Tuesday, May 8, 2007

Chapter Five

He walked back to class. He was beginning to feel confused again. Something said what he was doing is wrong. He was caught in a dilemma; whether to follow his mind or his heart. It was a fight he was not able to manage. He had never been in this situation. He had ruled his mind till now. He could not accept the fact that this was happening to him.

It was one of the longest days in his life. Classes were boring. He couldn’t concentrate. He was completely lost in thoughts. And the question ‘Why? Why? Why?’ kept haunting him. His sleep that night was disturbed.

It had been a good day for Shweta till Shiva popped up. She wanted to know what was so urgent. But the thought that a guy approached her made her spine chill. She has been preventing herself from getting close or even talking with a guy. She had to. She had no other alternative. Her sleep that night was erratic too. The problem with her was she for some reason liked the way he talked to her. She felt a sense of purpose in his talk. He was not playing with her. Of that, she was sure. But…

The question that haunted him was now probing her the next day… ‘Why? Why? Why?’ She decided to call him up that night and wanted to make it as crisp as possible. She didn’t want a guy to think about her.

She called that evening. Shiva picked it up. She asked him what was so urgent for him to talk with her. He was caught off guard. He had not expected her call. He had forgotten that episode. He was totally under prepared for a conversation with her. He knew what he had to convey. But he didn’t know how to convey it. Then he spoke, “you disturb me a lot…”

She was left speechless. He heard her breathing hard. She was suddenly nervous. She spoke in a whisper, “means?” Not knowing what to tell, he blurted it out bluntly. “I seem to have developed a liking for you. I won’t term it a liking… It is something that I cannot define. It is beyond my thought process. But your image is disturbing me a lot. I seem to like your ways. Your way of doing things. The way you carry yourself. The difference that surrounds you. You are not like any other girl I have come across. There is something different about you. Your face conveys a million things to me. You portray yourself to be happy all the time. I like every bit of whatever you do. Be it your smile or the way you walk or the way you throw your head back while you laugh. Your naughty smirk smile… In spite of all these things, one more thing is very evident. It stands out. You ARE NOT happy! There is something deep within that is disturbing you all the time. The mask you’ve created for yourself hides that inner feeling of helplessness. But…” He stopped. There was muteness.

The silence was broken by her breath. She was sobbing! Sobbing so quietly and so unintelligibly that he could hear only her deep inhale of breath. And he was confused even more!! What had he done? He knew! He had felt this was going to land him in trouble. He kept calling her name. She started crying uncontrollably!

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