See you cry

In my office all of us where really close friends. At least I used to think that way, until a couple of incidents changed the way I thought.

It was a busy working day. One of my colleagues, Vrinda received an escalation from the client. As a result of this escalation the management arranged a meeting with her. The meeting apparently was to find out the root cause for the error that resulted in the escalation. In reality the meeting was nothing but a blame game. Vrinda returned from that meeting and started crying at her desk. I was really sad to see her cry and I went to her to console her. Along with me few other colleagues had been accompanying her. One of them was my colleague Dhruv. I sat with her till she stopped crying and I felt that she was okay.

Once we went back to our desks, Dhruv came and set next to me. He said, "you handled the situation really well. You know how to calm people down. I like that about you".

"Thanks," I replied politely.

"You are strong, are you not?" He asked me.

"Maybe. I really do not like to see anybody crying. I try to make them feel better. Most times it works," I thought we were having a casual conversation, until it took a different turn.

"I have never seen you crying," Dhruv said looking at ne.

"I control my emotions in public," I responded.

"I want to see you cry," Dhruv said without blinking staring at me.

"Excuse me? Did you say you want to see me cry?" I repeated his question. I was surprised to hear it. I was unsure if I heard it correctly or whether he was joking. Either way I did not like what he said.

"Yes, I said I want to see you cry," Dhruv repeated what he had said earlier. He had clearly expressed his intentions.

"That is not a kind thing to say," I tried to sound calm and polite. But I was fuming.

"You expect the world to be kind to you? Are you 5 years old?" His rebuttal was brutal and baffling.

I was shocked and furious. I used to think that Dhruv was a friend but what he said told me otherwise. "It is not a question about the world being kind to me. It is cruel to think to see someone cry. I cannot believe you think this way," I did not hold my words back.

"It is fun to see when strong people cry. You act so strong and caring. It will be entertaining to see you cry," Dhruv still was stuck on his idea. He was serious.

"Dhruv I thought you came to Vrinda's desk to console her but you came there to enjoy the show. What kind of evil behavior is this? You should be embarrassed," I snapped at him.

"Hey I was just kidding. Can't you take a joke?" Now Dhruv came with a typical tactic to defend himself.

"Was it a joke? Saying that you want to see me cry was a joke? Tell me what was funny about it?" I knew this tactic very well, calling everything a joke and turning it against someone. But I was not falling for it.

Dhruv was now speechless, "no.. I was just.. You know.." He was searching for words.

"No Dhruv. You made your intentions clear with what you said earlier. No further explanation needed," I shut down any ways to continue the discussion.

It was one of the discussions which showed the true colour of Dhruv whom I was considering my friend. Surprising it did not come out in an argument. His true colours were seen in a civil conversation. Needless to say my friendship with him ended right at that moment.