Diary: Whispers of the Heart

Diary: Chapter 29*** God of Rains!!!

Dance class was a breath of fresh air for Pallavi. She was on cloud 9, enjoying every day of her classes. I met her every weekend and we spent more than half a day studying rigorously with the backdrop of music. She talked tirelessly about her dance school and how she is learning so many new things there.

I was happy that finally I was able to make this family happy. I was in debt to the family forever and was ready to do anything within my limit to make them happy.

It was not only Pallavi who was floating high in the air, I was also living my life to the fullest. I was officially a team member of the college band, not the Signs band, but another low-profile band, we called ourselves Airdroplets.

I was also selected as the opening fast bowler for our college cricket team and middle-order batsman.

But the real honey of my life was weekday evenings, I spent almost an hour on the bus with Shruthi. Sometimes standing next to her, sometimes standing far from her but enjoying the fact that we shared the same roof for a few moments at least.

I had started getting down at Shruthi's stop and walking at a slow pace with her to the junction of the lane of her house address.

Though I was meeting Shruthi every day the topics of our conversation used to be really casual - Politics, weather, and studies. She spoke less and heard more. Her eyes hardly blinked while looking at me. Once her friends get down at their stops, she always looked at me, as if inviting me, to capture the seat next to her.

"I hate traveling alone, I am so happy that I get company till home now. " - she mentioned many times making my heart do front flips with happiness.

I wondered if I should initiate the topic and ask her openly, what she felt for me. Sometimes it felt that there was no need of asking as if unofficially we were in a relationship but sometimes it felt as if she is so distant. She was there physically but intellectually we were galaxies away. There was a spark for sure, but intellectually we were distant. But whenever my hope nose dipped, suddenly out of nowhere a ray of hope lifted it back into the air.

One day I saw Shruthi and her friends having lunch in the canteen, laughing hysterically. I wasted no time and hopped onto their table-

"Good Afternoon, Seniors." - I greeted gleefully while sitting down on the grey color chair of the canteen, keeping the plate full of south Indian meals on the table.

"Hello? No custom of asking permission before joining seniors?" - Sabee asked in a bit of a hard tone, as she was still a bit angry with me for abandoning her during the protest.

"Yea, yea as if you would have denied"- I dismissed her as I was beaming with confidence, and further asked - "What was so funny? Why were you guys laughing?"

All of them looked at each other and laughed again louder this time, annoying me a little. I looked at Shruthi, persisting her for an answer.

"Well, it was seniors, grown-up joke. So, can't reveal to you Mr. Junior." - she said shrugging her shoulders.

"So, you tasted the fountain of wisdom in 1 year?" - I asked playfully.

"Yes and don't forget to ask us after 1 year, but guess what, after 1 year also you will be junior to us". Shruthi said and the trio laughed.

I don't know whether it was her words or the mocking tone or her laugh that had hurt me. The euphoria I had gained during the bus rides was completely broken in minutes. I took a few bites of my lunch in silence as they continued talking about Data Structures being the most difficult subject to prepare and other stuff, ignoring my presence completely.