[HR] A Friend.

“Pruthvi still owes me so much money, this dude is shameless and a bloody liar.” One of my four flatmates spat.
I remained silent.
“He just starts lying his pants off. We all know he puts all his money in gambling. Doesn’t he owe you too? How can you tolerate him as a roommate?”

Truth be told, I didn’t really hate him. I rarely hate others. I can sort of understand others and why they would do what they do. I tried to suppress my smile and then frowned before saying,
“All that weed has gotten to his head dude, he owes me like a thousand rupees. He’s not the same anymore. You didn’t know but he was once just silently holding our cat from its neck while the cat whined… Shit gave me the creeps bro.”

“Holy shit for real? We should just kick him out man.”
We were done talking as both of our cigarettes were about to finish. I exited the balcony as I arrived at my room. I stood silently at my room’s door for a second as I slowly entered the room.
Pruthvi was lying on his bed scrolling through his phone. He looked at me:
“Hi bro.”
I just nodded and replied,
“What’s up?”

There was no talk after that for an hour or so as we were busy in ourselves. I muttered with slight irritation as I saw the air conditioner leaking water on the floor.
“Fucking AC is pissing again.” I commented. Pruthvi stared at the whirring machine as he added,
“We need to get it fixed man. Its gonna cost five hundred like last time.”
I paused for a second, looking at him from the corner of my eye,
“I heard you owe Shreesh a lot of money.”
He replied immediately with an air of hostility, “Who the fuck said that to you?”
I couldn’t help it as I smiled but made it look like a neutral smile, like I wasn’t making fun of him. A wincing kind of smile.
“The man himself.”
“That fucker, I already paid so much for him two days ago at KFC. Who’s gonna count that huh.”
I gave a meaningful pause,

“I know. I was there.”

 My words were calm against the turbulent emotional state of his. To me, Pruthvi was a mess, the truth is everyone was, but they hide their mess. They just sweep it under the rug but Pruthvi’s mess was out there in the open, open for everyone to see and comment on.

It seemed as if what I said affected him a little, it touched his hurt soul somewhere. Pruthvi got distracted as his phone rang, I could make out the name from the distance. His girlfriend. He answered in his local language which I barely understood as he spoke into his phone loudly. I made myself look busy as he started shouting in his phone and after five minutes of shouting he hung up. The abrupt silence felt weird. I felt him looking at me,

“I’m going out for a drink. Do you want to come?”
He said it casually, as if nothing was wrong. It was his way of showing control. His way of showing maturity.

 I knew how much he needed company right now. I deliberately hesitated. He noticed my unwillingness as he added,
“Its on me.”
“Deal.” I replied quickly at comedic timing. Pruthvi laughed. Sometimes showing pettiness can make others comfortable as I joined in the fragile merry moment.

We went downstairs as we approached his bike. He offered me his keys to drive as I obliged happily.

Pruthvi was three beers down as he sat silently in his thoughts. Humans felt so much better when they kept their mouth shut.
“Hey.” I asked with some tenderness, “Are you okay? You look like you are crying inside.”
I cringed inside, saying corny stuff really wasn’t my one of my favourite hobbies.

Pruthvi looked at me deeply as he shook his head and then looked down at the floor. His face was hidden but he couldn’t hide his tears from me. I could see it clear as day. I tried to observe his expressions, the minute changes in someone’s face who was at the breaking point.

“I really hate this place, this college and everything. I really wanna go back home. I hate the people here. I hate everything about this place.” He shivered. I remained silent just looking at him. I knew that sometimes people don’t need consolation. I was like a sponge, absorbing all the sadness that came out of him.
“I am… so alone.” He said at last as he started violently crying. He didn’t make much sound except for the occasional sobbing as his body screamed instead, crying for him.

It was a weird thing, seeing a grown man cry. It felt unnatural and something that was not supposed to be but existed. I gulped my beer, I never liked sipping it.

After Pruthvi was done crying and seemed to calm down I looked at him and smiled,

“Chin up, you’ll get through it. I know you can.” I didn’t really need to say much at this point, crying should’ve just made him vent everything out with new emotions to replace it. Pruthvi nodded. He looked at me and I could feel the gratefulness from him.
“You know what, fuck the five hundred you owed me. Consider it settled with this treat of yours.”

Ah shit, maybe this was not the right thing to say right now. It seemed like the beer had done a little work on me too.

“I need to visit my girlfriend right now.” He said with a resolute face.  I was taken aback for a second. This probably wasn’t a wise decision but I didn’t stop him. He suddenly realized something as he looked at me,

“How will you reach home though.”
“I’ll manage” I shook my head.

Outside the bar Pruthvi mounted his bike and nearly lost his balance. He couldn’t  handle his alcohol well. I stood there to see him off. I heard his engine roar as it came to life.
“Bye.”
He left without saying thank you. People rarely do when they actually mean it.
I looked around, the air was cool and fresh, perfect for a walk home. I did not hesitate as I left off for the half an hour walk to home.

Forty minutes later I entered my room as I looked at my cat sleeping peacefully, I smiled. Suddenly my door opened with such a force that both the cat and I jumped in surprise. Shreesh came in running,

“Bro what the fuck, get ready we are leaving right now.”
“What?” I was alarmed.
He looked at me incredulously, “The fuck, you don’t know? The whole flat knows. Pruthvi’s dad just called us five minutes ago.”
“Wait what happened?”

“Bro, Pruthvi met with a fucking accident on the highway. He was speeding like an idiot.”
“H-how is his condition?”
“Its not looking good bro he’s in the ICU.”
Oh my god, he’s most likely not gonna make it. The truth sank in.
“Hold on let me get ready quick.”
“Hurry up.”
I entered my washroom in a daze as I looked in the mirror. I stared at myself as I thought of Pruthvi and how we talked an hour ago. I exited the bathroom slowly as I noticed the cat already started sleeping again.

“You stupid fucking idiot.” I laughed.