Beneath the Golden Chain (BtGC)

TROUBLES

On reaching home, I was restless. 'What is it, dear? You don't look good,' Mom asked. 'It's nothing serious. Assignments, homeworks, worksheets etc. are making me stressed,' I said. 'That's bad. You are tired even before starting,' she said with a laugh. 'Literally, I am tired, even before starting. But not regarding this,' I said. 'What do you mean? Is there anything that's worrying you?' she asked. 'Mom, it's Reyansh. He is simply irritating me,' I said. 'God! Don't be a crybaby. That's what you asked for, right? Why did you go there, if you don't like seeing his face?' she asked. 'Mom, are you picking on me?' I asked. 'I don't want to. But you ask for it,' she said. 'Mom....' I shouted. 'Gosh, be lower. The neighbours might get scared,' she said. She was surely trying to irritate me.

'Isn't it obvious that he likes you?' she asked me after a while. 'Who? Reyansh!?' I asked. 'Who else?' she asked back. 'Mom, no way. I am not at all his type,' I said. 'Analyzing the situation from what you said earlier, he surely likes you. Why else would he get jealous?' she asked. 'Mom, you say this, because you don't know him. He's a devil. Nobody knows what he's up to. He'll never like me. I am sure,' I said. 'Alright, if you say so. What about you then? Do you like him?' she asked. 'No way Mom. I'll never like that idiot,' I said. 'But once you did,' she said. 'He still makes fun of that. How dare he?' I said, and I saw her laughing. 'What Mom? Why are you laughing, when I am being serious?' I asked her. 'It's always fun to watch one in love,' she said. 'What nonsense Mom? Don't do this,' I said. 'What's happening here? Who is in love?' Dad came in to the scene. 'Dad, I think Mom is having an affair,' I said. 'Rad, shut up,' I heard him seriously getting mad. 'Gosh, I was just making a joke. Your voice scared me,' I told him. Mom was standing there, smiling from ear to ear. 'Don't ever make such jokes. It's really bad,' he said. Though it was such a small scolding and I knew I was wrong for saying like that, it really made me sad. I couldn't hold the tears running out from my eyes, but I tried to swallow it up. 'Rad, are you crying?' Mom asked. 'No way,' I said, and ran to my room. I felt so bad, that he took it seriously. I knew he was possessive and he loved his wife. But I was just making a joke. Anyways, he rarely scolded me, and every time he did that, I couldn't control my tears, just like this time.

I was already feeling down, and this made me go lower. I tried to sleep, but I couldn't. I saw someone coming to my room. I pushed the blanket, covering my face, as my eyes were all swollen from crying. 'Dear, did you sleep already? Dad's waiting for you to have dinner. Come, eat something first,' she said. I kept silent, as I was acting like I slept already. She switched on the light. That was the limit to my patience. 'Mom, what do you want? Please go away. Let me sleep,' I said. 'Aha, so you were pretending to be asleep?' she asked. 'So?' I asked her. 'So, join us for dinner. When did you become so troublesome? When I used to scold you, you scolded me back and that was the end. What has gotten into you today?' Dad asked. That was true. But all the time, I used to come back and cry in my room. Their part of the story ended when I finished talking back. But mine continued. 'I was not feeling okay, and then you scolded me. I couldn't hold on. Can you all leave? I hate to cry in front of someone,' I told them. 'It's okay to be weak at times. Don't pretend to be strong, if you can't hold on. Come, let me hug you,' he said, and hugged me tightly. Dear, be careful of your words. You may not know how it affects the other party. Also, I was not in a good mood today. I am having issues regarding some land deeds. And my mind was confused. I am sorry dear,' he said. I told him it was fine, and we three hugged altogether, cheering us.

Later, I came back to bed after dinner. Dad was having some issues with his business partners, and they were trying to find a way to sort out the issue. I let them discuss more, by leaving the table early.

I came out of the bathroom, and saw more than ten missed calls from Lakshmi and Ashna. 'Did something happen?' I thought. I called Ashna, and she asked me to add Lakshmi too. 'What did you do? Why did you do that?' they asked me in a shocking tone. 'What did I do? I just came out after a bath,' I said. 'Jeez. How funny! We are not talking about now. We are talking about this evening,' Ashna said. 'Come on, I don't get you. Stop the nonsense and talk about the matter,' I said. 'Girl, your video is #1 in our campus's page,' Lakshmi said. 'Oh my stars, what happened? What video is it?' I asked curiously. I'll share the link. See it yourself. It crossed lakhs of views and hundreds of comments already,' Ashna said. 'Gosh, you are scaring me. I'll get back to you after watching it,' I said and hung up the phone.

I clicked on the link. 'What really happened that day?' was the title. 'Which day?' I asked myself. I clicked on the play button with a deep breath. 'My God, this is insane. This is truly dumb,' I said angrily. I never thought those things I said had double meanings like this.

'Let me tell you something then. I never took it seriously, about what happened that day. It was just spur of the moment. Then only I realized that I was stupid to do like that,' that was what I said. But the comments are making me a bad girl. They all are assuming that something bad happened that day. And that stupid admin had tagged him in the post. 'Who is this Radhika?' people are confused. Thankfully, they did not tag me. Maybe they were confused about my username or second name, as there were so many people with the same name. I called my friends back. 'Who is the admin of this page?' I asked them. 'Well, nobody knows that. This page has been anonymous ever since it started. This page is a decade old. It has now become the most popular unofficial page of our campus, with support from so many pass outs and all. I guess, it's been transferred year after year to new students,' Ashna said. 'A page with this many followers. I guess, there will be a group behind this,' I said. 'That's for sure. But who shot this? Who else was there?' Lakshmi asked. 'I was too much into the conversation. But it was already late. I saw no one suspicious around with a camera,' I said. 'Consider the angle of the video, it is shot from somewhere up,' Ashna said. 'That's tricky. Karthik was there in their library and he called my name from there. But it was too high to capture the conversation,' I said. 'Karthik will never do that. Who in the world will try to create a rumour of the girl he likes?' Ashna said. 'Absolutely true. I agree,' Lakshmi joined her. We discussed every possible way.

'Considering the way the video was shot, maybe the person was standing in that open space, just a few metres above the ground. This place is usually crowded, because people come there often as a meeting point. That's more like the point of contact. But again, considering that it was already late, maybe there were not many people,' Ashna made an assumption. 'It makes sense. Because even if you looked up, you couldn't see anything other than the black glass. On the contrary, the people standing there can see the scene below clearly,' Lakshmi added. 'Really?' I asked. 'Yeah, I have been there once, waiting for my father. I took a picture of some people talking that day and then I saw a girl looking up. I was feeling terrible, thinking that they might think I was stalking them. But fortunately, she was just looking up, but couldn't see anything. When I went down later, I clarified it too,' she said.

'Gosh, the views are increasing tremendously,' I said. 'I myself have watched it a hundred times now,' Ashna said. 'Bloody fool. Why did you?' I asked her. 'If not, how can we find the loophole?' she asked. I asked her to record the screen, otherwise she'd be playing a crucial role in making me viral. 'Wait, I forgot to ask you something. How do you know each other? What really happened, back then?' Ashna asked. 'You too Brutus?' I asked. 'Why not. We are friends. I have to know,' she said. '#me too,' Lakshmi said. I told them everything from the beginning as they were so curious. 'He rejected you that time. But I think he likes you now. He is acting all cute in front of you,' Ashna said. 'If so, then he'll do something right?' Lakshmi asked. 'We can't conclude like that. He won't be doing anything if he's enjoying being in a rumour with her. There are people like that too. We can't assume what's going on inside a human's brain. It's the most unpredictable thing,' Ashna replied. We discussed a bit more, but the conversation was not going anywhere.

I couldn't sleep well. My inbox was flooding with messages. I dared not to open up, as I thought it might be either some paparazzi inside the campus or his fans. 'Why isn't he responding? Is he enjoying this? No matter what they assumed to happen, it involves us both. If he clarifies it was just a confession years ago, it will again make me look bad. But if he keeps quiet, it will make me look worse,' I tried to sort out my inner thoughts. I heard my phone ringing again, and I checked it with fear. But thankfully, it was Vaidehi. 'Two days, thirteen hours, forty two minutes, and some seconds I guess,' she started the conversation. 'Girl, it's me Rad. Did you accidentally dial me, hoping to reach any math teacher?' I asked confusingly. 'Oh no, I called you itself, my best friend. You didn't talk to me for the time I mentioned. Don't you miss me at all? Now that you got into a college and got new friends, you totally forgot me,' she said. 'Oh my Vaidehi, it's not the case. I think of you all the time,' I told her. 'Don't make excuses. I know everything. That apart, how's your college life?' she asked. 'Well, it's historical,' I said. 'That's' good too. Come on, start from the beginning,' she said. I was already tired with explanations. But still, I did it again for her. 'Whoa, I am shocked. Are you okay? Don't be sad, alright? My two shoulders are always free for you,' she said. 'Mine too,' I overheard Vihaan. 'This kid...' and they started again. Talking with her actually made me at ease. She was my absolute comfort zone. I was okay to reveal my weakest side in front of her.