I dropped Sanjana at the dorm and reached the apartment. I saw all my friends gathered in the living room when I entered.
"Aksh, are you okay? I was working on the project and saw it was raining", Karthik said. "Yeah, I am fine. Stop treating me like a fucking glass doll", I roared. "Is it true that Sanjana took care of you?", he questioned again. I just nodded. "How come she calmed you down?", asked Pranay.
I narrated the whole incident and I saw my friends laughing like hyenas. "Who even says that? OMG, the urine part is too good", said Pranay. I just shrugged.
"I have news for you", I said, which caught their attention. "Trisha is joining college", I finished. "Oh are they going to ask this question in the exams as you deemed that information important enough to inform us", said Karthik his tone dripping with sarcasm.
"He would not inform us unless it's our college you idiot", explained Jay. "Fucking shit, that means my ex Naina is also going to tag along with her", Karthik said realizing the gravity of the situation.
"Bingo!!! Finally, your lost brain cells reconnected", said our forgetful king Pranay. "Oh you should be the last one to talk about brain cells Pranay", replied Karthik.
"So, do you like Sanjana?", questioned Jay making everyone silent. "No, it's not that kind of like. She seems decent enough compared to other girls", I replied.
"Hmm, will see about that", smirked Jay. We talked for some more time and I went into the music room and refreshed my Vocals.
It was almost midnight and I was unable to sleep so I went to the home gym and started working out for few hours.
I returned to my room and had a long shower. It was almost 2:00am and I saw that it started raining again which reminded me of her.
I went into my balcony, stretching my shaking hand to feel the rain. I played her words over and over in my mind. I started to feel the rainwater gliding on my hand and fresh breeze kissing my skin.
I did not tell my friends the entire incident. When she asked me to imagine rain as Fin whale urine, I asked her "Then what about thunderstorm?" "Then think about it as a whale's fart", she replied casually.
Even though some may feel that it's silly to fear rain, that is a huge deal for me and it did affect my life in certain ways. I felt caged like my hands were in shackles restraining me from escaping an encapsulated dark room making me feel claustrophobic.
But today I feel liberated, serene, peaceful, and freedom that I always craved for.
I went back inside and slept peacefully that night.
(Next day - Sunday)
I headed to office along with my friends. We wanted to start a new branch in cyber security that deals with online scams, malware, and crimes where we can partner up with the local governments.
I proposed the idea to the board a few days ago and set up a meeting on Sunday. The board of directors was skeptical about the idea. But I know that they cannot say no to me. After all I was the one that came up with many ideas for the past 3 years that made our company shoot to the top position.
I spent 12 hours at the office working on the idea after it got a positive affirmation from the board. At the end of the day, I returned to the apartment and retired to sleep.
Monday
Author's POV:
Jay, Pranay, and Karthik gathered in the living room for a secret round table conference. They want to bring Sanjana and Akshath close to each other and eventually make them fall in love. It was their mission considering Sanjana was the first girl to travel in his car and calm him down during rain and her personality completely contrasted Akshath's. Beautiful but innocent, strong but soft, shy but bold, introverted yet powerful.
With a new mission, they all started to college a bit early considering Sanjana would arrive early. Their first step is to get her and her friends included in their group.
Akshath's POV:
I got ready for college. The past week has been very eventful for us. Me and my friends became so popular in the university. Rumors and gossip about us were heard in every corner.
Words spread like wildfire about our families being wealthy in the country, the luxury cars that we own, the lifestyle that we follow, the companies that we are going to take over, and the ideas that we introduced in the business world became the topic of discussion.
I packed all my belongings and headed towards my car and then I got a ping from Trisha. "Hello handsome, you know there is good news for me. I got an approval for the internship at one of the most prestigious fashion designers in Paris. I wanted to call you and inform you but I know that you would be grumpy in the morning. I will call you in the evening and by the way I have to leave to Paris by day after tomorrow and I will be back within 2 months. So miss me?".
I smirked looking at this as I was the one behind her internship approval. They did not even consider her application due to her shitty designs but I pulled strings and got her approved. I want her away from her grandfather so that I can concentrate on our companies' collaboration without her intervention.
I started to college and went towards the auditorium. I was early today and I saw Pranay, Karthik, and Jay chatting with Sanjana and her friends. They were talking to each other like long last friends. As I was entering the classroom, I heard Pranay's voice calling me to join them.
I signed and started walking towards them. "Akshath, see we got new members in our boys group now. Sanjana- you already know her, She is Piggy aka Harika introduced Pranay pointing at a short girl, she is Tara - she is in our project group, a real firecracker", he muttered the last part in a low voice. "Last but not least Sameera aka Sam", introduced Pranay. "Oh by the way Sam and Tara are your classmates", said Pranay. I just nodded at them and stood there.
I do not like anyone inside my comfort zone. I don't want to be friends with anyone other than my already existing friend group but I cannot restrict them to make friends just because I don't want to.
We attended classes after classes and then went to the cafeteria for lunch. Pranay invited Sanjana and her friends to sit with us which obviously did not go well with me. The constant bickering, the small talk, the laughs, and the conversations are making me feel uncomfortable and sick. I stood up from the table abruptly and went outside for fresh air.
"Hey, are you okay?", called a voice. I turned around and saw nervous-looking Sanjana. "I know how you are feeling, trust me!", she said giving me a worried look. "Yeah? Do fucking tell me how I am feeling?", I asked walking close to her.
"You do not want any new members around you. You do not want anyone to invade your comfort zone as it suffocates you and make you feel uncomfortable ", she said looking at me. I am a king at masking my emotions. I show the world what I decided to show. I rarely show any emotions to anyone other than my grandpa and my friends. Even my friends cannot uncover the mask that I wear but she uncovered my mask within a day of knowing me.
"You don't know shit. Just because you helped me the other day doesn't mean you are always right. Just stay in your fucking limits and don't try to read me again and become my therapist", I replied with a hint of frustration and anger.
"People get angry and frustrated when they don't want to accept the truth or when others try to read them and figure out what they are feeling", she replied with a calm tone and a soft smile shocking me again.
"We don't want to make you feel this way but Pranay and Karthik insisted to sit with you guys during lunch and we couldn't deny it", she replied again.
"Arjun, we are not bad people you know. You can rely on us. The more you allow yourself to meet new people, the more chances you are giving yourself and others to trust each other. Nowadays being rich is not just money but it means the number of people you can trust blindly in your hard times and the number of people who stand by you when you are nothing and have nothing in this world", she said stunning me and leaving me alone.
For a girl like her to have this deep conversations is something that even my genius brain is unable to comprehend. It's like she knows what to talk at the right moment to calm me down.
I don't like it. I don't like the power she has over me. I don't like the way my body instantly relaxes around her. I don't like the way her words had such an affect on me making me to think twice.
I went back and sat at the table much more relaxed and composed than earlier. I even listened to all the bickering and it was as useless as Karthik's brain cells.
Soon the bell rang and we left for our afternoon classes. In the meantime, I asked Jay to gather our project members in the library at the end of the day.
Jay carried the prototype from his car to the library after the classes. Soon we all gathered and finished the project by 5:30 pm. Everyone started leaving and Jay asked me to drop Sanjana.
I don't want to be anywhere near her but I also know that she can't leave alone as there is no one to escort her. I asked her to follow me and I started in the direction of the dorms.
"Heyy, umm thank you for dropping me yesterday and today. This is a small gift for you that I prepared. Hope you like it", saying this she pushed a box into my hand and rushed out.
I opened the box and found a wonderful piece of art painted on a canvas. There was also a small piece of paper in the box with a small note. I opened the note and read the contents inside it.

Credits: Pinterest
"Please break through your mask and allow yourself to feel the magic. All you have to do is open yourself up to all the new experiences that this life throws at you". I went through the note again and again. I was mesmerized by how easily I can relate myself to the painting.
It shows the strong personality mask on one end that I had to put on for this world but a confused, vulnerable and pathless persona on other end with an underlying trauma. I did not know how she was able to paint this masterpiece that accurately described my mental state.
I sat in my car which I parked Infront of the dorms for what felt like hours looking at the note and the painting. I sped off to an unknown destination with all my thoughts clashing, my genius mind unable to connect the dots and control the situation, my body unable to take any signals that are being fed to it. After two hours of senseless driving, I came back to the dorms again. My mind was screaming at me for what I was about to do, my heart throbbing painfully in my chest as it wants to look at her once again.
I took out my phone and called her. "Hello, who is this?", came her filling in the silence. So, she did not even save my number even though we are in the project group while the other girls would die for a chance to have my number.
"Come out. I am waiting for you outside", I ordered her and cut the call. I don't even know what the fuck I was doing calling her out. After few minutes, she came out in her pyjama's looking hot?

What the fuck is she wearing. Her milky white skin is looking incredible under the faint street lights that are in the distance. She was panting as if she ran a marathon. "What happened? Are you okay? Why did you call me?", she asked raining me with questions which I do not have an answer for.
"I did not have dinner. So lets go out. I will wait here so that you can get dressed decently this time", I said looking at her and taking in her figure which is now imprinted in my brain. Her cheeks and nose became red with embarrassment as she suddenly realised what she was wearing. "Umm, I will have dinner with my friends, you do not need to take me out for the painting I gave you", she said and I suddenly have a reason to take her out now.
"I will be waiting, make it fast. I am hungry". She looked at me knowing well that I would not drop it unless she agrees. She signed and went back in and came out dressed a bit more modestly. I liked the earlier dress much more.
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