She took out her phone. As their hands lay side by side on the stone bench, he felt her little pinky touch his. She read out loud, "Stay close to anything that makes you glad you are alive."

A few weeks passed by. Alex met Ruby's friend Mary one day, who would sometimes come to their spot and disturb them while they worked together. Things were going pretty well. Ruby and Alex had once even performed together at the restaurant.

And then one day when he arrived at the stone bench, he saw Ruby sitting with her head down. In her left hand, she was clutching a piece of paper.

"I failed Legal Aspects of Business. What do I do?"

Alex didn't know what to say. He sat by her side and said, "I thought you were doing much better. You said you were handling both well."

Ruby didn't answer him. Instead, she just spoke her mind.

"I should have never taken that subject. I shouldn't have taken the stream. Shouldn't have even come to this college. What do I tell dad?"

"Maybe you can talk to the professor to get you a retest," Alex suggested. Ruby shook her head, "He won't let me."

"Give it a try. Just once."

"I know the professor. He doesn't like me. He will not allow!"

As her voice rose, Alex didn't feel like pushing it anymore. Had he been in her department, had he known the professor, he would have gladly requested him. But at the moment, he sat by her side quietly.

"It's so difficult to satisfy and impress everyone. We lie so much, talk a lot of shit that even we dont believe in, to get through this world, to survive on this planet. We kiss up to a bunch of assholes of superiors and seniors who think it's fun to put down others. We pretend to be okay with satisfying the delicate ego of some people who instead of seeing our potential, sees our ability to suck up to them. All for what? Power? Money? Is money everything?" Asked Ruby.

"You need money to pay your bills Ruby. For food, shelter."

"What about passion? And letting your soul be alive? Enjoying the moment? Living? What about all those things?" Asked Ruby.

Once again, Alex was at a loss for words.

That evening, he walked her to her apartment, got her food and asked her again to consider requesting her professor for a retest.

After that night, Alex couldn't get a hold of her for a whole week. She didn't call, didn't pick up any of his calls and didn't show up at their spot. He felt stupid for never saving Mary's number. If he'd go to her apartment, it would be locked. If he'd go to the restaurant, she would have left early or wouldn't have turned up for work at all.

Did he do something wrong? He wondered.

Then one day, by luck, he happened to see her.

Alex had spent a few nights perfecting her song and had gone to her apartment in the hope of catching her. As expected, it was locked. So, he had left for the recreation centre. The administrators of the center were visiting today, and they had requested all employees, including Alex, to show his presence.

But as soon as he had walked into the parking lot, he saw her in the park nearby. He had seen her from behind, but he was sure that he wasn't mistaken that it's her.

Running to her immediately, he called out her name. She turned at his voice, and seemed to lose the color of her face when she saw him.

"What are you doing here?" He asked her, a little angry, at the same time a little happy.

"What are you doing here?" She asked him the same question. He pointed at the building by his left and said, "I told you, I work part time here, at the recreation centre."

She looked around frantically and pulled him to a side. She looked pale and thin. There were dark circles under her eyes.

"Have you not been sleeping? Have you not eaten anything?" He asked again. She didn't answer him, instead just stared. He opened his bag and pulled out his notepad. "I worked on your song. I think this will really convey what you were trying to say."

"Alex," Ruby called his name, desperation evident in her voice. "Please, just leave," she pleaded to him. A puzzled Alex just stared at her.

"I am leaving college Alex. Please don't call me. Clearly you didn't get it when I ghosted you," she said.

"But I finished your song."

"I don't want the song. You keep it. Please don't call me or come looking for me."

"Is it because of your dad?" He asked. She eyed him incredulously. She sighed and then said, "Yes. It's because of him. I'm going back home because I can't handle things here on my own. Just leave. I don't want to see you anymore."

Alex swallowed. "F-fine," he stuttered as he walked away, hurrying into the recreation centre...

"That was the last time I saw her."

John and Mary kept quiet.

"Leave college? Why would she say something like that?" John spoke to himself rather than to the other two.

"It does sound like she was trying to get rid of you," said Mary.

"Maybe. But I'm sure she wasn't ghosting me. I was angry at the time. That's why I avoided her too. But somehow, I know that she didn't hate me. She couldn't have. She was going through something bad and I was an idiot not to notice! And now look what has happened!" Alex's agitated voice spoke loudly.

John's will to argue, seemed to disappear. Even Mary was quiet.

"She was quite different. Even from me, but we connected a bit through music. Maybe that's why she thought I would understand her. But she might have realised later that this wasn't the case. Even I was more practical than she ever was, about the world and how it worked. I loved my music, but I knew that music alone wouldn't pay for food.

But Ruby, she hated everything about this idea. She lived and breathed her dreams. It was the only thing that kept her alive, kept her going. Succumbing to the rules of the world wasn't something she could bear. She believed she was different from all of us. Maybe she was right."

"But you two were not exactly together," said Mary.

"That's true. But I liked her. I'm pretty sure she liked me too. But she didn't want us to be together, else she wouldn't have pushed me away like that. Maybe because she felt that there was no point in being together. It was so obvious that she wasn't happy with her life. Dragging me in wouldn't help solve it, in fact it would have complicated it further."

John sighed.

"But you don't know either where she was last Saturday," he said. Alex shook his head.

"Had I not left her side that day, may be I would have been with her throughout last week. Then, maybe I would have known. And then maybe she wouldn't have..." Alex trailed off.

"Alex," John spoke calmly, "I know that you feel that if you had done something differently, things would not have been the way it is today. But you don't know that for sure. Even I wonder that if I was more, I don't know, open to understanding Ruby, things could have been different. But I wasn't."

John was lost for a second. All that he knew about Ruby seemed like a lie. The past three days showed him a version of Ruby he never knew existed. This must mean that she always hid her true self from him, acting like the person I wished her to be. Hiding her real identity from her father... In his attempts of keeping her as different and as far away from her mother, had he failed as a father?

"The point is, both of you have to stop blaming yourself for what happened. We still need to find who and why did someone drug her," Mary said, bringing both men back to reality.

"The more I think about it, I wonder if Ruby had taken it herself," said Alex.

"What?! Do you think Ruby would do drugs?" John started fuming.

"I feared if she wanted to die! You don't know how she was the past two weeks! It's like she was going through something bad. Really bad! Like she was depressed. Like she was being haunted," said Alex.

Ruby, commit suicide? That's the last thing John wanted to hear.

"Why don't we request to check the university CCTV? Maybe she'll see her somewhere in there and get a clue?" Suggested Mary. Seeing all dead ends, John agreed.

As the three walked back to the recreation centre, John asked Alex, "So she can sing well now?"

"Sing well? She performs on stage. Just amazing. I really wanted her to invite you to one of her performances," Alex's eyes twinkled when he spoke of her.

"Yeah, it would have been nice to see the real Ruby," said John.

Alex watched him and said, "I have a picture of hers. One night after the performance she clicked a picture with the crowd. Would you like to see?"

"Sure," John smiled. Alex pulled out his phone, and showed him the picture. She did look happy, genuinely happy. Not the fake smile sometimes she used to show him.

And then something caught his eye. In the crowd, there was a face that seemed very familiar. John racked his brain. He tried to zoom in on the person but was unsuccessful.

"What happened?" Alex asked, watching John struggle with his phone screen. John pointed at the face and said, "Can you zoom in on this guy? I don't know why but his face seems very familiar."

Mary came around to peer onto the phone as Alex zoomed in the picture. Suddenly, Mary said, "That's Ted. He is in Ruby's class." Mary turned to John, "You know him?"

John's face suddenly lit up with enlightenment as he finally remembered.

"Yes. That's the boy that dropped Ruby at the hospital."