Too Good to be True

Story Credits: My dear friend Natasha :)

As December set in, I decided to forage the racks at mall stores for my Christmas Day Outfit- it’s a self-made tradition honestly; wearing new red clothes on Christmas Day and painting the town red. After much effort, I finally saw this red glitter jumper that seemed just perfect! Staring at it from outside the store, I felt like all my Christmas outfit dreams had come true in the form of that bright red jumper. I went on and decided to see it up close! It was the softest jumper ever, and seemed just warm enough for a cold Delhi evening. The color was bright yet subtle; and the fabric surely wouldn’t make me look fat- I decided to try it on! To my amazement, even though it looked great on me, I decided not to go for it. It was because the jumper had a lining, a black flimsy lining that felt weird against my skin. I returned from the mall empty handed! The jumper was too good to be true!

Telling my friends over drinks that night about my dream jumper and the disappointment that followed; I realized that this happened with me recently in life too.

Almost 6 months back I met this guy Mayank, through a colleague. He worked as an investment banker and was well educated and well-travelled. We instantly hit it off. He dressed smartly, smelt great, looked decent, made me laugh and even put up with my tantrums! He was perfect! He was the guy I always dreamt about having in my life. In a short span of time, we developed a deep connection (or so I thought)!

Soon, between dinners and movies and giggles and midnight conversations, I found myself falling for Mayank; and since I’m not 19 anymore, I thought it was wise to check with him on how he feels before I take this any further. Mayank said he was fully invested in this, in me, in us and I couldn’t stop smiling for a couple of days post that. He said he saw a future with me in it and I started imagining how a life with him would seem like. He always told me about how nice his parents were and how his younger sister meant the world to him and I started envisioning myself as a part of his small world, his family. It all seemed picture perfect.

As a few weeks passed, I started to notice changes in Mayank’s behavior. He stopped texting me or calling me; and would only reply to my texts if he felt like, and usually would respond in monosyllables. He stopped asking me to meet up, and to go out with him or telling me how his days went by. I decided to put my foot down and confront him about these changes. He explained me how he was busy with work, and how this was one of the bad phases of his life, where he could use my support. He said he wouldn’t be able to give me time at all, since his work would take up most of the time. He explained how he realized he was being unfair but he didn’t have much of an option. I was disappointed but decided to be there with him in this so called ‘bad phase’ and make do with not getting the time and attention I deserved.

Slowly and gradually, the distance between us increased. We started to speak less, stopped meeting entirely since he was extremely reluctant even when I planned something; and even almost stopped texting. Days passed by, and I started to miss him more and more. I also started to wonder if he missed me too. But it seemed like he was happily living his life without me now; like he didn’t care about what he said to me just a couple of weeks back!

Tired of all this, I decided to show up at his door, and find out what was going on. And there it was in front of my eyes, the truth that I had been oblivious to- Mayank’s girlfriend! As tears rolled down my cheeks and into the box of chocolates that I was carrying, I started to wonder how long they’d been dating. Thoughts started to cloud my head as I thought if she could be his sister, cousin, colleague, a friend. Before I could come to a conclusion, Mayank came to the door and all my confusion was cleared.

He apologized to me, but said he wasn’t actually cheating on me because he never formally told me we were dating. He scolded me for having come down to his house like a spy and just not understanding his ‘hints’. I lost my cool, and decided to muster some courage and slap him right across his face- and I did. But he conveniently blamed me for my miseries and pointed out how I became too attached when he was only looking to sleep with me as a one time thing. I slapped him one more time, and left! And that was the end of Mayank’s story in my life. He was just like the red jumper- too good to be true!

It was a traumatic experience for me to go through all of this, but at the end of the day I had learnt my lesson- to not be fooled by appearances, or how people want to project themselves. I decided that trusting someone’s words or actions wasn’t the right thing to do. I also reached to a very important conclusion- when someone or something seems too good to be true, more often than not there’s something fishy for sure.

So ladies, if you have someone who loves you dearly, and has been by your side for the longest time but he can’t cook up your favorite meal, or you have a problem with his accent, or how he dresses- put up with it because even though he’s not perfect, he’s not pretending to be anything he’s not. Don’t fall for all the fuckboys trying to waste your time and pretending to be perfect.

And dear men, when you tell a girl you see a future with her in it; and then drop ‘hints’ when you want to break up- remember to chop off the balls you clearly don’t deserve. Do not, remember, absolutely do not pretend to be someone you’re not and project yourselves as someone’s dream come true just to sleep with them- you can pay for that stuff and get done without the melodrama and heartbreak- it’s easier that way!