CHAPTER-24
Someone
Chapter Highlights:
With all my efforts in vain, I inverted my lips and slammed my forehead as I felt him staring at me from the stage. I slowly turned my head up to catch his pupils dilating at me; this time, they were light brown. Akshat sir, do you have black or light brown eyes? Urgh! You are so damn confusing, Kiku.
Naomi, stop observing him. Stop! Stop! Stop! What's wrong with me? I looked away to avoid our eye contact from lasting for more than a second.
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Naomi’s POV
“Akshat sir, can you please stop this? I’m sure you have spilled the water by yourself so that you can pretend to catch me on time…Do you think our life is a romance series? I can’t believe that you did this”, said I, breaking the awkward silence.
“Sexy! What are you up to? It's seriously a coincidence. I am Kiku just for you but a professor at the university. Why do you think I would act so cheap?”, he asked, with a serious look.
Akshat shrugged. He looked very adorable with the spiky hairstyle of his mildly oiled hair. Wait, what were those naughty thoughts running through my mind?
“Naomi, you stop yourself, at first. For your kind information, have you completely forgotten the fact that Akshat sir is your lecturer? How could you notice him like a flirtatious girl? Have you gone nuts?...”, I reminded myself. I closed my eyes and shook my head.
He pulled me closer. He pressed my shoulders with his strong manly palms. As he neared his face closer, I observed that the distance between his long eyebrows and wide eyes was a little lesser than what most of us have. “Urgh! Naomi, don’t notice him like this. It's bad”, I reflected.
“Aloo Kiku, above all, can you stop yourself? In that case, why are you trying to stop me? This is injustice”, Akshat emphasized. While he was too lost to stop staring at me, I attempted to release myself from his cozy arms. He held me firmer every time he noticed my effort to leave him behind and walk away.
“Sir, please, we can’t do this. You have been putting me in a tougher dilemma”, began I, “Our conversation on the very topic got over the very evening you proposed to me. I don’t have anything more to say…Please don’t love me this way…Understand that I can and will never see you as my….”
“Why are you forcing yourself, Naomi?”, he asked. He placed his finger on my lips. He continued, ”Your eyes have failed to support your point. There is nothing wrong with our love. “He released me. He took two steps back. He leaned halfway on the top surface of the corridor’s wall. It was rich coffee brown in color. He frowned a bit as he folded his hands and held his legs in a criss-cross posture.
“Who told you that it was forbidden? Close your brains and open your heart to me. I’m sure every other couple will envy us. I promise to give you all the love including all of it that you missed during your childhood. I love you very much. It will be the best chapter of your life. Trust me our love isn’t a crime…”, he advised my thought process.
“Love is love. It just happens naturally and eventually over time. None can plan it. That's referred to as true love. As I said earlier, you are free to take your own sweet time. But, don’t miss it because I don’t want to miss you even if you don’t care about missing me”, he concluded.
Tears flooded my eyes as soon as he completed his justification. The very moment also reminded me that Akshat Malhotra cared for me, more than my parents did, to date. Even if I had ventured to find my better half, I wouldn’t have found such a wonderful spirit.
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?
I blushed with tears rolling down my cheeks as Akshat looked away, wiping a drop of tears. I rested his cheeks in my palms. He turned his weary face at me.
“I too can’t miss you, sir. But, love isn’t the solution. We can talk, and hang out but not love…”, I stuck to my point to compete with the power of fevistick to glue stuff.
“Sexy! But, you too have fallen for me. You love me, Naomi. Your policy is restricting you from realizing your lovely emotions”, he pointed out. He tightened my palms in his. He challenged, “Don’t worry, I will help you realize. And yes, I won’t back off, no matter what it takes to open your heart.”
“Sir, you are just not understanding my point”, I shouted. As I walked forward, I asked him, without facing him, “I don’t know if you are indeed not understanding my point or you purposely don’t want to. This is unfair to me…”
“Kiku!”, he returned a yell. I didn’t bother to turn back. As I continued making my way to the other end of the corridor to take the stairs, he defended his actions, ”It's not me who isn’t understanding. It's you who is reluctant to think about our relationship. There is no policy in love. Why don’t you understand?...”
“Why don’t you understand, Kiku?”, I threw his question back at him.
“Go Kiku go! Sexy! But, never forget that the more you avoid me, the more we will come closer. I can’t lose my love”, said he. I stopped as soon as I reached the riser of the staircase. I turned back. I could feel my pupils dilating as I witnessed him blushing at me. My heart raced as if I just participated in a running race in the muddy playground. I looked at the floor. Without any further delay, I rushed downstairs, continuing to chuckle to myself. I reached the corridor of the first floor.
“Oh, Kiku! I appreciate your enthusiasm to keep trying. Sure, prove it. Let me see how you can read my heart when I myself am in utter confusion”, thought I, looking up and blushing as Akshat’s handsome face flashed in my mind.
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The sharp rays of the morning sun seemed to pierce through the tall and wide glass windows constituting the frontiers of our classroom. I rubbed my palms as the bright morning star was incident on them. I rested my head on the warm and slippery surface. I closed my eyes and displayed a warm smile.
Intaking Vitamin D wasn’t my goal. Relishing nature is the real feeling of peace, I reflected. Today’s competitive and busy world has left nature behind. We hardly spare a second with our mother Earth.
“Jolly! What a beautiful day! Woohoo!”, exclaimed Karan, illustrating my most recent thought.
“Don’t shout. I need to study even if your party doesn’t”, squealed Ruhi, turning back and frowning at us, from the first bench.
As soon as Tina burst out a round of laughter, as usual as if a donkey were braying, I sighed and opened my eyes. Look! That's how our bonding with the most basic elements of life is interrupted.
“Ruhi, don’t bother. Victory will be yours. Their party was fast asleep a few seconds ago! Hahaha!”, she mocked.
While I shrank my eyebrows at the three musketeers pointing at us and laughing, Vyomi clapped aloud. I wondered what went wrong with my bestie.
“Beware of your loss, Ruhi. Yes, I agree with Tina. Naomi was sleeping but she was awake till late last night. She is serious about your bet unlike you who pretends more than putting things into action”, Vyomi defended me.
Karan opened his mouth wide, closed his eyes, and bet his right thigh along, as he burst out a great round of laughter. Diya and Tanvi chuckled at each other. I too chuckled at Karan’s funny laughing style.
“Hey, what’s your problem?”, asked Ruhi, getting up from her seat. “We will laugh at you in the very same manner when you lose. Wait for it!” Vyomi was about to talk about something when I caught hold of her right hand. I shook my head at her.
“Hahaha! Ruhi, answer my riddle. Believe me, if you answer me right, you win and we lose. Agreed?”, Karan threw out a great deal of shock. He extended his right hand. While he shook hands with her, the girls of the famous five exchanged puzzling faces at each other.
“Dude, what’s wrong with you?”, asked Vyomi, to which Karan replied none. He just winked once. Ruhi threw a wicked smile at us. Sana and Tina followed her. Sana leaned forward near me. I wrinkled my face and leaned on my backrest.
“Are you scared to lose? Haha!”, Sana whispered in my ears.
“Riddle is only for Ruhi. Let's hear what Karan says”, said I, pressing her shoulders with both my hands stopping her from leaning further closer. Karan stood on the bench. He clapped to gather attention from all corners. Around fifty eyes filled with curiosity more than that of what killed the cat, were upon us.
At last, Karan questioned aloud, “There is someone who volunteers to jump into drainage and dirty themselves. Who is this…” He gestured the victory sign in both palms and shrank his fingers to quote, as he completed, “someone ?” He giggled, hurrying to sit back with his legs crossed.
Vyomi and I chuckled at each other. But, we didn’t know if our guess was right. However, Tanvi and Diya shrugged at us. We grinned at their blank faces. The three musketeers too were equally blank. I placed my right palm on my mouth so that I don’t burst into laughter like an erupting volcano. However, I joined when Karan and my other friends broke into laughter.
“Ruhi, don’t you seriously know the answer?”, cackled Vyomi, as she gave Karan a hi-fi, louder than our laughter. Karan pointed at Ruhi, called her name out aloud, and bet his head gently against the glass behind him, as he laughed along. Ruhi frowned at us.
“That's what I was wondering. How could you ever be serious in life, Karan?”, she screwed him. The three musketeers pressed their fists hard as they made their way back to their front benches.
“Good morning, sir!”, the entire class stood up, greeting Akshat sir, in chorus. I bulged my eyes. I swallowed my heartbeat at him signing a clerk’s register. He had not yet stepped inside the class. He was our favorite lecturer. His class was the apple of every student’s eye.
“Move! Quick!”, I whispered in Vyomi’s ears. I sat in the extreme corner. Vyomi followed by Diya made way for me to enter the passage. Tanvi who sat beside Karan in front of my bench turned back and shrugged at me.
“How could you bunk your Akshat sir’s class?”, asked Karan, blushing and winking at me. I shook my head. I, like a timid girl, in a mustard yellow thick full-handed short top paired with grey jeans, rushed to the last bench. I didn’t bother to explain anything to my friends.
“Why do you wanna sit there?”, asked Vyomi, in her usual rushed tone. I smiled at Muskaan and Ritu. As they pushed their bags into the under-desk, I sat in the corner. I shook my head at my friends who stood up and shrugged, in chorus, at me. I gestured that I would return to my seat the very next hour.
“Hey, what happened between the love birds?”, enquired Karan. “It must have surely been your friend who has hurt my Akshat sir…”
“I will tell you later”, Vyomi reassured them. I too stood up along with a few others who waited for Akshat to enter the classroom.
“Good morning, sir!”, I whispered, while most of my classmates, including Karan, cheered and whistled at him. He smiled and gestured for us to settle down. I blushed secretly at his lovely smile. His meek and hesitant eyes wore a blacker shade while he seemed to look for something restlessly.
“Oh no! Careful, Naomi”, I reminded myself. “Not something. He is searching for someone-for you”, I realized, as he glanced at my usual bench. He was too engrossed in missing someone to wave back at the giggling Karan who removed his monkey cap and bowed a little to greet him with an open heart. I shook my legs vigorously. I focused my vision only on my notes.
With all my efforts in vain, I inverted my lips and slammed my forehead as I felt him staring at me from the stage. I slowly turned my head up to catch his pupils dilating at me; this time, they were light brown. Akshat sir, do you have black or light brown eyes? Urgh! You are so damn confusing, Kiku.
Naomi, stop observing him. Stop! Stop! Stop! What's wrong with me? I looked away to avoid our eye contact from lasting for more than a second.
“Guys, I want to make this lecture memorable. I want to adopt a different teaching style today”, announced Akshat. I shrugged. I raised my eyebrows wondering what he was up to.
As the others too shared surprised looks at each other, Akshat clarified, “I mean it's our last class for the semester. We must make sweet memories in college. Do you agree?”
Karan clapped and whistled aloud while the others too smiled and cheered at Akshat’s decision. “Aww, Akshat sir is kind-hearted. Look at how much he understands our student life…”, Muskaan complimented him to Ritu and me.
"Kind-hearted and romantic too...", I grumbled.
While Muskaan shrugged, I smiled but my heart bet with tension about what his decision could possibly be. What was the surprise? The others too asked him to reveal his lecture plan soon.
“Fine!”, cried he, gesturing for the crowd to stop their excitement. He signaled at Karan.
“Operation Projector!”, he exclaimed, blushing along. I shrugged at the projector fixed to the ceiling. Karan threw whooping cough aloud at me. My eyeballs rolled hither and thither. Kiku, I hope you don’t play with me like the other day regarding my incomplete task. I recollected how he went on and on, mentioning the same, referring to the kiss of gratefulness that I had left behind. Urgh! Kiku, why are you doing this to me?
What is Akshat planning?
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