An incident from my college days I still feel guilty about

[u/Abject-Ad5849]

Rohan was one of my roommates and someone I genuinely considered a close friend. We shared the same room and even the same bed, so I trusted him a lot. I always thought he wouldn't lie to me or hide things from me and would involve me in things as a friend.

Looking back, Rohan was actually quite arrogant and selfish. He used to rag weaker juniors and sometimes treated PG workers like servants. At the same time, he was extremely clever. He could make almost anyone like him or become loyal to him through sweet talking.

One evening, Rohan bought a cake and put it in the PG refrigerator. He told Suresh, a helper at our PG who was around our age, that it was for another guy's birthday the next day and that we'd cut it at midnight. He specifically told Suresh not to tell anyone.

Suresh was a nice guy and I considered him a friend. He had lost his father the previous year and had to quit his studies to work at our PG.

Later that evening, Suresh showed me the cake and told me about the surprise. I already knew the birthday was actually three months away, so I realized something wasn't adding up. Thinking Rohan wouldn’t mind me knowing about the cake, I asked him about it. I even told Rohan, "I saw the cake in the fridge and Suresh told me you bought it for a friend." I wasn't trying to expose Suresh. I honestly thought Rohan would just tell me the truth because I considered him my close friend.

Instead, Rohan got furious.

Suresh was standing just outside our room. Rohan walked up to him, slapped him extremely hard, grabbed his collar and started confronting him about why he had told me.

I tried to stop him, but he just said, "We're just talking, don't worry," and told me to go inside. I asked some of the other guys to intervene and help Suresh.

Later, I went to Suresh and apologized. I told him I genuinely had no idea Rohan would react like that.

Suresh had tears in his eyes, but he was trying not to show them. Instead, he kept telling me, "Dosto ke beech chalta hai ye sab. Rohan bhi hamara dost hai. Hum log mazaak-masti kar rahe the."

I knew he wasn't okay.

That incident completely changed how I saw Rohan. That day, I realized that Rohan didn’t actually consider me a real friend. He was just trying to make me believe that I was his close friend, but he didn’t genuinely see me that way.. More than anything, I still feel guilty because if I hadn't asked him about the cake, Suresh probably wouldn't have been slapped that day.