Would You Like It?

Even though Kim was misbehaving, Carl was still understanding enough, to wait patiently without trying to force her to do something she wouldn't want to. In his twenty-one years of living, he had never been in a relationship so he was still green behind the ears. He realized his earlier decision to wait was right. What if they were already in a relationship, will she act this way? Wouldn't it hurt more? Thinking of all these, he concluded he would stop chasing after her. She was not ready for a relationship, a commitment. She was not ready to put in the effort neither was she willing. He had no choice but to stop now before it's too late.

...

A few days went by in a breeze, it was now the 30th. They hadn't spoken since that day. Although he wanted to, he held himself back. He wanted her to come forward on her own. As he sat in his office, working, he got a call from her. His shoulders tensed as he held his breath and watched as the phone rang over and over again. He wasn't sure if he should take the call and if he did what would he say to her? When the phone stopped ringing, he finally exhaled. There wasn't the usual excitement, he didn't rush to pick the call like he usually did, he just felt this huge amount of pressure when he saw her name. And when it finally stopped ringing, he felt the weight was taken off. Was he going to call her back? He really wants to but he hardened his heart, he wasn't going to do that. He wouldn't speak to her until she returns.

At first, Kim assumed he was busy and he would probably call her later, may be during lunch, from noon till two, no calls. Then she told herself he would call towards the evening when he returned home, so she patiently waited, from five till eleven, but he didn't call her. She was indeed very worried because he always took her call on the first ring. However, this time around, he didn't take her call even though she called trice, he didn't try to call her back either.

She was indeed worried, she thought of the number of things that could go wrong to prevent him from taking her call. It never occurred to her that he did it in purpose. She wondered if he lost his phone, if he was involved in an accident, may be he was still at work and failed to check his phone. The next day, she tried calling again but it rang and rang, no answer. She waited patiently, at noon she called him but his line was busy. She wondered if he had seen her call or if he was doing it on purpose. She couldn't wait any longer to find out, so she lent a phone from one of the hostel borders to call him. 

Surprisingly, he picked immediately. She was both worried and mad. How could he ignore her but take a stranger's call? "Hello?" She heard him say. Taking deep breaths, she tried to calm herself, she didn't want to assume anything. "Hello..." She greeted in reply. On hearing her voice, he took the phone away from his ears and looked at the screen, he was pretty sure it wasn't her number if not, he wouldn't have picked up. After confirming, he placed it back on his ears. "You didn't pick up, were you busy?" She asked over the line. "Not really." He spoke softly. "Then why didn't you take my calls or call back?" Rather than lie to her, he opted for the truth. "I didn't want to." He said breezily. "What?!" She exclaimed in disbelieve. 'I didn't want to.' kept ringing in her head. Swallowing the lump that had formed in her throat, she questioned, "Why?"

"Do you really not know?" He asked calmly. She shook her head, realizing he couldn't see her she replied, "No." On hearing her answer, he laughed at himself. "You should think about that yourself before calling me." He retorted before hanging up, he didn't wait for her reply. Kim stared at the phone stunned, "Did he just do that?" She muttered to herself. "It must be a mistake, may be the network." She said trying to convince herself otherwise. She returned the phone to the owner before using hers to call him. "What did I do wrong?" She asked. "You really can't see it, can you? How about I give you a way to figure it out, if I did to you what you did to me, would you like it?" He questioned her. "And what did I do?" She questioned once more. "Why don't you use the new year's eve to think about that? If after thinking about it and you really can't see what you did wrong, then..." He didn't complete his sentence. "Call me when you realize your wrong." He said before hanging up.