Hridya's POV
The final bell rings signalling the end of exam and I take a last glance at my answer sheet before the examiner comes to collect it. I hand over the sheet to professor and my eyes automatically turns to Him. He is packing his stuff and I start packing my belongings too at a slower pace than normal hoping for a last interaction before I leave. But there is none. He gets up from his seat and walks out of the room without even looking back and I am left with a hopeless and disappointed sigh.
I quicken my pace and pack my stuff and leave the class too. I school my expressions back to normal leaving out the thoughts of a certain someone and look for my friends among the crowd. There are a lot of students outside the academic block.
I finally find the three of them but there gazes are locked somewhere in the crowd or should I say at someone?
I follow the direction in which they are looking and I realise what they are staring at with such intense gaze: Dheer Bharadwaj. He is a senior who has come this year only in the master's program and is apparently the crush of Noor. This girl never liked anyone before but I really wonder what she has seen in him to make her this crazy for him apart from his good looks obviously. I mean Dheer looks good; he has got a good personality but I personally don't think he is good for Noor. It's just that he drinks alcohol and Noor hates those things plus we also don't know much about his background since he is new in the college so it's better if Noor doesn't get too attached to him. I just don't want my friend to get hurt. But I trust Noor's judgement and even if anything happens we are there for her to support her in every decision. Always.
I walk towards them and the three of them don't even notice me.
"Bas karo uss bechare ko taadna ab", I say standing behind them causing them to startle at my intervention.
[Stop staring at the poor guy now.]
"Le, kyun band karein bata? Tu toh apne wale ko taad aayi hai poore 1.5 ghante. Ab bechari Noor na taade apne wale ko, jo usko kabhi kabhi dikhta hai." Avika responds with her brows furrowed and I realise there is no way I am winning this argument when they bring up Avyukt.
[Why should we stop? You have stared at your guy for around 1.5 hours and now our poor Norr can’t even stare at her guy for a few minutes whom she sees occasionally only.]
"Bilkul sahi baat hai, Avika. Ye khud toh dekh aayi hai jiju ko ab bechari Noor ko bhi thoda nayansukh lene de." Dhairya says with the same tasing glint in her eyes and that mischievous smile which says that they have me cornered.
[You are right Avika. She herself has stared brother-in-law for long and now let our poor Noor warm her eyes too.]
I sigh and raise my hand in surrender. "Okay. Okay. Chalo dekh lete hain iss jiju ko bs."
[Let’s see this brother-in-law too.]
And then we four do a Samuhik Taadna session until Dheer vanishes from there. We have a sis-code: no one crushes over the guy if someone from our group likes him. We are to call him jiju and treat that way. So, while Noor is staring at him with the butterflies in her stomach, we are busy judging his dressing style like we are a judge in a fashion show and also trying to find some things about him so we can tease Noor about it later. Friends, right?
After the end of our taadna session, we go back to our hostel and right now we are sitting in the mess having our lunch.
"Or bhai fer, aaj kya bole jiju?" Dhairya pats my back as she takes her seat beside me.
[So, what did he say today?]
"Kya hi bolna hai jiju ne tumhare..." I shake my head with a sigh.
[What would he say?]
"Kya matlab kya hi bolna hai? Iss baar nahi bola 'mast se cases' batana Hridya?!" Avika adds.
[What do you mean by what would he say? Didn’t he say ‘tell me some interesting cases’ Hridya this time?]
"Nahi. Kuch nhi bola aisa. Sirf ek case ke fact puche piche mudke or wo bhi bs fir thankyou bolke khatam. Uske aage no interaction, no friendly gesture." I try to sound normal to hide my disappointment but these girls are no one to believe my act.
[Nope. Nothing like that. He only asked me facts of one case and then said thank you. After that, nothing.]
"Hadd hai bhai! Ek semester toh itna friendly ho jao and then next semester bilkul ignore hi kardo. Ye koi baat hoti hai. Isse acha toh na hi bolta phir last semester. Tab toh itna hass hass ke aaya tha baat krne." Avika says with a disappointed look.
[Come on bro, one semester you act all friendly and then next semester you ignore completely. What is this? It would have been better if he didn’t speak last semester too. At that time, he was talking so freely while passing smiles.]
"Whi toh." Noor adds.
[Exactly.]
"Leave it yaar, ab kya kar sakte hain. Uske responses ab hum toh control nahi kar sakte na. and it's not like ki humare beech mein kuch hai, jo main jaake usko confront karun uske behaviour ke liye. Uske liye main sirf attendance list mein ek naam hoon- bas. Mere dil ka bojh uski zimmedari nahi hai." I say as the logical part of mind tries to justify the sadness I felt from his behaviour.
[We can’t do anything. We can’t control his response and it’s not like we are a thing that I need to confront him about his behaviour. I am just a name in attendance list for him. my heart’s burden is not his responsibility.]
"Haan wo toh ab kuch bhi keh lo." Avika says.
[Yeah. Whatever pleases your heart.]
We finish our lunch and go back to our rooms but all the while I was thinking about Avika's words. It's true I was hoping for more than just a mere question from him. I thought that at least after these three years of small interactions I will be able to have him as a friend only. Even the last semester, our interactions went beyond those brief exam time interactions.
Flashback: Last semester
I was waiting with other 7-8 students for the viva outside the professor's office. My viva was after Avyukt and he hasn't arrived yet. I was preparing for the viva when he entered the room. He looked at me and whispered in a low voice.
"ho gaye viva start? Main late toh nahi hua na?"
[Has the viva started? I didn’t get late right?]
I shook my head and calmed my racing heart before I replied. "Abhi ma'am is having lunch. She'll start the viva in next 10 minutes."
"Ohh okay okay." He replied with a small smile.
He opened his laptop while I was trying to keep my focus on preparing for the viva rather than stealing glances at him.
In the next 10 minutes the viva started and one by one we were to go in the office for presentation. Among all the ten students present there, there were two twin brothers too. Their roll numbers were next to each other only.
Avyukt and I were both waiting for our turn and we shared a few words regarding our topics and the mood of professor by judging the reactions of students who went before and came out. The conversation was feeling almost naturally with him.
When one of the twin brothers came out, I made a joke. "iske baad agar dusre wala jayega toh ma'am confuse ho jayengi na ki abhi toh ye viva de kar gaya tha." I chuckled.
[If after him, the other one goes then the teacher will get confuse like he has just left so why is he coming back?]
Avyukt looked at me and then also chuckled and damn I almost saved my laptop from falling from my hands because my heart skipped a beat. "Haan, you know the other day even professor Kavya got shocked and said the same thing." He said with a soft laugh and I laughed softly too.
We shared a laugh and it didn't feel like we were interacting for the first time apart from our few words exchange during exams. We giggled quietly until his turn came. He politely asked the girl ahead of him if he could go first due to something urgent, and she agreed. I waited outside for my turn. I could hear his voice while he was presenting and I heard the teacher praising his presentation and that brought a smile to my face too.
He came back and I told him with a small smile that his presentation was good. He politely said thankyou and packed his laptop. However, what surprised me was that before exiting the gate, he stopped, looked back at me and said, "All the best" and left. I felt a flutter in my heart because he didn't have to do it yet he stopped and said that. It really made my day that day.
------
It was our final exams going on and as usual I was seated at my seat when he walked in the class and took his seat on the desk before me. When he was done writing his details on the sheet he tuned back, almost causing me to drop my pen because my hand was shaking yet I managed to compose myself. He was smiling like a kid who was up to something and said, "Hridya, kuch mast se cases batana."
[Hridya, tell me some interesting cases?]
I smiled. "Mast se cases? Wo konse hote hain?" I asked him with a soft laugh.
[Interesting cases? What are these?]
"Arre koi bhi batado jisme kuch extra-ordinary sa held hua ho." He said with a big grin.
[Anything in which something extra-ordinary was held.]
I thought for a while and then told him a few cases. He thanked and we gave our exam.
In the next exam, he again said the same thing and it became like an inside joke between us. In every exam he would enter and the moment we locked eyes with each other; we both were smiling with the knowledge of what's going to come next.
By the time it was last exam I was hoping it to happen again but this time something more happened. I was walking with Avika and Noor through the corridor to my classroom. Their roll number was in different classroom. I knew Avyukt was behind me only because we entered the building at the same time but I pretended I didn't notice for obvious reasons.
I was talking to Avika while acting like I am busy putting my admit card in my small pouch when I heard a voice calling my name from behind with a teasing smile. "Hridya, aaj bhi batado mast se cases." He came and joined me while walking to the class.
[Hridya, tell the interesting cases today too.]
I chuckled and I didn't know when Avika and Noor were left behind because they were too busy supressing their teasing smiles while I talked to Avyukt and we went in our class.
Flashback ends.
Last semester, he made me feel seen — not entirely, not deeply, but enough to matter. I thought maybe I was becoming someone to him. But now, he looks right through me. And the worst part? I still look for him in every room I walk into. Still hope. Still wait. Silently.
Hi All!
The chapter are short i know but it's just that every moment has it's own significance and i don't want to dilute the emotions just to make them lengthy.
I want to write a sweet college romance just like I have imagined but I don't want to make it completely fictional either for the things which aren't even possible in real life, right? So, maybe iss book mein aapko over the top gestures na milein or na hi koi flashy richness dikhe but I promise, you will love their bond and my HridYukt.
Toh bane rahiye story ke saath.
See you in the next chapter.
Love you all those who are reading.
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