CHAPTER-4
OUR FIRST MEET!!!
Chapter Highlights…
“Hi! I’m Rohini!”, she introduced herself. The very name echoed within me. Hardly did she know that she would propose to me, a guy sitting in another corner of the class. She didn’t even look at me. Above all, hardly can one guess that a focused girl like her will fall in love!
Meanwhile, oh Rohini medam, hardly do you know that your heart will fall for me before we fetch our degrees and leave. You don’t know but I know everything. Hahaha! I’m reliving. What a superpower! But, who was she? Where did she come from?
Dhilip…Rohini…Aye! I don’t know if I can fall for her…Let me see…
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Dhilip’s POV
Fuck! This was totally beyond my expectations. I think she was the first girl I had ever seen proposing to a guy! You surprised me, Rohini! But, what do I reply to her?
I stood like a statue. I couldn’t take my eyes off hers. Although her face remained masked, her rich black eyes glittered like a black laser going into my eyes. I understood that she was sure about me. She seemed serious about her love for me. Neither did she utter a word.
She didn’t win a chance to look at my face either. Thanks to the pandemic lest the scene would have made me feel awkward! I seriously went blank thinking about how to react, at that very moment.
“Ooooo!”, I exclaimed at a volume, a little loud enough for just Rohini to hear my reaction. I broke our silence after the lightest and fastest hand of the clock completed a revolution. Sexy! Did I cheer for myself?
Our beautiful eye contact hadn’t stopped yet.
“Sorry, I don’t feel the same way”, said I, looking away. I turned back to her. I continued, “Actually, I have a girlfriend…”
“Oh, no problem. Glad to hear that you are in a relationship. If you don’t mind me asking, may I know who she is?”, asked Rohini, in her stern and commanding female voice.
“Our classmate Priya and I have been in a secret relationship for a year. Like I haven’t shared this with anyone else including my best friends. But, I told you this as you proposed…”
“Cool, Dhilip. Glad to know! I will preserve your secret. Don’t worry…Let's be good friends”
I nodded, letting out a breath of relief. Sexy! She is considerate and sensible. We bid adieu and headed in opposite directions. Hardly did I know the value of her love back then.
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Returning to my locked world, my back slipped down against the wall behind me. I swallowed my tears as I looked up at the glowing lights hanging above. I know I hurt Rohini by rejecting her. However, it isn’t my fault either. I don’t feel guilty. On the contrary, I’m proud that I didn’t create fake hopes. Has truth ever been sweet? She must have come prepared for both responses.
I strolled with my eyes on the white vase having colorful floral patterns painted on it and placed it on the table opposite. Rohini pretended to be fine back on the proposal day. But, I knew that she wasn’t normal. I grabbed a stale rose. I sighed at it. On the other hand, I was also sure that she would feel better over time.
When I told Priya about the incident, we prayed that Rohini must be blessed to win a great guy’s love because she was, indeed, great. The prayer too was Priya’s idea. How foolish I was to believe in her fake sweet attitude. Pity this poor guy Dhilip lying on the bed!
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Back in mid-April 2022, as I rushed along the second floor’s corridor, with my laptop, I happened to notice Rohini and her bestie in a classroom. I peeped through the windows only to see her weeping hard to soak her face with tears. She wiped them and sobbed to Vaishnavi.
“Dude, finish coding faster. We have a project review this afternoon. We must also get our weekly reports signed by sir before that. Hurry up, dude!”, said Vaishnavi, rubbing Rohini’s back.
Traces of bright sunlight ruled the regions of the slippery corridor, juxtaposed with their big glassy doors. There was hardly anyone else in their classroom. It was a Saturday morning. We were in our final semester.
Rohini just couldn’t stop crying. What happened, though? Was she struck with the code? I can help her…why was she crying?
She nodded as she sighed and resumed typing a few lines to adjust the code on a milky white editor. She removed her glasses, bent a bit, and wept again. I didn’t want to barge in because I hardly knew the context. Neither could I neglect the reason for her anxiety.
“Vaishu, how I wish Dhilip loved me”, said Rohini, her voice trembling along, “I could have proposed to him earlier but I mistook it to be a trivial liking….perhaps, I would have got a chance…I love him very much…”
“Dude!”, Vaishnavi exclaimed, shaking her bestie. “If I had known how to handle the bug, I would have completed it myself.”
“I was never gifted to get what I wished for, Vaishu…Never...never...”, Rohini blamed herself.
I know, I understand your pain. Forget him, dude. What matters to these guys is just a girl’s external appearance. If at all he realizes your true feelings and returns to you, let's see otherwise just leave. He is madly in love with Priya. I still can't believe that topper Dhilip and the year-back attitude class rep, Priya are lovers! Chuck him dude you deserve someone a cent times better than that Dhilip fellow. Leave and focus on our final year capstone project, dude…”, Vaishnavi grew engrossed in convincing her.
Fuck! Did I make a girl cry? I wondered as I rolled my meek and hesitant eyeballs wearing a faint shade of light brown, hither and thither. I walked into the last empty classroom on the floor.
No, Dhilip. It's not your fault. Who asked her to love me so much without being aware of the rate of reciprocity? I opened my laptop, set my spine straight, and got back to work. Besides, I knew that Priya and I loved each other truly. Yes yes, her prettiness was just the onset of our love story. I believe that beauty is essential to kickstart romance. Isn’t it?
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What did I just listen to? Does it mean that Rohini was longing for my love? It had been around three months since my rejection yet she couldn’t forget me. Who was she?
The cloud of thoughts floated across my duffer's brain. I kicked the brown floor. I shook my tie to remove it, only to give up, after a couple of seconds. Urgh! Why didn’t I bother to think about Rohini back on that day?
Wait, now that I have joined the dots, does it all imply that Rohini was my true love?... But, she looks dark…Hey, Dhilip, you mad ass! It is said that one changes after tasting a bowl of bitter-gourd soup flavored with green chilies. Despite being used by Priya, you don’t seem to rectify your thought process.
Anyway, you aren’t wrong either. It's every guy’s dream to be loved by a beautiful wife. But, look! Haven’t you heard of the eye-opener quote: “Don’t love the most beautiful girl, instead, love someone who makes your life the most beautiful”? After your extreme heartbreak with Priya, you must think if one must prioritize a girl’s beauty to fall in love. Why is beauty necessarily a prerequisite for love?
I don’t care about others’ lives. I know that I can’t return to my real life if I fail to find the purpose of my life. I need to live. A fake girlfriend can’t destroy my beautiful life. Eliminate criteria to love Rohini. True love is what you feel naturally over time and not at a sight right away.
Firstly, be truthful to yourself. Life will take you to a point where you will meet your right partner. Did you get it, Dhilip? I nodded to myself. I just realized that our brain must make some important decisions concerning love, as well.
So, if I had chosen Rohini over Priya, would I have found my better half? How would my love life have been with Rohini? I blushed, as I recollected her, in a red kurta, upon black legging pants, entering our classroom. I shook my head.
But, wait…I dunno if I would have loved Rohini, in the first place. Did I ever fall for her at some point? I held my head as it began to spin. I hastened to grab the wooden chair. I pushed my buttock against the yellow cushion on it.
Fuck! What's happening to me? I don’t know the answers to my own questions. Am I crazy? I closed my eyes and sighed aloud. The only way to resolve my queries is by reliving the part of my life that I shared with Rohini. I wanna know if I can ever fall for a passionate love like her.
All I need right now is a purpose to live. Hope my decision to relive can help me discover the same. Hey, Dhilip, mind you, make the right decision this time. That's the whole point of reliving!
I don’t know if I should call this a love story. I have decided to relive my story with Rohini to reconsider if it could ever turn into a love saga! I dunno but I wanna see it…I wanna know…I closed my eyes, extended both legs forward, and hit my back on the wooden wall behind me. I blushed, as I folded my hands and rested the back of my head upon my palms.
Here I go…
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It was 9 AM on 1st August 2019. There wasn’t a board to denote our section. I sat somewhere in the middle rows of our ‘F’ section. I was pursuing the second year of my B. Tech degree in CT(Computer Technology). Yes yes, that’s my branch. Sameer, Kareena, Vidi, and Jacob sat around me.
Come on, the heroine was about to enter the hero’s life, and look at how I was surrounded that day! Little did I observe those hints set moments before meeting my right love. We were engrossed in talking among ourselves, after a month-long vacation.
“Machan! Who are they?”, asked Sameer, interrupting me. I turned towards the front to look at the entrance of our classroom.
A spectacled girl of a dark brown complexion, dressed in a red kurta having yellow under green stripes marking the borders of the sleeves, three-fourths in length. She seemed like a nerd. She wore a triangle-shaped tiny bindi. Her glasses were too transparent to even spot them. Her eyes were overloaded with curly eyelashes.
It was the first time I met her. She hadn't met me yet! I knew that she would, by the end of that day. Two fat and tall guys, looking older by at least two years, followed her.
Oooh! How could she bring her elder brothers along to the college? How silly! I chuckled to myself. I shrugged wondering at the two guys rushing to the last bench. The girl looked around to not spot a single familiar face. At last, she took a seat on the third bench in the adjacent row.
“Looks like new students. What do you say?”, opined Kareena, shaking me amiably from behind.
"Yeah…like…I too have never seen them before on our campus. I think they got confused and entered the wrong class", said I, in my meek and hesitant voice.
Sameer cheered and chuckled."Wow, machan, how are you so damn clear? Wait, why do I feel that you know them before? Do you?"
Fuck! Nope, none here should doubt me to be reliving lest the world will collapse for I will lose my focus and remain in a coma forever! No faults this time. I want every little thing around me to be as it actually was in 2019.
"Machan, you are so creative. How do you think I know any of them? I too guessed like Kareena"
As we shared a round of laughter, Jacob wondered."But there were no new students last year…"
"Ooooo first year all of us were new, bruh!", said I, at which others roared a round of laughter.
I smiled as the new girl sat alone and in absolute silence. She seemed like a mystery girl, perhaps, she was an introvert. She turned back as soon as the girls sitting behind her patted her shoulders. They shook hands.
“Hi! I’m Rohini!”, she introduced herself. The very name echoed within me. Hardly does she know that she will propose to me, a guy sitting in another corner of the class. She didn’t even look at me. Above all, hardly can one guess that a focused girl like her will fall in love!
Meanwhile, oh Rohini medam, hardly do you know that your heart will fall for me before we fetch our degrees and leave. You don’t know but I know everything. Hahaha! I’m reliving. What a superpower! But, who was she? Where did she come from?
Dhilip…Rohini…Aye! I don’t know if this will happen…Let me see…
“Good morning, students!”, wished Sayuri ma’am, entering our class. “I’m your class advisor.'' We stood up in the chorus.
Sayuri’s eyes went over Rohini. The latter got up from her seat.
“How come you are here? Were you allotted this section?”, ma’am enquired, in a sweet and chic accent
“Ma’am, I went to the first floor as you said. I was informed to sit in the F section”, said Rohini. The two guys, who walked in with her, nodded as well. Oooo! Long pony suited Rohini pretty well. It swang along as she shook her head at a classmate sitting behind her.
Sayuri ma’am nodded. She informed me, “It will be a combined section of a few Computer Science(CS) and CT students. Kindly cooperate, guys. It's just thirty of you in CT. That's why.”
Sameer raised his hand.
“Yes, what’s it? Go ahead”, said ma’am.
“Ma’am, there is no projector in our class”, Sameer got up and complained.
“Whiteboard too is missing, ma’am!”, shouted a last bencher, at which the entire class burst out a round of laughter.
My eyes happened to go over Rohini. I must say, she has a beautiful smile. Hmmm...Now I realize that anything when examined looks beautiful. Every little element of the universe is beautiful. Anyways, I can’t believe that I brought tears to her excited face filled with enthusiasm. She sat alone on a two-seater bench but was equally thrilled as us. It was the first day of our second year of Engineering! Yippee!
“Wait a minute. I’ll check if any classes are empty nearby and let you know. Sit here till then”, informed Sayuri, stepping out of the room. Groups of students hither and thither within the class began grumbling among themselves like the nosy neighbor aunties gossipping about a girl who eloped from their locality!
A while later, our class advisor returned. “Hi all, there is a vacant computer lab on the floor. Let's occupy it for today.”
We exchanged puzzled faces with each other.
She chuckled, convincing, “Don’t worry, it's not our permanent classroom. Adjust for today.” We nodded and packed our bags to leave.
“Dey, what's this, machan?”, Sameer whispered to me. “Just because ours is the last section, why should we adjust? It's not fair.”
“Aye, chill bruh”, said I, as we took seats on rolling chairs across the first row in the other corner. “Sexy! Air-conditioned classroom. Think about it!”, I added, at which my gang chuckled.
Others too dragged rolling chairs, some of which were brought from a lab nearby, to accommodate the entire class. Rohini sat two rows behind me.
Jodha ma’am, wearing her long-handled handbag across and dressed in salwar with ladies' shoes, entered our class. She looked at all of us with big, round, and strict eyes. Oooo! She seemed to swallow us. Aye, chill, Dhilip, you know that she seems to be strict but is considerate indeed.
“What! Will our department’s HOD be teaching us this semester?”, exclaimed Kareena, throwing her mouth wide open at me.
I chuckled and nodded. “Hey, no, we will be fine.”
“Dhilip, how do you know? Why are you acting like an astrologer? Have you gained some powers to forecast over the holidays?”, whispered Jacob.
“Son, hear me”, I heard the very divine female voice which locked me within the narrow and elongated cardboard-like hall, back when I had opened my eyes from the coma.
“I have recreated the world for you to relive. If you go astray once again or let others know that I, the sacred, am giving you an opportunity to wake up from a coma, even through hints, I will destroy the world you wanted to relive in, after which you will remain in a coma forever. Did you understand?”, she warned me.
Oooo! The great heavens were sweet to me the last time but why was the angel rude now? I was gifted with powers to relive...I thought that it was all under my control...No?! I nodded to myself.
“No, stop. Why are you nodding? Are you dumb enough to realize that your friends will smell something fishy? If things don’t go exactly how they were, back then, in your original world, how will you succeed in making the decision? You don’t need to reply but don’t forget to remember my words. That's all!”, the divine voice stopped uttering a word anymore.
“No, bruh. I mean…I told what I heard from a senior”, I managed to convince Kareena.
“Good morning, students. How many of you are from CT?”, asked Jodha ma’am, raising her own hand up. A few of us raised our hands.
“Superb. You have your Algorithm Design Lab ADL at 10.30. Come to the ground floor. Catch you later!”, said she, smiling widely. She nodded at Sayuri ma’am and left.
“Fine, now that we are settled, I want to know who is from CS and who is from CT, along with the newcomers too”, began Sayuri, pointing at Rohini and the two guys. “Welcome to MSA College Of Engineering!”
“Thank you, ma’am”, roared the tall guy from the last bench, chewing bubble gum. Aye! What an attitude! I smiled at Rohini who hadn't seen me yet. Urgh!
As we got up, one after the other, beginning with Sameer, then myself, and so on, we introduced ourselves. Nah! It wasn’t as long an intro as one would share to even update one’s national identifier card.
“I’m Rohini from CS. I completed my first year in Trichy and have taken a transfer to MSA…”, she said.
“Are you also transfer students?”, Sayuri enquired at which the new guys shook their heads. “Diploma!”, yelled the bubble gum guy.
Aww, what a strange destiny Rohini and I shared! My true love had come all the way from somewhere. Did fate want to show some sign here?... I don’t know, though. She might be my right love. As I decided earlier, it's only after analyzing my journey with her that I can jump to a conclusion.
Will love ever bloom in Dhilip’s heart for Rohini?
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