Hues Of Dusk

Chapter 45. Worrywart

( 🚨 Long chapter ahead 🚨)

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1 week later

A lot of things had changed but it still felt like everything was same. My bus still came late and I still cursed the driver who shouldn't have gotten his driving licence in the first place. Even a kid could drive better than him.

The lectures were still boring and Mrs. Nair again won a gold medal in her stories. Shree was still on guard around me like I would attack him any minute.

Mehta sir was holding pop quizzes every alternative day while there was still no update on whether the hobby clubs would get back in function or not.

The college was same, the students and the teachers were also same.

Ved and Ayush still hated me and I still didn't know why. So, what had changed?

It was mine and Nikhil's friendship.

To others, it looked like a usual fight between friends, but they didn't know that he had refused to even look at me. He regretted not heeding to his best friend and the day, when he had asked me to be his friend.

He had no trouble getting back with Karthik who had ran away and left him on his own that day.

So why was I any different?

I tried talking to him even after he behaved like that because I knew he must be under a lot of pressure from his family and Coach. My help turned out to be explosive in his case and it did more damage than it did any good.

But fortunately, he was allowed to play basketball again. Ved had managed to convince his family and now, Nikhil was back on the team. I was grateful to Ved about that but I knew if I said anything about it to him, he would just make fun of me.

My family visited Avasthis' house when Lakshya bhaiyya was leaving to report back to his post. The matter was somewhat resolved and Nikhil was smiling throughout the day. He didn't smile at me though.

He hugged his brother when he left and consoled his weeping mother. He assured Lakshya that he wouldn't give him another chance to complain and would take care of their parents. Uncle was happy to know that his younger son was back to being his old self and he wouldn't have to worry about him anymore.

But I didn't fail to notice how Nikhil was struggling to fit in. He had realised his mistake but he seemed a bit off. Like, he was forcing himself to adjust and please everyone around him.

One wrong step, and everything would fall apart.

After dinner that day, I tried to talk to him when he was alone and he lashed out at me. He didn't raise his voice since it would have drawn attention towards us but he was still mad at me. He told me to stop troubling him and that he didn't want a friend who didn't know the boundaries of friendship.

He said a lot of harsh things and even confessed that now he wouldn't be able to achieve his dreams-dream of becoming a professional basketball player-all thanks to me. I was so shocked.

How was I responsible for it? Wasn't he the one who didn't have the guts to speak up to his parents about it?

Still, I didn't say anything and took his every blame without arguing back. He was trying so hard to push me away. And everyone else. He kept chanting Ved's name and how he was the one who made everything alright again.

If it wasn't for me, the issue wouldn't have gotten out of hand. Ved was going to handle it all but since I stuck my nose inbetween, he had to work extra hard to solve everything. I was of no help to Nikhil at all.