Memorizing the numbers.

"Fuck! I forgot to save Abhishek's number in my contacts." I said laying on my bed, browsing through the contacts of my phone.

It was around seven at night when I had a subtle feeling that I had forgotten something important to do. I couldn't remember what exactly so I started to look through my phone. For hours I just stared at my phone, opening different apps to trigger any little bit of memory. But it was all in vain and I was starting to get irritated, until I clicked at the contacts app and then the one which was forgotten, hit my head like a lightning bolt.

"What should I do? He gave his new number only to me, before he left hostel." I said with a despondent voice.

"I have to ask him about the whereabouts of our intregation chapter notes, but..." I closed my eyes shut, thoroughly dissapointed with myself and hit my phone on my forehead multiple times cussing myself.

"You don't remember his number?" Akhlaq, my roommate, asked me. He was watching a movie on his phone with his elder brother Sarfaraz.

"No, I don't. We talked today in the evening when he was waiting for his plane at the airport. I should have saved his number then, but I forgot to do it." I hit my forehead with the phone a bit hard and instantly regretted it.

"Why am I so stupid?!" I rubbed my forehead roughly and it just increased the intensity of pain - I was very pissed at myself.

"Your test is tomorrow afternoon, isn't it?" Akhlaq enquired, his eyes still fixed on his mobile.

"Yes, it is. What should I do now? Am I gonna fail another test?" I was starting to have a nervous breakdown, "How many tests am I going to fail this year?! Why am I so unlucky when it comes to maths?" I bowed my head and totally gave up.

Akhlaq looked at me, and saw that I was getting depressed. He knew how fragile mind I have, so he paused the movie and asked Sarfaraz to help me in some way. Every time they watch a movie Sarfaraz gets so focused in it that he gets oblivious to everything outside it.

"What's the matter now?" Sarfaraz said getting up and approaching towards me. He layed beside me, his arms over my shoulders.

"SK bro, why are you moping all of a sudden?" he asked me with a smile stretched over his face.

"It's my test tomorrow, and only Abhishek knows where he had kept the intregation chapter notes. But I don't have his number." I replied.

"You were talking with him this evening in the mess. Why didn't you asked him then?" Sarfaraz asked.

I pressed my lips together in frustration and said, "I thought I will ask him later when I sit to study. But..." then I threw my phone on the bed, crossed my arms and let out a big sad sigh.

"You can ask him online." Akhlaq suggested.

I turned my head towards him mechanically with my frustrated face and glared at him.

"It's Abhishek we are talking about." I told Akhlaq, "You know he is not on any social media. Not even watsapp!"

Akhlaq rised his eyes brows and said, "Oh! Yeah." That irritated me so much. Actually at that moment, I was getting irritated by each and everything around me.

But then Sarfaraz picked up my phone and handed it back to me. He opened the number keypad and told me to type in the number he says.

He spelled, "9-6-8-5-5-8-6-9-1-1."

I typed in, 9685586911.

I looked at Sarfaraz totally confused. He tapped the call button and the phone started to ring. I was getting more and more annoyed as the time was passing by and was just about to burst my anger out when suddenly a familiar voice said,

"How you doin' bro? You called so late."

It was Abhishek's voice coming from the phone.

"Abhishek?! Is that you?! Is that really you?!"

I was so happy to hear his voice that I started to tear up a little. My fear, my anger and my anxiousness faded away from my strained mind. We talked for an hour over the phone. He told me about the notes I needed for tomorrow and wished me luck for my coming test.

When I hung up the phone, happiness manifested over my face like a sun on a cloudy sky. I went towards Akhlaq and Sarfaraz feeling jubilant and at ease.

"You knew Abhishek's number?" I asked Sarfaraz.

"Yep. I saw it on your phone when we were in the mess." he replied.

"How could you remember it after watching it just one time?" I asked him enthusiastically.

"An old habit of mine." he said shrugging his shoulders, "You know how we had to memorize each numbers on the old cell phones. There used to be no feature of saving it by name like it has nowadays in the smart phones."

"So you memorize every number? You don't save it by name?" I asked.

"Yes, I do save numbers by name but, I also memorize them." he said.

"So do you know what my number is?" I asked testing him.

"Yes, of course. It's 9686765646."

I had no idea if it indeed was my number or not, so I checked it by calling me from Akhlaq's mobile. I was overwhelmed by joy when the call connected. Sarfaraz and I laughed at each other, while Akhlaq was in a foul mood because he couldn't finish his movie because of me. We had so much fun that night, while Sarfaraz flexed his skill infront of us. He had accurately memorised 42 contact numbers. It made me think if he was so good at memorizing, than why does he always fail his tests?

Alas, thanks to Sarfaraz's skill of memorizing phone numbers. I got my notes and studied hard for my test throughout the night. But I failed the test anyway.