downward to my book again, my phone still on my ear.

A second passed as I acted to study. Then another. Then another. Then another. Then another. Then another.

“Cut the call, bro,” She said.

“You do it,” I said in a weak voice.

“Uhm, are you fine?”

“Yeah, man. I’m just feeling sleepy now, for some reason.”

“That one minute… literally fucked me over. I don’t even know why. I… I felt like… I might be able to have fun. But, they were busy within themselves. And obviously, I wanted them to be happy. I wanted them to not worry about me, to… to continue living on, because I thought that… it was hard on them too. But, for some reason, they… forgot about me a little too quickly, maybe. They were living just fine, man. Damn, man. Damn. I wasn’t ready for that stuff. I… I wasn’t ready to believe that those guys were not even missing me, but were happy that they were together. Yeah, I wanted them not to miss me. But… I wanted them to… miss me too, for some reason. I don’t even know what the fuck I’m talking about now, man. But… I wanted that stuff to go a certain way. I wanted to be at the center of attention, and I wanted it to be some kind of an emotional reunion of some sort, maybe. I wanted it to go a certain way. I wanted it to go a certain way, and… it just didn’t.”

“I… wanna talk to you about something,” She suddenly said. The surrounding voices were now gone, maybe because she had moved to some different place away from others.

“Huh? What?” I asked, acting to be normal.

“Actually, I…” She paused.

“Some people misunderstand infatuation for true love… while some on the other side of the spectrum are not even able to understand what this strong feeling inside them is called,” I remembered my words.

“Some people misunderstand infatuation for true love… while some on the other side of the spectrum are not even able to understand what this strong feeling inside them is called.”

“I, uhm…” She continued. “I… I love you, Kriti.”

Sana’s… smiling face was… the first thing that came to my mind, for some reason.

“Please… be my boyfriend. For real.”

My head turned up frontward. My eyes were wide open.

Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! My heart punched my chest.

“I…”

“Please don’t say no, bro.”

“… I’m sorry.”

A pause again erupted between the two of us. A second passed. Then another. Then another.

Beep beep. Beep beep. She had cut the call.

As my back rested on the chair, my head continued to glare at the wall in front of me while my right hand moved down and kept the phone on the table, beside my book.

Ting! Ting! Ting!

I turned my head to my phone again, and looked at some messages popping up. I took up the phone again.

Jiya messaged, ‘Why, Kriti?’

‘Why?’

‘Why?’

‘Why?’

She kept on spamming a dozen more times.

‘Why?’

‘Why?’

‘Why?’

‘Why?’

‘Why?’

‘Why?’

‘Why?’

‘Why?’

‘Why?’

‘Why?’

‘Why?’

Then, I started to type with both my thumbs.

‘We… We live so far away from each other, man. How will we sustain this type of a relationship?’

‘We can! Just like AK does with all his relationships! All of his girlfriends are online! We can do that too!’

‘Yeah, we can.’

‘But…’

“I’m really sorry for this, Jiya. But… I have someone else in my heart now,” I thought. Suddenly, Sana’s face half-covered in her mask, her ear-studs, and her open long hair appeared in my mind.

‘Do you want a relationship like AK’s?’ I asked her.

‘…’

‘No.’

‘So why do you…?’ I messaged.

‘… I got it, Kriti,’ She messaged me.

‘Don’t think that… that I don’t like you or stuff like that, man. But…’

‘Okay, bro.’

“And… that was her last message. That was the last time we were messaging each other. That was the last time I ever talked to her… or to anyone back in Faridabad. And… it was painful, man. It was damn painful. And… what that incident did… was that it made me think… about… about human relationships. About how some people can move on easily, while some rare fucked-up individuals such as me obviously can’t. And… maybe that’s what made me different from others. And… what I learned was that… it’s crazy how some people misunderstand infatuation for true love, while some on the other side of the spectrum are not even able to understand what this strong feeling inside them is called.”