"Then why not the laughing smiley? Or the one with the teeth?"
She continued typing.
"At least through emoticons yaar..."
I read my message again. Yes, I sent her the smallest smile emotion, not even the one with the wider curve.
"Hmm", I typed. Message sent.
Single tick.
(Pause)
As I waited, I scrolled the screen down to play with the mobile flashlight. On-off. On-off.
Double Tick. Bluetick.
"Umm." She replied back.
(a minute pause)
"So?", her message came in. "Idk", I replied. "Why?", the query came in.
I paused this time.
I took a deep breath as if I was trying to inhale air for the last time. The intake produced enough sound that my ears could catch, usually missed due to unconsiousness. It was followed by zoning out of the mind. Only the irritating sound of the notification brought me back.
My instant reaction was to scroll the screen downward and press the sound bell icon to silent mode. My mobile is always on silent mode. It began once, now a permanent habit. I must have pressed the sound icon while playing with the flashlight.
The notification bar reminded me about the 3 messages received. I began to read.
I looked at the screen once again. It was the exact question that I was trying to avoid for more than a year.
"Nothing! All fine", I typed back. "Oh, and I thought we were friends...", she was quick in her reply. "You are!", I replied, followed by a smiling emoticon. "Then I am right."
I was about to type with a "What?", but I saw that she was typing. I immediately pressed the backspace. The wait wasn't long.