CHAPTER-23
CLOWN
Chapter Highlights...
“Akshat sir!”, I squealed, as my feet slipped against the floor. The very next moment, Akshat tightened his right hand around my curvy waist and I rested my right palm on his left shoulder. Our eyeballs were engrossed in rolling at each other. I examined his eyebrows raised with a mixture of two concerns-one at my sudden ailment, although trivial, and another, thinking how he would justify his true love to me.
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Naomi’s POV
I shrugged at Ruhi. She folded her hands and raised her eyebrows, looking away. I bent to take the long unruled notebook of about two hundred pages.
“Seems like the next amendment of the constitution must be to punish those who insult studies in public such as the classroom. What do you say?”, asked I, shrinking my eyes at Sana and Tina who in turn bulged their eyes back.
I rolled Muskan’s notebook like the degree certificate wrapped with a red ribbon that a graduate receives during their convocation. I walked towards the first bench of the middle row where the three musketeers sat. They stood up as I neared them.
“You’re right, Naomi”, added Vyomi, standing behind me.
One zero six,
One zero six,
Ruhi is in a fix.
While Diya sang her own verses, Tanvi hit a string or two of her guitar, to follow the rhythm. I chuckled at Vyomi who pouted in an attempt to control her laughter.
“Shut up!”, roared Ruhi. Karan inverted his lips and nodded to mock her who gnashed her teeth.
One zero-sixth is the next amendment,
Ruhi is in amusement!
Karan laughed with tears in his eyes as Diya completed and Tanvi bowed as if it were a stage performance. Muskan who had been trembling at Ruhi till then smiled at us. I returned a smile at her.
“Don’t worry. What’s your doubt? I will explain”, offered I.
“But, if it's a silly…”
“Nothing is silly when it comes to exam preparations. Every single doubt is damn serious. Speak it out, dude. Law of taxation is a bit tricky, I understand.”
I escorted Muskan to the only free first bench on the row juxtaposed to our class door. I sat beside her. She quickly turned the pages of her notes to the last module of problem-solving.
“This one. A hospital that is established solely…How to answer the question? It is quite application-oriented...”, she asked. I explained to her in simple words including how to elaborate on the long answer. She smiled and thanked me.
“Sure, Muskan! Let's discuss this anytime you have questions. These case-study problem-solving type questions are tricky but it's the most useful when we start practicing law tomorrow”, concluded I, with a wider smile.
“Thank you very much. None are approachable in my class except you”, she repeated, with tears. She hugged and sobbed. I patted her head to which Vyomi nodded.
“Naomi is sweet, Muskan. She doesn’t even know how to spell the word ‘scold’. Haha!”, joked Karan. Diya bet his hand in an amicable fashion.
“In fact, I don’t think one must screw someone who approaches them, especially for studies. A clearer discussion is good enough to clarify doubts of any kind. Let's help each other and grow together. Tomorrow I may have a doubt about a topic that's clear to you. We never know whose help is required at a point in time”, explained I.
“Oh!”, the other classmates cheered, in chorus. Karan whistled aloud. I threw my mouth wide open.
“I just told the fact…Why is everyone acting as if I were a politician in an election campaign?”, I whispered to Vyomi.
“Enough”, shouted Sana. It was the first time I had heard her voice that entire semester. She shook Ruhi, provoking her, “Come on, you can do this.
“Who is she to take you over?...”
Ruhi displayed her right palm and gestured for her friend to stop. She began heading towards me. She faked a smile as she sighed hard along with it.
“What do you think of yourself? Miss Perfect?”, she began, closing her left fist.
“Ruhi, I was just advising everyone in general….In fact, I was just sharing my thoughts on helping our classmates. You were very rude to Muskan. Didn’t you at least repent at her tears?...”
“Stop being the Florence Nightingale of Janki University”, she interrupted me, with a higher pitch. Tanvi, Diya, and Karan hurried toward us.
“Bet?”
Ruhi challenged, extending her right palm at me.
“Which bet? What are you telling, Ruhi?...”
Tina wheezed out a huge burst of laughter. It took me a couple of seconds to understand that she cackled because otherwise, it sounded like a donkey braying.
“What else do you think it can be?”, she opened the floor for me to guess.
“Wow! She doesn’t even know such a simple answer”, commented Sana, resting her right hand on Ruhi’s left shoulder. “I think you are wasting your time and energy on this. It's like a leopard competing with a cat or dog in a running race.”
As the three musketeers shared a HiFi and laughed among themselves, the entire class shared puzzled faces at me; some limited themselves to shrugging at their immediate bench mates.
“Look around! None are smart here, Ruhi”, Tina pointed out, as her usual tone of the annoying round of laughter accompanied her lines.
“Fine! Let me reveal it myself. Shall I? Pass?”, asked Ruhi. I submitted my right palm in hers and nodded along.
“Naomi, for your kind information, our third-semester exams are fast approaching. Are you at least aware of the matter if not anything else?”, she mocked, as we released our hands.
Love is so blind that it just happens unexpectedly.
You may fall for anyone!
Would you let go of your policy if you fell for someone you shouldn't? What would you choose-your policy or your beloved?
“Oh, please! Dude, she has been studying overnight for the same. Being her roommate, I'm a reliable eyewitness. I’m sure none else is more serious than her across our entire batch”, Vyomi spoke for me. I smiled at my best friend defending me.
“Exactly! How dare you do this, Ruhi?”, asked Karan, for the first time, in a serious tone. Diya and Tanvi too frowned at Sana and Tina respectively.
“Whatever!”, exclaimed Ruhi, throwing a tiny wicked smile. “Naomi, I throw an open challenge at you. It's between you and me. Who do you think will be the university gold medalist this semester?”
“See, this isn’t fair. Knowledge matters…”, began I.
Vyomi caught my hand firmly.
“Of course, no doubts! It's gonna be our friend, Naomi. It's not only due to her genuine and consistent hard work but also due to her good nature that she will beat you”, stressed Muskan.
Drops of sweat rolled down my forehead. I felt the real pressure for the next couple of minutes when my gang of famous five burdened me with high hopes. Ruhi too was acting in an unpredictable manner, I agree. But, what’s the difference if we act the same way back at our enemy? Ignorance is the best solution during such situations, I reflected.
“Why is your party scared?”, dragged Tina, checking me out.
“I don’t want to argue but I don’t know why I’m always forced to. It's okay! If I have to, I must”, I admitted, shaking hands with Ruhi.
“You will understand how you made a clown of yourself. Hahaha!”, challenged Karan, clapping along.
“I will give it my best”, said I, smiling along, at Ruhi. She barged outside followed by the other two musketeers.
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“Kiku!”
I heard a familiar male voice emerging from behind me. I turned back and bulged my eyes at Akshat sir jogging with the short fat book titled ‘Criminal Law’ in dark yellow on a black background having a light shade of a gray hammer symbolizing justice.
“What’s the matter, sir?”, I enquired.
He blushed. His eyes dived into mine. He was just looking at me without uttering a single word. My heartbeat paused, resumed, and repeated. After a couple of seconds, I turned my eyes toward the floor. I tried to stop blushing but couldn’t help my cheeks from growing pinker and pinker.
“Sir, please stop staring at me. I told you everything the other day. The more you try and hope for me to love you, the more you will be hurt…please stop loving me. We shouldn’t love...”, thought I.
“Aye!”, he called, intervening in my cloud of thoughts. I held my breath in shock for a second. I shut my eyes as he neared his right index finger towards me.
“Akshat sir, what are you doing?”, murmured I. I felt him touch my silver-plated ear drops, having a kite shape, with a bright white pearl in the center.
“Nice rhombuses hanging from a small ring. What a chic design!”, he complimented. I slowly opened my eyes filled with tears which I tried to swallow.
“Aww! That's so sweet of you, Kiku. None have ever observed me so well. None have ever paid attention to my minute details. Thank you!”, I thanked him, with a wide smile. I had never been this close to a guy ever before. I wore a gray Kurti top paired with mustard yellow-colored legging pants that evening.
“A perfect accessory for a perfect dress that a perfect woman is wearing. Sexy!”, added he, blushing and hugging the book in his hands.
“Woman?”, squealed I, shrinking my eyes and pretending as if my blood were boiling at his reference.
“Why?”, asked he.
“I am a young girl. How dare you call me a woman? Anyways, why are you flirting with me now? I need to study”, I wanted to cut our conversation right there.
“Flirt?!”, he exclaimed, blocking my way as he spread both his arms wide open and stood in front of me.
“Of course! Eardrop is a nice, pretty girl, and so on…Oh lord! Who uses such terms?- Last benchers who change their girlfriends like a pregnant woman’s mood swings. Urgh!”, compared I, advising myself too that he wasn’t romancing like a lover but instead flirting like a creepy guy at a roadside tea stall.
“Hey, not at all! Aloo Kiku! What are you talking about? Don’t you know how much I love you? Didn’t you feel happy when I complimented you? Didn’t you feel special about my observation?...”
“Awww! How are you such a sweet gentleman, Akshat sir? You literally read my mind now. But, no..no way...I shouldn’t overthink”, thought I, shaking my head to myself.
“Sir, don’t act smart. I knew your intentions very well. I agree that I am not as smart as you but you ought to agree that I am a little smart!”, said I, interrupting his explanation.
I shrank my rich dark pupils at his meek and hesitant eyes clarifying that he was genuine. I couldn’t take my eyes off him although I began walking forward.
“Akshat sir!”, I squealed, as my feet slipped against the floor. The very next moment, Akshat tightened his right hand around my curvy waist and I rested my right palm on his left shoulder. Our eyeballs were engrossed in rolling at each other. I examined his eyebrows raised with a mixture of two concerns-one at my sudden ailment, although trivial, and another, thinking how he would justify his true love to me.
He blushed, helping me stand up erect. I looked around to find none else, for my wristwatch had already struck five. I sighed at the water being spilled so recklessly. I blushed and looked down. I noticed my hands gluing with his. I released his cozy palms slowly.
“Naomi, answer me”, he broke the silence, as he hid a portion of my hair behind my right ear.
I closed my eyes and chuckled as he neared to whisper in my ears, “Naomi, why did you take my name when you slipped on the damp floor? Generally, people say ‘Oh god!’, ‘Mom!’, ‘Hai Hai!’, but why me?”
“His question indeed makes sense. Why only Akshat? Why did I think of him? Does he always run in my mind?”, thought I, rolling my eyeballs hither and thither.
Aww! Why did Naomi think of Akshat?!
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