This is about the days of my 11th-grade annual exams, when I used to constantly feel stressed about covering my syllabus. Every night, I had to stay up late so that I could study at least a little, because I absolutely did not like studying from the school teachers. I went to school only for attendance, and I also went because I did not like staying at home.
Late one night, after completing a project, I received a message saying, "Free ho?" I was not surprised at all by this message because by then I had gotten used to talking to that person. Although we could not talk every Saturday, we still used to chat randomly at night sometimes. Since we were both students, we understood each other's busy schedules, so before sending a message, we would often think many times. And even when we did text, we would first ask, "Free ho?"
This time, I looked at his message with extreme tiredness and replied, "Yes." It wasn't that I did not want to talk to him, but I was feeling very sleepy and was barely able to keep my eyes open. Obviously, if someone attends six hours of school and one and a half hours of computer classes, they will get tired. And I also had a project to complete. Before replying to him, I thought many times that if I did not see the message, then both of us would get the chance to sleep. But I still considered it important to reply.
Then he asked if we could talk on a call. I said we would talk only on Snapchat. He agreed. When I voice-called him, he picked up and said he had not expected that I would actually call. In my sleepy state, I replied, "Is this what you think about at this hour of the night?" He laughed and said that he does not think about it only at night, but all the time.
I said it seemed like he had lost interest in studies; that's why he keeps thinking about such things. I was so sleepy that I had no idea what I was even saying. He replied that I understood correctly — he had lost interest in studies, and now he would not do anything. He said he was coming back home next week. The moment I heard that, my sleep instantly disappeared — you can say it was completely gone. I asked in shock, "What are you saying?" He replied, "Exactly what you are hearing." I asked why he was joking like this. He said it was not a joke.
I asked why he suddenly got the idea of leaving his studies in the middle of the night. He said he was missing home a lot. I replied in a very cold tone, "Did you call me at this late hour just to tell me this?" He said, "What did you think?" I said, "If you are crying like a little child just to come back home, then why did you go that far from your home?" He said he was not crying. I told him that it was clear from his voice. I also said that if we were on a video call, his tears would be visible too.
Taking my taunt seriously, he started a video call. I rejected it. Then he called two more times. In the end, I answered but kept my camera off. He asked why I had turned off my camera. I replied, "You might be fond of showing your face; I am not." He said that was fine. I could not see his face because he was standing in the dark. I said that his face was not visible in the darkness. Then he turned on the light, and I was shocked — because he did not look like the same person I had liked. I do not know why, but the glow on his face was gone, and hormonal effects were clearly visible on his face.
After seeing his face, I asked, "What happened to you?" He replied, "What would happen to me?" I said, "Are you the same person?" He said, "What kind of joke is this?" I replied, "Come back to your prime era first, then I will talk to you." He did not understand what I meant. Then I said that these hormonal changes on his face were not suiting him. He understood the meaning of my words. I also said that until he becomes like before, I will not talk to him.
He said, "What kind of childish behavior is this?" I replied, "You call high standards childish? Anyway, mature people have their preferences." He said, "Your demands never end." I replied, "My standards are high, not my options." He said, "Fine, from today onwards, I will never video call and I said " I'm not even dying for it"." Laughing, I said, "I have my viva tomorrow." He asked why I had not slept yet. I replied, "You were the one dying to talk." He said, "When was I dying?" I said, "Anyway, after seeing your face on video call, my mood got spoiled." He replied, "At least I showed my face. When did you show yours?" Immediately, I applied a Hulk filter and turned my camera on. Seeing this, he started laughing. I said, "Now you have no right to say that I judged you while keeping my camera off." Then he also started applying random filters during the call, and we both started laughing a lot while looking at each other.
Gradually, I started feeling sleepy again, and I said that I was tired and feeling sleepy. He said, "If you were sleepy, you should have told me earlier." I replied, "I was sleepy, but after seeing your face, my sleep ran away." He said, "Why? Do I look that attractive?" I said, "You are looking scary." He rudely said, "Then why don't you go and sleep?" I said, "I am going." He also said good night, and at 3:15 a.m., he disconnected the call. And then I went to sleep.....