CHAPTER-13
THREE GIRLS AND THE THREE MAGICAL WORDS!
Chapter Highlights…
“Great! Each of you has a valid reason to love Dhilip. Deepika is comfortable with Telugu-language love..nice! Shraddha is impressed by Dhilip’s good looks, and Kareena, from a long-run point of view, wants to extend this friendship to love. Am I right?”, paraphrased Rohini. The three girls nodded slowly like a monkey trained to do so, at the local circus.
“In fact, none of you actually love Dhilip”, judged Rohini at which I threw my mouth wide open and the three girls frowned at her.
#######################################
Dhilip’s POV
One afternoon, I rushed into our classroom, right opposite the air-conditioned faculty staff room enclosed with long glass windows all around, to find none other than Rohini with her bad friends occupying the first benches. I was too anxious to start the laptop that I missed greeting my girl…Wait, what? No, I don’t know if she will ever be my girl, in the first place.
As soon as I grabbed my laptop from the bag, placed it on the desk, and logged in, I happened to notice three girls frowning at each other. They sat on the complete last bench. I sat straight, as always, resting my back, on the aesthetic blue chair of the bench. Kareena was also a part of the club. What’s wrong with her? She has never participated in a catfight. I chuckled as my fingers danced on the keys and my eyeballs began scrutinizing the line, exactly in the middle of the screen and highlighted in a dark red color by the dark coding editor.
“Dhilip!”, called Kareena, sitting beside me. I turned to her and shrugged. The two other girls didn’t even belong to our section! I think I had only seen them twice at the Mechanical practice lab during the last semester. In the first place, their names didn’t flash in my mind. Sexy! I locked my screen, folded my hands, and gazed at the three faces continuing to frown at each other.
“Tell me, Kareena. What happened? You girls don’t seem to be alright…”, I commented, turning my head from Kareena standing on my right to the two other girls standing together on my left.
“Listen, you better back off. You don’t have any chance here. I provided a very clear explanation to you this morning. Trust me, don't insult yourself. Okay?”, warned the fair, slim, and tall girl, talking like a nerdy girl studying at an English Convent. I chuckled and faced Kareena.
“Who are they? CS?”, I enquired. I held my breath at Kareena cackling out an artificial round of laughter. Rohini and her bad gang threw their spotlight on us.
Fuck! What the hell? I was only surrounded by girls that afternoon. I shouldn’t have come to class during the free hour. I let out a deep breath spotting three guys studying on the corner bench, close to the door. They shrugged at me. Oooo, these three girls rounded me like rogues revolving around an innocent prisoner before kicking him hard, except that, in my case, they stood static.
“Look, in fact, both of you should back off. Who are you?”, shouted Kareena, exposing her braces. “Silly girls, both of you. He doesn’t even know your names. Do you still wanna reply? Wow! I would back off if I were in your shoes! Hahaha! Lame!...”
“Shut up!”, yelled the two girls, in chorus. “How do you know? It's his call. Don’t over-imagine. Your expectation is gonna shatter in a few seconds. Hahaha!”, highlighted the second girl.
“Wait…Girls, please tell me what’s the question and answer that you’re talking about. I’m blank”, said I, shrugging and interrupting their conflict.
“Hi! I’m Deepika from EC”, smiled the high-school-type girl, extending her hand. As we shook hands, she pushed the second girl and sat beside me. She leaned forward. I moved my head away as if she suffered from influenza lest it would infect me.
“I’m…”, I began.
“Dhilip!”, squealed the first girl, jumping on the desk in front of me. I caught Rohini closing her mouth and chuckling at my situation. Fuck! What’s happening? Are these girls drunk?
“Hi! Myself Shraddha from Aerospace”, the second girl introduced herself, faking her tone and forcing a handshake with me. Deepika separated Shraddha’s hand from mine and forced mine into hers.
“Lame! Huh! Do you really feel this will work? You girls are acting like kids…”, teased Kareena, sitting back with me. Deepika and Shraddha blushed and chuckled at me while Kareena frowned at both of them. Rohini raised her eyebrows and chuckled as she headed toward us. I shrugged at her who continued chuckling as we both wondered what was happening around us.
“Ahmm..Sorry..I need to edit the project code and contact HOD by today. Lemme catch up with you later”, said I, in my meek and hesitant voice, as I got up to leave, after glancing at each of the three weird faces sighting me.
“I love you, Dhilip!”, Kareena threw out a proposal, all of a sudden. I threw my mouth open at her. Before I could swallow the shock of the noon, Deepika held my right hand firmly. I turned to face her. She shook her head.
“No, Dhilip. I love you more. Just think about me once. We were on the same workbench for our final practicals. All I love about you is that you speak Telugu and I wanted a Telugu guy. I wanna be your girlfriend, Dhilip!”, added Deepika. I released my hand and swallowed my anxiety at Shraddha kneeling down with a rose.
“I too have fallen for you, Dhilip. You’re fair and handsome! I saw you once running to catch your bus that evening. Love at first sight! You’re so cute, man!”, she proposed, throwing a flying kiss along.
“Sorry for the interruption, friends. And you, Kareena?”, asked Rohini, standing beside the squatting Shraddha.
“Dude, I love Dhilip very much. He is intellectual and responsible. The perfect guy to settle with in the long run! That's all! And, above all, we are already friends…”, stated Kareena. Rohini blushed, closed her eyes, and chuckled. Sexy! How could she manage to stay cool at such a critical point? Three girls proposed to me, all at once. I wonder if one could imagine what my mind and body were going through.
Great Heavens! Why this scene now? I want to relive my story with Rohini. I just need Rohini. Only Rohini matters to me! Aren’t you diverting, Angel?
“Great! Each of you has a valid reason to love Dhilip. Deepika is comfortable with Telugu-language love..nice! Shraddha is impressed by Dhilip’s good looks, and Kareena, from a long-run point of view, wants to extend this friendship to love. Am I right?”, paraphrased Rohini. The three girls nodded slowly like a monkey trained to do so, at the local circus.
“In fact, none of you actually love Dhilip”, judged Rohini at which I threw my mouth wide open and the three girls frowned at her.
“How dare you?”, roared Shraddha. Rohini displayed her palm and gestured for them to stop. She chuckled at me, gesturing for me to sit down.
As I returned to my seat, Rohini smiled, elucidating, “Listen, there isn’t a particular reason to fall for someone. Love just happens naturally and over the passage of time, as one keeps interacting with the other. The most beautiful part of love is that it can only be felt but not explained in words. Maybe, just for name sake, I may cite a reason or two as to why I love that specific person but don’t actually mean it because there are numerous points that stole my heart. Love…”
“Stop! Are you trying to convince us because you like him?”, Deepika interrupted Rohini.
“Wait, do you love Dhilip, Rohini?”, enquired a curious Kareena. My heart raced like a predator running to save itself from its furious prey with long, fat, sharp whitish incisors. Rohini shook her head.
“No, of course not. I don’t love Dhilip”, she clarified, emphasizing the ‘No’. Hmm, Kavin! Oooo, so, she wasn’t in love with me from the very beginning. In that case, I’m curious to know how she started feeling for me.
“All I wanted to share from your proposals is that you are just crushed by Dhilip. Love and crush are two separate entities. You feel love over time, not right at once, or just at a particular point which is instead just an impression or a crush. In fact, love, on its own, is beautiful in two forms-unrequited and mutual. When you say you love someone, it's such that you can’t see someone else in their place, not even in your imagination. Three of you seem to be attracted toward Dhilip.”
She smiled, concluding, “Hormonal attraction is quite common and happens almost every fortnight. So, would we propose to all of them? Just for the sake of having a boyfriend, we shouldn’t go to the extent of proposing, right?...”
Deepika and Shraddha sighed at each other. “But, dude, I want to settle with him. What would you say here?”, Kareena highlighted.
Rohini chuckled, asking her,” So, just to settle with him, you would propose? Where is romance, I mean, the tight feeling that you can’t even breathe without him? Any such passionate heart? At Least one of you?... Do you feel special if you somehow get a chance to spend time with him daily? A single word he utters is more than enough to make your day. Do any of you feel this way?”
As she turned around to look at the three speechless faces, I blushed to wonder what on Earth she must have felt before proposing to me, back in our original life, on 5th January 2022.
Nishanka and Srithika laughed at Rohini. “No, she has a point”, said I, at which the other guys nodded. We turned to spot my three crazy proposers putting their heads down and heading toward the exit.
“Such a love can be seen only in the movies! Haha!”, Srithika mocked Rohini. “You’re fit only to study. How do you know about all of this?”
“I too wonder how I spoke so much here but someone has taught me deeply what love is. He has taught me how love feels. It was beautiful…”, she said, pressing her forehead with her right finger and shrinking her eyes. “I don’t know who he is, though…but his beautiful lessons will never leave my heart…” I blushed. Aww, did you really love me so much, Rohini? Did I mean this much to you? Oooo!
Is Rohini missing something significant?!
Dear readers,
Thank you for following my series and reading the episode. Please rate it, write your review, give it a heart, and share it in your circle whenever you are free. Your voice matters a lot to me.
