CHAPTER-10
HERO
Chapter Highlights…
“Ouch!”, she exclaimed, slipping quickly. I caught her in my arms, just at the right time. We were lost in each others’ eyes as I stood, with my right hand, wrapped around her curvy waist.
“Ohhhh! Hero of the day: Dhilip…Machan!”, cheered my gang, following the entire minute of absolute silence. Rohini and I breathed hard, as we looked around.
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Dhilip’s POV
Sexy! How long does she eat? I chuckled and blushed to myself as Rohini pushed a spoon of mixed rice once every three minutes, into her mouth. She couldn’t take her eyes off her tablet. There was just a single empty bench between us. I peeped, tilting my head a bit and shrinking my eyes at some decent Hindi daily soap playing on her tab, whose sharp dialogues pierced through the black earphones to tickle her eardrums.
“Dude, you have been eating for an hour now. Hurry up. Five minutes left for the lunch break to end”, Vaishali turned back and shook Rohini’s shoulders to help her return to our world.
“What? Really?”, Rohini exclaimed, hitting the pause button to freeze the vamp, in an orange Rajasthani saree, leaving her behind to pose with big eyes and pouting. She is a die-hard fan of Indian serials and to mention, and she used to cherry-pick and watch only the best and popular ones, either including a good storyline or populated with popular small screencasts. Hmm, it sounded as if she selected stories not to watch them, but instead, to direct them by herself!
“Eyy, this serial isn’t good…”
“No, Vaishoo. It's a cool medical drama. The female lead has aced it. Suits her well…”
“Now, it's not going well. That's what I read on insta. Apparently, its TRP is going down and the makers are ending it.”
“Nah! What?! Society’s taste sucks, not the series. It's so different from the other series. Urgh! Why should it end? Not fair…”
I pretended to scroll my smartphone although I sat erect and happened to overhear Rohini defending her favorite show. Sexy! Medam is unique and hence finds society boring. Hmmm, hard to impress you but I don’t know how I won your heart so well. My fortune! The two girls were interrupted by the long bell. Crowds of classmates murmured, as they appeared at the entrance and made their way back to their benches.
“Oops, I must wash my hands!”, exclaimed Rohini, packing her box and plugging out her earphones. She gestured for Vaishali to look after her belongings as she moved to cross the bench and step into the passage separating rows of desks.
“No, I won’t. Go dude!”, replied Vaishali, wearing a serious look through her black-framed glasses, accompanied by a round of laughter.
“Dude, please! Please!”, pleaded Rohini, joining her hands. I blushed at her upper eyelashes interlocking with the ones along the lower border of her eyes, as she shrank her eyes to wear an anxious face. Hmmm, what a lovely drama queen she is. Despite being aware that her bestie was just playing around to pull her legs, she was freaking out. Sexy!
“Hi Machan!”, greeted Sameer, to which I nodded, sitting erect, letting my back completely utilize the backrest, folding my hands across, and placing my right index finger such that I could nib it; that's how I always sat.
“Machan, did you complete the program to implement circular queues? What’s the condition for overflow? I was…”, he went on, while I felt my black eyes wearing a light brown shade, as they witnessed Rohini hurrying towards the entrance.
“Dhilip, bro, I’m asking you something…Hello!”, my friend waved, at which I turned back at him. As he pointed at his notes, I, once again, happened to hover over Rohini nearing the classroom’s entrance.
“Fuck!”, I exclaimed, observing a banana peel disposed of outside the bin at the end of the dais, recklessly. Rohini chuckled and waved back at Vaishali as she hurried forward.
“Rohini!”, shouted I, calling her, in my meek and hesitant voice, as I got up and ran towards her. I had almost neared her when she frowned and shrugged at me. She faced the opposite wall and took a step forward.
“Hey, wait! Stop!”, said I. She hardly cared and ended up stepping on the peel.
“Ouch!”, she exclaimed, slipping quickly. I caught her in my arms, just at the right time. We looked into each others’ eyes as I stood, with my right hand, wrapped around her curvy waist.
I agree that love is unanticipated. I also agree that the identity of our lover is a true mystery
until we feel the love!
Following the same lines, one thus ends up falling for a bad partner-the wrong love. It's fine!
Making a wrong decision is common among ordinary homosapiens like you and me.
However, correcting our blunder and returning to our right love is a worthy question whose
answer may either be a ‘YES’ or a ‘NO’ or sometimes a combination of both! There is only one
superpower that can answer this query: ‘TIME’
“Ohhhh! Hero of the day: Dhilip…Machan!”, cheered my gang, following the entire minute of absolute silence. Rohini and I breathed hard, as we looked around. I blushed, helping her stand straight. She looked down and threw her mouth open at the peel.
“Thanxx”, said she, smiling at me. I blushed and nodded.
“Oooo!”
“Oops!”
We happened to hit our heads while bending down to pick the peel. We chuckled. I nodded. She gestured for me to volunteer and headed outside the class. I picked it up and disposed of it right into the bin. I sighed and blushed to myself, as I headed back to my seat.
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“... Let's recap semiconductors and dive into the fourth module tomorrow. And that's all for today. Thank you!”, Ankitha ma’am winded up the circuit hour. In no time, she disconnected her laptop from the projector cables and left.
“Hey, please baare. Avanu nanna ex tharaane idhaane nodakke. Ondhu sali nodbeku(Hey, please come. He looks just like my ex-bf. I want to see him just once)”, dragged Lilliput, the shortest girl in the gang of CS girls. She turned behind and pulled Veena to accompany her, at which the latter chuckled and shook her head.
Guys, don’t mistake me for overhearing the conversations Rohini shared with her gang. All of us sat on adjacent benches. So, I always happen to overhear them! Hmm, I didn’t overhear to this extreme, during my original story, though. Looks like the heavens have filtered out the phases I ought to relive…Nah! I ain’t allowed to speak much, on these lines. Sorry!
As soon as the two girls left, their entire gang occupying the first three benches burst into a round of laughter at Lilliput sobbing and inverting her lips while Rohini tilted her head and was lost in her own world. I noticed her wiping a drop or two of tears, about to roll down her cheeks.
“Rohini!”, called Dheeraj, from the bench in the same line on the left row. Rohini turned at him.
“Can I have your EM and DLC notes? Will return them tomorrow morning”, asked he, in his stern voice full of attitude, seeming chic. I shook my head, in conspiracy, to myself, as Rohini opened her bag and handed both the notes over to him.
“What! She never risks sharing her notes overnight with others. What happened, bruh?”, thought I, as she sat back, continuing to meddle with her fingers. I extended my right hand to call her but stopped myself, surrounded by Sameer and Kareena on either side.
Fuck! I need to talk to her. How shall I? I wondered, rolling my eyeballs hither and thither from Sameer to Kareena and back to Sameer. I looked up at the ceiling and closed my eyes.
“What sort of situation is this? Holy heavens, you wanna test my love but, at the same time, I shouldn’t let anyone guess that I’m reliving, at any cost. How do I handle the current situation? If I call Rohini, as I used to, my friends may doubt it. Neither can I violate your rule nor can I express my love…wait, again, I dunno if it could be love. Urgh! How many fucking troubles in one man’s love life?...”, I prayed.
“Oh, fish!”, exclaimed Sameer. Kareena and I shrugged at him. “I left my bottle at the Algo lab. Hey, bruh, come let's go and take it.” I shook my head.
“No, da. I’m tired…”
“What! Our Dhilip is exhausted just after the second hour in the morning! Weird”, he commented, with Kareena throwing her mouth alongside. I chuckled, emphasizing my point. Jacob stood up from the next bench and volunteered to accompany Sameer. As soon as he left, Kareena too left with other girls from the back benches to roam across the corridor, for that's what we did during our short breaks.
“Rohini”, said I, patting her right shoulder, without any further delay. She turned back and shrugged, swallowing her tears.
“What happened? All OK? You seem to be dull…”
She nodded. “Why do you feel so, especially targeting me in a class of around sixty?”, she asked me, with a trembling tone.
“Urgh…Ummm..”, I dragged, in my meek and hesitant tone, as I scanned her dry brown face. “Forget it. What's bothering you?...”
“No, nothing. Thanks for asking, Dhilip. I’m alright”, said she, turning back and sighing, as she flipped through the pages. I shrank my eyes at Srithika gossiping and laughing aloud, within her newly formed gang, occupying the front benches of the column where Dheeraj sat.
Why is Rohini sad?
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