Madhav and I met right after college, we were both interning together at a big company for two months. So of course, we were running together fetching coffee for our bosses and sitting in meetings where we weren’t required. It was mostly a paid vacation of sorts where you had to perform all the menial jobs. Even then, we thoroughly enjoyed every bit of it. And eventually, figured we wanted to date each other.
The thing with meeting Madhav after college was that none of my friends knew him. In between the job and him, I hardly ever had time to talk to them about him. When I did I was full of praises and they were full of suspicion. Even after we started dating, Madhav and I hardly had time to meet each other, so he just never ended up meeting any of my friends.
It was when my college mates decided that I either had to come to one of the upcoming birthday parties or be banned from the group altogether that I decided it would be an ideal time for everyone to meet Madhav. So we ended up at the party, posing as the perfect couple. Sniggering every time someone asked us ‘So how did you two meet?’ and starting with the story again.
I am extremely proud of my OOTN that night and you should check it out. I paired this Spring Break sequin dress (Rs 2,499) with these simple heeled sandals from My Foot Couture. (Rs 1,699)
At that party, I met Shivangi. We hadn’t been great friends but we were part of the same group in college. We chatted for a while before she asked me who that guy was, pointing towards Madhav. “Oh, that’s my boyfriend. Madhav.” I smiled at her “Really? Aw, congrats you! You finally found someone!” As soon as she said that I remembered why I didn’t like her in the first place. I smiled and tried to make some small talk about her life in general.
Then we moved on to different people. I was talking to another friend when she pointed out that Shivangi was talking to Madhav with her hand on his arm. I laughed and told her how silly of her to think it meant something. Nevertheless, I turned and saw the crime scene for myself. Her hand lay on his arm and she was laughing. So was he. Well, so what? I thought they’re having a good conversation.
It was after almost half an hour that I made my way to where they stood and finally joined their conversation. Madhav put his arm around me and that kind of warmed the tiny chill that was creeping up my spine. Shivangi pulled her hand away and said: “You’ve found quite the boy, huh?” I laughed and replied “I sure have!” looking at Madhav, who had a twinkle in his eye. “I hate to say I would just have to steal him from you then.” She said and both Madhav and I looked at her. Though I wasn’t best friends with her, I was still surprised that she was openly flirting with my boyfriend. Before I could think of what to say, Madhav replied “That’s a compliment but unfortunately, you can’t steal something that has already been stolen!”
The conversation came to an end after that. But I spent the whole day wondering why anyone would hit on a friend’s partner. Why is that an okay thing to do? Why is it tempting? I guess we weren’t close enough for her to wonder about these things but I swore never to put any of my friend’s in that situation from there onwards.
I just wish I could send Divine Secrets Of The Ya-Ya Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells (Rs 1,006) to every woman out there. So we can all be better friends to each other.
*Names changed to protect privacy
Images: Shutterstock
