Nisha opened her eyes only to realize that she was resting her head on Dr.Alok's chest. She released herself from his arms and stepped back. His light brown eyes were spellbound in her rich black pupils. He smiled with his cute and tiny eyes glittering along." Your smile is so different today,saar", thought she, smiling in return. His smartphone beeped with a notification. He checked it and blushed to himself. Her smile narrowed and she hid her tears.
"Why the hell did the stupid Payal enter our lives?", yelled she, deep inside her mind. She frowned, sobbing to herself, and banged her hand behind. Drops of blood began dripping from her right palm. However, hardly did she realize the pain for she was busy gnashing her teeth secretly at his phone. Dr.Alok put his mobile back in his pocket. His eyes then happened to catch her injured palm.
"Nisha!", shouted he, pointing at her hand. He grabbed his handkerchief, knelt in front of her, and began wiping the blood on her hand. Nisha was stunned at the bleeding. She, however, smiled at him bandaging it anxiously. "You should have been careful. Didn't you see the small glassy door behind you here? You have been living in this apartment for years and how come...", worried he, at which she thought, "Aww! Alok, I would love to be hurt a trillion times if you were going to bandage my wounds so affectionately like this."
As he tied her hand firmly with his kerchief and stood up, she smiled and thanked him, "I am alright now Alok saar. So sweet of you!"He put his arms around her shoulders and began to escort her towards her flat. She faked a smile and refused, "Go home, Alok. Your Payal is waiting for you."
"None are waiting for me. None. I have been living as a loner for the past fifteen years or so.", thought he, "I'm sorry,medam. But, I will tell you everything some other day if we happen to meet again." He nodded and left towards the lifts. They waved at each other until the lift's door closed.
"Nishoo beta, you must have been careful. Don't tell me that the old waves of possessiveness have hit you again now after meeting him", uttered Sandhya, fetching the first-aid box from the shelves and sitting on the bed with her daughter. Nisha shook her head and faked a smile. "I know you. I am your mother and a mom knows everything! So, you better don't lie to me!", argued Sandhya, wrapping the tapes of white bandage gently around her hand.
"Mom, I still love him. I know that he is a married man yet I love him as always.", revealed Nisha, weeping and hugging her mom. Alok was about to step inside their room with the tablets when he stopped outside and began overhearing.
She continued, "Can I change the fact that you are my mother? Can you show another boy and call him my son? You can't be replaced...My son, Alok cannot be replaced. In the same way, I cannot change the fact that Dr.Alok is my lover...Yes, he is the only man I ever loved in my entire life."She wiped her tears, caught her mother's hands, and continued, "Mom, didn't I try dating other guys upon your insistence? I couldn't feel the same way for any of them. That's the kind of emotion I feel for Dr.Alok. Nothing can ever replace it."She hugged her mom again and concluded, "It may be a sin to have been loving a guy who loves someone else. One may feel that I am obsessed with him. But, it's love, mom. Is it wrong to be obsessed with someone whom you love very much...more than anything else in the world?" She wept bitterly as she rested her head on her mom's lap.
"Oh! So, Dr. Alok Sharma isn't mom's friend. She had loved him back in their college and loves him even now. But, why couldn't the gentleman love her back? Why did he choose Payal aunty?", wondered the young adult. He closed his eyes, leaned to the wall behind, and wished, "Why is love so unfair at least in my mom's life? You must have got him, mom...you are so sweet, and never did I imagine that something unlucky like this would happen in your life for you kicked the misfortune out of my life by treating me, a stranger like your own family."
The following morning, Tanya and Ranveer were busy having breakfast, sitting on the benches amid the greeny lawn. As Tanya chewed her rolled and stuffed aloo paratha, Ranveer smiled secretly watching her hair flying to the rhythm of the breeze; her notable fringe too fell on the front and kept disturbing her. He leaned back and brought his right hand beside her left hand on the green bench.
"Event!", exclaimed she, as she completed her breakfast and rushed towards the banner being placed by four clerks at the entrance of the opposite block. "Shit!", exclaimed the frustrated Ranveer, frowning and following her. She snatched her bottle from him and gulped two mouths. "Wow!Prizes too! Sounds interesting, right?", said the excited Tanya. She pointed at Dr.Alok's full-length photo on the banner and went on, "Dude, look at that! Dr.Alok is a great researcher too. He was specially invited by our university for research..."
"Hmm! Stop calling me dude!", thought Ranveer, adding to her, "Yep! It also says that the competition is held as a part of the event to welcome the honorable professor." She nodded and smiled at him with great enthusiasm, deciding, "I will participate. The task is very unique and mind-blowing. Isn't it?..."
While he nodded back and gestured her a thumbs-up sign, Mihir interrupted them, "Yes, of course, Tanya can take part. But, only my boy Alok will win." He also gave Sooraj a loud hi-fi. Their blank friend bumped in, jogging and tightening his bottle's lid. He looked at the poster and bulged his eyes, commenting, "Sexy! Events at our university are so different." He further read it out, "Describe a technical topic so that a layman can understand. It must also be prepared by referring to the standard prescribed textbook of the subject. The goal of the event is to emphasize the importance of textbooks which have been dying with the availability of online resources and ready-made study materials such as PowerPoint slides. The event also aims to make technical things simpler. "He concluded, "Nice initiative!"
He was interrupted by a sudden burst of laughter from Tanya. She looked up at the bright sunny sky and laughed her heart out. While Alok shrugged at her, Ranveer smiled, checking her out. Mihir and Sooraj slammed their foreheads. "What was funny here?", asked Alok.
"The event was posted on our college's Instagram account last night. Didn't you check?", whispered Mihir. Alok shook his head at which Tanya laughed even more. She neared Alok and pulled his cheeks, mocking, "Aww! So cute! You got to know about the event just now and your over-confident buddies are already dreaming of you being the winner!"Ranveer too chuckled at them, teasing, "Alok won't win. This time, it's my girl Tanya's turn. Your friend is outdated."The two bullies did a hi-fi as Sooraj whispered to Alok, "Man, you must register and win. See, our dignity is at stake."
Their professor, Dr.Alok happened to cross them. He stood a few feet away and smiled, as he overheard. The clueless friend, Alok denied, "Huh? No, neither have I ever read textbooks for any subject in Engineering. How can I manage? I don't read books even as a hobby. I only play video games and relax."Sooraj interrupted him, motivating, "Haan yaar, that's the challenge. Don't you feel an event is boring without any hurdles? Prove yourself, man..."
"Congrats, Alok! You have been registered!", announced Mihir, displaying his phone's screen. He chuckled, explaining, "I am very quick. I scanned off the QR code on the poster, gave in your basic details-name, roll number, semester, and branch and it's done!"He turned at their opponents and asked, "Woohoo! Cool, right? I am sure my boy will win!"
"Challenge accepted", declared Tanya, extending her right hand at Alok. The blank competent was startled at his silly friends who patted and encouraged him to sign in. He sighed and nodded helplessly. He shook his right hand with hers and with fire in his eyes, declared, "Sexy! Me too!"Dr.Alok was taken aback by the young Alok's slang. "What a coincidence! We are definitely beyond mere look-alikes and identical names, I guess", thought he.
"Guys!", exclaimed the professor, revealing himself. "Good morning sir!", wished the gang, in chorus and he nodded back. He patted Alok and looked at Tanya, suggesting, "Both of you can team up, right? Team participation too is allowed. Didn't you see? Both of you could prepare better and also win..share the prize if you get any! What say?"Tanya and Alok shook their heads at each other and concluded, "No sir, never. "Tanya further added, "We can't resist each other even for a second!"
The long bell rang at which the students waved at him and rushed inside the block. He too bid them adieu.
Leaning back on the tree behind him and putting his hands in his pants pockets, he sighed, traveling back to the September of 1992. The young professor was a college student back then. He, in his white shirt with cute brown dolly prints on it, out-shirted on light blue jeans was busy collecting all the assignment notebooks as he ran from row to row throughout the classroom of three columns with ten rows in each. Every row had a long green bench with a backrest and could seat four students.
"Alok!Alok!", called out students from the front, back, and middle corners of the classroom. He also had to balance the notebooks in his hands as some dumped their notebook upon him and rushed outside for the break. No sooner were the books about to fall off his hands than the young Nisha caught them and snatched the top half in her hands. She looked pretty in a plain red top inshirted in a black long skirt; she also wore a red hairband that went below her ears and stood stubborn on her hair.
She shrank her eyes cutely at her classmate and shrugged, looking hither and thither. She questioned, "You are the CR(Class Representative) of CT(Computer Technology) while I am the CR of CS(Computer Science). We know that our section is a combined batch. So, don't you think I must be in charge of a part of the class and you for the other?"He nodded. They were interrupted by two guys coming in to submit their books. Nisha gestured them to submit on the pile she had, announcing, "CS!"
"Oh sorry, I forgot...I am not used to dividing my work like this", said the good boy, dragging with his soft yet handsome male voice.
"Alok saar, learn to share your life with me. If not, you must!", demanded his friendly classmate. They chuckled as they stepped outside the class. "Come on, both of us are the CRs. Don't you think we must share our burden?", asked Nisha, at which Alok smiled and agreed, "Yes, Nisha medam.Let's be a team from now!"They chuckled as they left the two piles of books on a table in the staffroom and walked out. They shook hands and smiled at each other.
Presently, Dr. Alok opened his eyes, alarmed by his calendar's notification on his phone, "Cryptography elective class at ten for Sem-6 C"."Sweet memories! Nice to meet you again, Nisha medam. Thanks to what life had kept in store for me!", thought he, stretching his hands and yawning. He sighed and headed towards the opposite block.
