chapter 6 - The Crush of My Life

CHAPTER 6

RIA'S BIRTHDAY

Just a few days before our mid-semester exams, Ria's birthday had come. It was 25th August. I wanted to be the first person to wish her Happy Birthday. I don't know when but I started liking her company. I always wanted to talk to her whether online or offline.

'May be she likes me too', I thought.

For the very first time inspite of texting her I called her to wish her happy birthday. Yes, she was awake as she picked up my call in the first attempt. I started singing happy birthday song though my voice is not so good but for her I did that. I can feel the happiness of her on the phone.

After I completed my song, she said, ‘Thank you very much Hittuuu’.

This is not the first time when she spoke my word for so long. She often used to say my name like that.

"Pleasure is all mine" I replied.

And we talked till 4:00 a.m.

It was not first time when we talked to each other this late. We used to text each other till now, but this was special. Everything I heard from her melodious voice sounded so beautiful.

When I was going to end the call she ordered me to reach the school an hour early as she wanted to say something to me.

I nodded.

I reached as per her order. On the way to class, I plucked a flower from the school garden to gift her. As soon as I reached the class I saw that she was already in the class.

I wished her happy birthday again and gave her the beautiful flower that I brought for her and said sorry for making her to wait for me.

‘Chill, I arrived a minute ago just before you’, she said.

We talked to each other till the first lecture began. In our talk she mentioned that she likes my company and wants me to make a promise that I will be there every time whenever she wants me.

I promised her that I will be there whenever she wants me as we were more than friends. We shared all things between each other from our past to present and what will we do in our future. But the thing that I hide from her was about my best friend Varun. Though, I told her about my job.

Vishal was absent on that day as he was not in the city while Sanjana was there to join us.

Everytime I see Sanjana I try to find out reasons to run away from her as her intentions were not good.

Ria invited both of us for her birthday party at her place. I was very happy as I was going to her place for the first time and was also meeting her family.

 She gave her address to both of us and mentioned the time for the party. She also warned us not to get late for the party.

My boss called me as soon as I reached home. He said he is going for one his best friend sister's birthday party and wants me to company him.

I was in a big trouble as I cannot deny my boss and I also don't want to miss Ria's party.

But I have to take the decision on the spot so I decided to say no to my boss and gave him reason for not accompany him. He happily allowed without saying anything to me.

Then I started thinking about the present,

What should I gift her?

I wanted to give her something unique, something different, something that she would always remember.

So, I decided to dedicate a poem to her as a sign of our friendship which will be written by me as a writer inside me was always ready to do such things.

Within 4 hours I completed my task of the poem.

I got ready for the party. I was wearing a dark blue shirt and black denim jeans.

I went to her place early as Ria wanted me to meet her family and help them in some arrangements for the party.

There was hustle everywhere and everyone was doing their task for the party. There I saw Ria in her lower and round neck t-shirt. She noticed me and started adjusting her clothes. She was feeling shy but she has enough guts to face me in those as I am her best friend.

She came near me and said, "Well before time as usual."

"Yeah. My terms you know, na!" I exclaimed.

She then introduced me to her family. I touched the feet of her parents and shook my hand from her brother Aayan. Her father hugged me and I was shocked. Her family was not so much eccentric as she told me in our night chats.

I helped them in some easy stuff like blowing up balloons. Some balloons got burst while some came out to be defective.

Till then she had gone to get ready for the party.

Meanwhile Sanjana had arrived.

I put all my attention to have a look on the hall. The living room has been converted into a party hall. There was an arrangement of DJ along with dance floor and lighting as well. A kitchen is there in the corner of the hall where all the females were preparing food for all the guests, I guess. A balcony is also there where there was arrangement of sitting of two persons. I asked the waiter standing nearby to bring some soft drinks for me and Sanjana as I was feeling thirsty.

I took the soft drink and walked towards the balcony. The weather was lovely on that day. Cool breeze were flowing and strike my face very often.

I was missing my virtual brother Varun because it has been almost 6 months when he left for Kota and from there he didn’t call me. My eyelashes became wet as I was felling all alone.

After sometime, Sanjana joined me but I neglected her presence. She was about to ask me something but before that I left that place.

As I went into the hall I saw that my boss was also there. I went closer to him. He was shocked to see me so do I? He told me that Aayan was his best friend and all about the things they did when they were together.

I was talking to him as I saw Ria, the gorgeous birthday girl entering the hall.

It was a wonderful feeling to see her step into the hall. Her presence brought a smile to my lips and left my eyes twinkling with pleasure. I now wanted to hug her.

She was looking tall due to her high heels and her sari made her look graceful. However, not everyone was as excited to see her.

She took her seat within her relatives. My eyes were glued to her. It was my opportunity to watch her for a long time-- something I never got to do earlier. She had a whitish skin. Her hair was tied into a ponytail that ran down her back just like a horse' tail. She was slim, which was another reason why she looked so tall. She was looking taller than me, I guess by a foot. She didn't wear a lot of accessories- just like a wristwatch, a sleek chain around her neck which I gifted her on our first month of friendship. In all aspects, she was simple yet elegant, and a little more attractive than average.

Then she got up from her chair, readjusted her sari and tucked the end of it into her waist. That gave me a glimpse of her slender waist.

Her soft voice was a treat to my ears. She then slipped into the dance floor along with some of her cousin sisters. I followed her movements.

Just then, the power went off. Damn! Everyone sighed. Firstly, DJ had not been able to play, and now this!

However, power cuts were not usual in that area.

"There is not any problem. I can sing song." My boss said as he was a good singer. His voice can give a tough competition to the playback singers as per my thought.

Some guests continued to dance while the rest was waiting for the power to come back, my eyes were stuck on her. I was busy fulfilling my desire to look at her body- every bit of it. I enjoyed observing her body language- every move of hers. She had an amazing back. Time and again she moved on the dance floor, her hair bounced on her back, seductively hiding one part of her back while revealing another. I wanted to smell her hair that this game of hide-and-seek with her back. I liked the way she turned us each time.

One moment, she accelerated my heartbeat when she walked towards me. I felt I wasn't prepared for this moment! One half of my mind didn't want to lose the opportunity to look at her  from up close, and other felt too shy to do so.

A thousand of butterflies flitted around inside my stomach, the moment she stopped right beside me. Oh boy! - I was able to smell her now. The perfume she was wearing struck down the shy half of my mind, which was too embarrassed to look at her. So I stared at her. I breathed the fragrance, imagining how those vapors would have originated from her body and touched her smooth skin. The butterflies in my stomach now seductively flapped their tiny wings. I guess they wanted to break free. I turned my head to gaze fully at her.

From that side, I saw her flat stomach behind the drape of her sari, something that wasn't visible from the front. My eyes joyfully scanned her waist. Her skin looked soft. Tiny sweat drop were forming under the border of her blouse and slipping down to her waist. I wanted to touch her- right there. I wanted to closely smell that sweat infused with the fragrance of her body.

At one instance when she changed her support of her body from one leg to another, I secretly noticed her belly button, an inch above where she had tucked in her sari. There was no point in peeling my eyes away. I wanted to put my finger in her belly button and feel the moisture in it. There was so much for ne to savor in the moment. Her presence next to me was taking away my breath. She had hypnotized me, without any intention to do so.

Meanwhile the power came back. She then pulls me and Sanjana towards dance floor.

I was not in my control. I just follow the order what she was saying. We danced for about half hour. After that I left the dance floor while Ria and Sanjana continued to dance.

After sometime, she cut the cake. The cake was very giant and of 4 layers. Of course, the flavor of the cake was her favorite one, i.e., chocolate!!

As soon as the cake cutting ceremony was over, I asked DJ to pass me mic and order him to dim the light and focus a light on me.

Then it was my time, I start presenting my gift to her in front of all guests and her psycho parents.

“I am truly honored to have you as my friend Ria."

I gave a signal to DJ to focus on her as well.

You have everything you want but still accept this beautiful gift from your friend. Here is a poem for you as a present of your birthday,

 “Within you, I've found the perfect friend

   Someone who I know will be there till the end

   And they're not just thoughts I hope will fulfill

   But thoughts that will stand forever still

   Still as a wind on a hot summer's day

   Still as your friendship I'll never betray

   Still as the characters in a photograph

   Still as you’re breathless, silent laugh

   Within you, I’ve found the perfect friend

   A mind that I comprehend

   A person I see is so much like me

   A mutual relationship so carefree

   Carefree as a child who questions the world

   Carefree as a scream that goes unheard

   Carefree as an adult blessed with a dream

   Carefree as water flowing downstream

   Within you, I’ve found the perfect friend

   With whom I can be real, and never pretend

   You've always been someone unique from the rest

   You hold a piece of me no other can possess

   Within you the life I want is always mine

   Within you, I have the perfect friend

   With you, I see myself till the very end.

   HAPPIEST BIRTHDAY RIA."

I saw her, her eyelashes were moist but somehow she controlled her emotions.

Everyone clapped for me and came to shake their hand with me.

Her father patted on my shoulder and asked me who wrote this?

I was unable to answer then but I muttered,

"m... m... me...  and the writer inside me "

After listening this, her father hugged me.

And everyone burst into laughter including Ria.

Soon we were eating. Her mom had cooked a delicious dinner for all the quests.

The dining table was full of various dishes:

paneer, raita, aaloo gobhi, salad, a rice bowl along with a casserole of chapattis and my favorite rajma. The cutlery appeared new, the kind that was brought out for special occasions.

I was trying to get a serving spoon from the other end of the table, when her mother stopped me and silently

Said, ‘Wait, I will get it.’

She picked up the spoon in one hand and a bowl in the other and served me. Then, she placed some salad on my plate, and asked me, ‘Chapatti or rice?’

But who was hungry then?

Still, I said, ‘A Chapatti.’

With her soft hands she opened the casserole and quickly moved her hand back to avoid the hot steam. Her bangles tinkled. Then, with three fingers she folded two chapattis in half and, very gracefully, placed them on my plate.

Everyone went ahead with the dinner. The moment I had that bite I knew Ria's anxious eyes were expecting a response from me.

I looked up into her charming eyes and said,

‘Aunty, khana to bahut hi tasty banaaya hai aapne!’

And that was a trigger to her mom to offer me more paneer and raita. I refused but my resistance failed as her mother insisted on serving me some more. Ria smiled at my helplessness when she looked at me.

‘Aajkal ke bachchey kuch khaate hi nahi hai,’ is all her mom said.

I was quick to learn that there was no need to say no now.

It was about 9.30 p.m. and we were through with our dinner.

I was all packed with delicious food, pudding and fruits (dessert, for which I struggled to make some space in my tummy).

Luckily, the weather was pleasant outside.

The relatives and quests handed the gift to the birthday girl and wished her happy birthday again.

Sanjana had left that place as she got the phone call from her home.

Everyone was leaving the place. I told Ria that I am leaving as it was too late because I have to go with my boss tomorrow for a meeting that he mentioned me in our talk in the party.

She said wait for a while as she wanted to accompany me to the parking area.

She then asked her mother for permission and got a positive reply from the opposite side.

She then accompanied me to the parking. We were standing against my bike when she gave me a tight hug and whispered,

"Thank you for the gift. It was the best gift I ever had.

Thanks for coming in my life and making it so beautiful."

‘Pleasure is all mine’ that’s all I said.

She waved me a goodbye and I left that place.

Suddenly, she shouted, ‘Aee Writer.’

I pulled over my bike and looked towards her.

She was still waving me a goodbye and then she gave a smile.

#PRESENT

Meanwhile we got disturbed by the security guard at the lake which was on duty.

He asked us, “Don’t you want to go home? It’s already 1:30 a.m.”

His intention was only to check whether we were drunken or not, nothing else. He was just doing his duty.

I checked my phone to verify the time. It was actually 1:30 a.m.

We both were too indulged in my story that we don’t even notice the phone calls and messages from our parents.

There were overall 25 missed calls on my phone. 23 from my parents and 2 from Ria.

I first thought of calling her but the time stopped me to do so.

Then I checked my messages as well.

There was a message from her displaying,

 “Wanna give you good news.

 Come and meet me.

 Tomorrow 5:00 p.m.

 Place- CAFE QUEEN.

 Don’t dare to tell anyone about this.”

  

I was confused by her last statement and whether I should tell about this to Varun or not. But I decided to tell about this to Varun.

He didn’t give me quick response.

After one or two minutes he said, “Go and meet her.”

After that we sat on the shore of the lake silently enjoying the silence beauty of the nature.

It was around 4:00 a.m. when we left our place. From there we went to have something that will make us awake for some more time like tea or coffee.

We found a tea stall after riding 5 km.

We sat there on a plank of wood and I ordered a tea for him and a coffee for myself as I don’t like tea as well like chocolate.

After that we left for our place our house.

On the way back to our home, I continued to tell him my story...

chapter 5 - The Crush of my Life

CHAPTER 5

SANJANA'S STRANGE BEHAVIOUR

After 2 days of my accident I received a call from an unknown number. Firstly, I didn't pick up the call thinking it may be wrong number but when the same number called second time I picked it up. The call was from Ria, I recognised her voice as she said, "Bade log, aapke pass kaha time hume yaad krne ka??" while teasing me as it was third day when I didn't spoke to her so far after our friendship.

‘It’s not like that. I just met a minor accident.’ I said.

‘I know’, she replied.

‘How?’, I asked.

She replied, "Of course, Sanjana told her as she is one of the friends with her."

Wow. I replied

She continued, 'Today, me, Sanjana, Vishal are coming to meet you at your place as her class is off for today.'

"It’s an honour for me to have you all at my place" I said.

'Btw I’m fine now and will join you guys and classes tomorrow onwards.'

I hung up the phone telling her that I will be waiting for them.

I live on a street called Mahima. It is a beautiful street where each house seems to stand on its own little hill like royality. There are trees literally everywhere. 415 is my house. It looks like it is the king of Mahima Street, you would know by just looking at it.

The living room is the first room when entering the house. This room is filled with very lively furniture. Comfortable, tan leather couches, colourful rugs over the bare wood floor, and a large display case with pictures, books that belongs to my father, and many memories of friends and family. And I mustn't forget about the enormous window that, during the day will let as much sunlight and energy in the room as it possibly can.

 My sister's room is just as colorful if not more. The walls are purple and there are crazy chalk drawings on some of them. Her room is also decorated with strange little trinkets like little wooden boxes, incense burners and her own art work. I don't really go in there much mainly for privacy.

My parent's room is right next to my sister's room. There's not much of anything good there. A boring bed, a couple of dressers, a boring nightstand and a boring closet is all that is in there. I don't visit that room much either.

The bathroom next to their room is pretty weird. There are elephants everywhere! Elephant candles, elephant mirrors, elephant pictures. I don't really understand it, but it's cool.

I only like the kitchen when there is good food in it. It's a normal kitchen.

I forgot to mention my room.

The most strange room is mine because all the walls including the upper one are painted with different colors ,i.e., Red, Pink, Green, Yellow and the upper one with sky blue having white patches on it which looks like sky so that whenever I see the upper wall I get positive vibes to reach there and achieve that height. On the pink wall there is a showcase where my achievements are kept and above a wall clock and some of my childhood memories are hanged up on the wall. In front to red wall there is a study table and chair is kept on which I study. The wall also has a power point while in front of green wall there is a cupboard which contains all the collections of novels that I read along with my academic books. My bed is placed adjacent to the yellow wall which contains another power point.

Vishal used to come at my place once in a blue moon, no one else, except Varun when he was there in the city.

They came to my place at around 5:00 all together on their own vehicles. I made them to sit in my room and feel comfortable. They shared me about what is going inside the class during my absence in the class. In the excitement to meet them I forgot to ask them water. So, I got up and brought some water and soft drinks along with some chips.

Then Ria recite me the incident about Vishal. She told me that he made our physics teacher (who was very strict by her nature) cry in front of the whole class.

I went curious to know about the incident in detail.

The matter was she had given less marks to him in the surprise test that took place 2 days ago. He went to her for clearing his doubts and to know why she had given him so much less marks. Suddenly, their conversation converted into dispute and finally he got succeed in getting marks as he was right and made her cry. It was the moment you shouldn't skip.

Just after few moments when the description of the incident was over Vishal left us as he has to go to attend a wedding with his parents.

Sanjana remembered me that my bike was still there in her gym.

I said,' I will pick it today.'

Meanwhile Ria got a phone call from her friend so I showed her the path to privacy. As Ria left the place Sanjana got up from her place and sat next to me holding my palm in between her hands. I was shocked about her frankness towards me within just two meeting with me. I felt nervous as my parents were at home and she can see my anxiety on my face as there were few droplets of sweat on it. She then laugh out in buster saying I was just checking how will you react if somebody do this with you. I also joined her in laughter but in my mind I was having a doubt about her behaviour. Both the girls were about to leave when I asked Sanjana whether I can come with her to pick the bike?

She nodded.

After that we all went to our destination. I picked the bike and was going to start my bike when this time Sanjana asked me to give her a lift to her house as her brother (the trainer of the gym) wants vehicle, so, could I please drop her to her house.

How guys can deny the chance to ride a bike with a beautiful girl.

I wanted to deny her but her beautiful eyes and voice stopped me to do so.

She was sitting very close to me putting her arms on my shoulder.

On the way back to her house she owe me a treat which was due last time on the same ice-cream parlour but this time I choose my own flavour.

After that she told me to stop my bike at a walking distance before her house. I agreed to her without saying anything.

We reached our destination within another 15 minutes. She then hugged me and tried to kiss me on my lower lip. I immediately push her away and left the place without noticing what she was saying to me from my back.

Chapter 4 - The Crush of my Life

CHAPTER  4

 NEW FIRENDS

I have the gang of four people with destructive minds that includes ME,VISHAL,RIA and SANJANA.
I knew Vishal since past 2 years but we didn't talk too much as he was having shy nature but I don't know where his shy nature has gone in 11th grade.
He was like a brother to me but no one can replace Varun. Without him I would miss the best part of my life.
Vishal was samll and quite slim. He has got an oval face with bright blue eyes and a big mouth.He has small browm wavy hair. He was quite handsome but due to his shy nature he become ugly.
He always seem to be serious mood. We have many similarities like we both love riding bikes, sports and many more but sometimes our opinion differs like he used to stare at girls, love boozing but I don't like his this habit. And it is the only reason that why he was having a less slight edge over Varun in my life. He tends to be stubborn especially when anyone says him not to do this thing. He always disobeys the instructions that were given to him.
I remembered one of the incidents when he showed the class his guts to do anything.
Once we were in the chemistry laboratory, (lab), and the room in our school where we used to do our chemistry experiments with some harmful solutions. The room was situated on the corner of the top floor of the main building of our school. The strange feature of the room was its wall. The color of the all the 4 walls was white. There were several charts on the wall showing something related to our syllabus and experiments while some of higher level studies. There was no way to exit of fumes generated with our experiments except the entry gate. As we enter the room, on the left hand side, there was a cupboard where all the solutions were kept in separate bottles in apple pie order with their names pasted on the bottle along with their concentration. The wall on the left has a green board on which our lab teacher taught us about the entire detail of the experiment like aim, apparatus, theory, and many more. In front of the board there was a small embankment of 4*6*4 which was fully tiled on which we used to keep our practical files and teacher put the solutions there to give us demonstration about how to perform the experiment. On the corner of the room there was a small cabin where all the apparatus were kept and the lab assistant was in charge of that cabin to provide us apparatus and took it back from us. In the remaining part of the room there were number of tables, each for the group of 4 students (two on one side of table and two on opposite) to perform the experiments. Each and every table consists of some basic solutions like HCl,H2SO4 and many more. There was always a decent smell of solutions inside the room which I like the most about going to that room.
Our teacher had explained us the experiment and we were going to repeat it and warned us not to mix solutions used in that experiment as it may lead to explosion inside the room. Fortunately, my partner was Vishal, opposite to us there were Sanjana and Ria. When he came to knew about the explosion his curiosity to do that has doubled or thrice. He said to me, 'Get ready for the explosion'
I replied, ‘Are you nuts. Don’t dare to do such non-sense?'
But he doesn't listen to any body when he made his mind to do such things.
It was his better luck and my bad luck that an assistant informed the lab teacher that the principle has called her urgently. So, the teacher left us on our own.
Now, he has the full authority to do explosion as there was no assistant at the same time. He just took the solution from the table and mixed them firstly, nothing had happened but suddenly a fire took birth that may harm all the four students working on that table. Fortunately nothing like that happened. I knew how to react at that situation as I had seen many tutorials about this in my free time. So, I picked the fire extinguisher hanging on the wall behind me and used it to bring situation under our control.
If something serious had taken place then we all four were going to be suspended as the incident took place on our table.
From that day I loved his accompany and started taking risks without any fear. We went for bike rides after my classes. Sometimes, he used to drink but I always declined his offer to booze because after boozing he lost his control on his mind and someone is also required to drove us back to our place. But to give him accompany in drinking I always like to have soft drinks.




       My meeting with SANJANA,
After my 1st friend anniversary, with Ria I boycott snacks in the evening and also in our school canteen as I was gaining weight quickly. To remove the extra weight from my body I joined the only GYM in my city which was too far from my house. As I was busy with schools, coaching classes, my job so I opted to have gym right after my coaching classes at around 8:00 p.m.
Once I was doing my regular workout (some extra as compared to my regular schedule of my workout), I saw a girl entering the gym, in the mirror in front of me. I only noticed her face.
She came near to me and stood opposite to me.
"How many minutes more?" come a question from her side.
I didn't respond to her question. She was indeed beautiful and so was her voice. Her round necked pink t -shirt elegantly revealed a part of her poised figure. Her tight fitting black leotards ran all the way down her firm legs. She was very fair in her complexion. Her hair was drenched probably with sweat and few droplets glittered on her forehead. She was wearing a wristband and she stood there looking at my face, munching some chewing gum, passing it from the left side of her mouth to the right and vice-versa.
'Excuse-me' she raised her hands with a sarcastic smile on her face. It indicates that she mind my staring at her.
Honestly, I didn't have any bad intentions. All in all, I was surprised because why she was asking me this question.
Though I was only one inside the gym I noticed as I looked everywhere.
"Would you mind telling me how long you would do your exercise? As she was getting late to shut down the gym as the gym trainee was not there on that day." she said.
Sorry! I quickly apologized for not immediately answering the question.
Then I throw a quick glance on the wall clock. It was showing 9:30 p.m.
'What the f*ck' I said neglecting that I was with a girl.
I replied,'5 more minutes.'
She was about to left that place when she got slipped due to her shoe laces as my foot was on her untied shoe lace. In order to save her from falling down I dropped my dumbbell and saved her from falling down.
As soon as she stood on her foot I felt down because the dumbbell I dropped fall on my foot and it was paining badly and on the spot my foot started swallowing and become almost thrice of what it was a few moments ago.
'Sorry, Sorry, Sorry!!!' she said and pull me to sit on chair.
'You got injured in order to save me.'
She then hurriedly went to the refrigerator inside the cabin to brought some ice cubes. When she came back she started rubbing it on my foot.
All I was moaning, "Mummy, Mummy".
I don't know why all humans starts remembering their Mummy when they get injured.
After a while, I was having a good control on my pain.
She asked me whether she could call a doctor or not?
But I refused.
She said OK then, but she is going to drop me at my house and no excuses will be accepted.
I said I can go on my own as I have to drop my boss bike to his place.
But she was not ready to listen even a single word.
I left with no choice except for accepting her lift.
I was inside her car while she was parking my bike inside the gym.
All she was looking damn hot with that bike, I captured the moment on my phone and on my memory as well. She came after 10 minutes after she was done with all her stuff.
As she put the seat belt and ignited the car, she said," she would go only if I will tell her my name."
I replied, 'Oh Sorry!! I am Hitesh."
She laughed hard and said, 'Hi. I am Sanjana, by the way.' and drove the car towards my house.
We chatted for some more minutes, along the red-road.
She told me about her school where she was studying. I was shocked after listening her because she was in the very same school in which I was studying.
She said she will come tomorrow onwards as she was not in the same city so far so as to attend the classes.
On our way back to my house she asked whether I wanted to have some ice-cream. To be honest, I was feeling hungry so I said YES, only if you will pay it for that. She only smiled and stopped the car in front of the ice-cream parlor. As I was not able to walk so I remained inside the car. She came after a while with two cones of ice-cream of chocolate flavour which I hate the most but I have to eat it as a childish and beautiful girl is with me.
She then stopped the car in front of my house.
We chatted for some more time inside the car.
"It’s a great time with you. May be sometime I will drive you to your place!" I said.
'Yeah!! for sure as you owe me a treat'
"That’s sound great, free food is always welcomed" she said as we both were coming out of the car.
She then asked me for my contact number so that she may ask about my condition and get regular updates as well.
I gave her my number and in the next moment she gave a missed call so that I can have her number too.
She then smiled, waved and her car disappeared from sight. Her image still floated in my head as I reached my house. My parents had seen me get out of car and demanded full explanation. I told whole story to them.
I was dying to meet her again, I owned her contact number but I never called her as I feel awkward in calling her. All I was waiting to meet her next time I will see her and could feast silly at the sight of those two heart stealing eyes and smile.

Chapter 3 - The Crush of my Life

CHAPTER 3

 ONE MONTH OF OUR FRIENDSHIP

As we were in grade 11th so we are having our coaching classes as well and it’s just the matter of coincidence that we were in the same coaching center for the preparation of competitive exams like JEE, BITS and so on. To add to it, the classes were just a stone throw distance from her house but she never showed me her house because she was afraid of her eccentric parents.

We spent our most of the evenings together and sometimes we went for snacks in the evening after the class and pay for that alternatively. I thought it is very difficult to bring money from a girl's purse but she altered my view about that.

We used to meet every day in school sitting behind each other so that we can spend more time with each other.

And the days were becoming weeks and our friendship was becoming as strong as ionic bond.
And then the day came 6th may, the 29th day of our friendship and I was happy because tomorrow it’s going to a month to our friendship. So I decided to give her a surprise gift and I bought a beautiful necklace for her. I wanted to talk to her but I had no source to talk to her as it was off for the classes that day and I hadn't ask whether she uses facebook or not yet.

I wasn't feeling good as I wanted to listen to her voice but I had no other option except to wait for the next day. I didn't sleep for the whole night as I was excited to see her expression after watching my gift. Then suddenly a question passes my mind,

Will she remember the day as well??

Meanwhile I saw the time it was 5:00 am and I didn’t sleep the whole night. So to control my excitement and curiousness I went to the nearby park for a walk.

I picked up the phone and started playing songs on it and went for the walk.

After that I left for the school much earlier than the usual days but suddenly rain started. It was like a cherry on the cake and I sat inside the class on my favourite seat with my uniform half wet. I waited for her but she didn't come while our classes began. I was staring at the door of the class whereas teacher started his lecture on thermodynamic as it was our chemistry class.

The very next moment I saw her with her wet hair on her face.

'Strands of her wet hair were glued to her cheek.'

She sat before me without noticing me as she was upset due to the mess up that rain created to her hairs.

I wondered how girls manage their so long hair.

In the lunch time, she said hello to me and shook her hand with me.

And then we went for the lunch in canteen.

Sometimes she brought lunch for both of us while sometimes we share one lunch. I too brought lunch for her but very frequently. We used to pay our food bills alternatively.

As it was her turn to pay the bill, so I ordered a chocolate pastry for me which I hated the most but still I ordered it because she was crazy about chocolates and its products.

Then I brought out the gift that I bought for her.

She asked me the reason for giving her gift so I thought that she hadn't remember that its one month to our friendship and told her the reason for the gift.

She opened it and was so happy after watching it.

But I was watching to her face only nothing else. Her smile took me to another world.

Meanwhile she holds my hand with her and brings me back to the world of reality.

I asked her to wear that for me she said she will but not now as per our school rules and regulations we were not supposed to wear any rings, necklace or anything during our school hours. Meanwhile we got our lunch and we cut the chocolate pastry as an honour to our friendship.

Then I asked her would she mind to go with me in the evening rather than going to classes?

As I want to spend the rest of the day with her.

Accidently I saw a gift in her bag as well but I didn't speak a word because I was sure it wasn't for me.

She nodded.

It was still raining but not so hard to destroy our plans.

In the evening we met as usual near our coaching center from where I was supposed to pick her. As I am not having my personal vehicle in the evening so I borrowed one from my boss as he always allowed me to take his bike because we were very close to each other and went there to pick her.

She was wearing the same dress code as I was but she was looking beautiful, stunning and gorgeous.

She came near to me took the back seat and we went to the nearby manmade pond Brahma Sarovar where I frequently visit when I was sad or feel lonely because the atmosphere there gives me positive vibes that something better has to be happened yet.

 The historic Brahma Sarovar has many modern facilities and pathways. It is 3600 feet long and 1500 feet broad and is in the shape of perfect rectangular. The tanks are especially crowded during solar eclipse because it is believed that a dip there during the solar eclipse absolves one of all sins. Interestingly, I never dipped in it because I don't believe in these bullshits and not even in god. 

We walked putting hand in hand like kids. She grabbed my arm so tightly like she was missing someone. She then put her head on my shoulder and we walked till we reached shore of the pond. We sat there with our bare feet inside the lake. She was still holding my arm and her head on my shoulder.

We didn't spoke a word so far.

The cold breeze started blowing and sprinkle few drops of water on my face. I thought time would stop there as I was enjoying the ambience of the lake with the most beautiful girl with me.         But nothing like that happened.

After some time she said, "We should leave now."

I wanted her to stay there some more but I nodded

On our way back to the parking I was walking a bit a fast.

She ordered me to walk slow as she was there for me.

I asked her, "whether she wanted to have snacks or not?"

'For sure, If you going to pay for that.' she answered and started laughing.

I joined her as well.

From there we went to my favourite snacks corner where I and Varun used to eat at evenings. I let her to order some food for us.

There I was feeling confused about the gift.

So, I asked her, "I saw a gift in your bag when we were in school canteen. For whom it was? I know it was not my right to asked her anything personal but until I won't get the answer I will be restless.

She said, 'Ohh. Sorry, I brought a gift for you but I not having enough guts to give it to you because I too remember that it's one month to our friendship.’

I was glad to hear that she remembered the day.

Then she brought it out from her bag and gave it to me.

It was a bracelet with my name embedded on it. It was a best gift I have ever received from anyone.

I was on cloud nine.

I said thanks to her and kissed that bracelet.

She replied, “There is nothing sort of that Hitu.”

Yes, Hitu she gave me a nick name on that day as a gift.

I loved that name and the bracelet as well.

After that we ate our snacks and move forward towards the coaching center.

On our way to the classes, I asked her that how can I contact her when I wanted to talk to her.

She gave me a dirty look and smile as I saw on the rear view mirror on the bike.

She said we can talk on facebook whenever I wanted to talk to her.

And when we reached the coaching center, our classes hadn't over. So we decided to wait there till our classes get over.

Soon our classes got over and I was about to leave she called my name and came near to me. She gave me a really tight hug. It felt like heaven to me.

She gave a high five and said see you tomorrow in school and left the place.

******** Please comment about how you like this chapter in the comment section.*********