WHEN FATE BRINGS YOU HOME

CHAPTER 18

Shaurya is seated directly opposite of me with a small whiteboard and a marker in hand. Every couple participating is assigned a volunteer who'll be checking our boards for the answers. Ours is an eighteen year old student from the university, Stella. There are more than thirty couples for sure, and all of them are made to sit in the same way as we do, opposingly with a volunteer in the center. Hera and Ryan are standing in the stage with questions ready in their hands. 

"First question goes for the ladies. The very basic question, what is your partner's favorite color?"

His favorite color? I don't know. I'm laughing inside because I can lose the whole game with the very first question. But what if I just write some random color and it comes out right? That would be troublesome. I'm thinking now. What would be his least favorite color? He would never write the color he hates since we pledged on honesty before the game started. It's not the dark colors because most of his shirts are of those shades. He adores white and black. Even the pot of Bet is black in color, his car, his mood. I've seen him in blues, reds and yellows. What would be the color that makes him want to die? Pink? Yes, pink it is. Boys are trained to hate that color. Also, maybe it's because he hates pink that he said I looked just fine. He must have hated the color of my saree. Way to go, Tara. After this question, I can just sit back and watch everyone else play. 

I write down the word pink in big cursive letters on the board. When we are told to show the board out, the word written on his board matched mine perfectly. Wha-?  Woah, woah, woah. I need to calm down. He likes pink? Where did my calculations go wrong? Both of our faces are now perplexed, shocked and surprised. Almost four to five pairs went down on the first one. We must've been in them too. It's just a coincidence, that's all, even though I tried hard to overcome that factor. Nine more tries. I can do this. I can successfully lose. 

"Next question to the male population. Who is your partner's best friend growing up?"

I wrote down Daksh's name. And he got that one right. How does he know Daksh? Why is this getting more harder to lose? 

The third question. The thing we most likely to argue about. Everything. Our answers matched up well like mirror images. Stella giggled a lot at that answer of ours. 

He's not trying to lose. Fourth question is also a failure. The dress I wore on our first date. Only our current situation can be counted more like a date. Saree it is. 

Almost twenty couples are gone by now. The room is filled with laughter and embarrassing moments as each couple confused their likes and dislikes, messing up their answers ridiculously. I haven't been able to join them though. How come we reached till the fifth question? I thought we wouldn't even survive the first few. Ryan's face is surprised too as he raised his eyebrows at me impressed. I know, Ryan. I'm impressed at myself for not being able to lose after trying this hard.

"Fifth question for the girls, What's your favorite thing about your partner?"

Something I like about this guy? Well, I could have come up with a list if the question was about the things I hate. His guts, attitude, the overconfident smirk... But fortunately that's not the question, because he knows how much I hate most of the things about him. It's easier to answer. But there's no way he knows what I like about him. I write down my answer and wait for the countdown to finish. Shaurya displayed the board for show with a confident smile on his face. His writing in black marker ink read Dimples. God. Why me? Is it so obvious that I like his dimples? I'm getting flustered now. Confused. Agitated. His smile. I raised my eyes from the board when he caught mine, I looked away in a flash. I can't let him see me like this. Not yet. I thought I could get to eat the rest of my ice creams sooner. All those counters waiting for me.