Love Takes Time {Completed} {#Wattys2017}

9. First Year

Thank you all  for taking out precious time to read my first attempt at writing. Special thanks for the likes and comments. They make me super happy.

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                 Next morning Ram and Yash find Abhimanyu sleeping longer than usual even for an off day.They decide to go for breakfast without him and get one for him to the room. They felt since he had some horrible night last night, he needs a good rest. When they returned, Abhimanyu was still sleeping. They decide to wake him for the breakfast.

Yash: How much you'll sleep. We consider you had some night yesterday but that doesn't mean you sleep for the whole day.

Ram: Common Abhi, eat your breakfast or it'll get cold. The pantry is closed now.

Yash pulls the bed sheet that was covering Abhimanyu. After that also, when Abhimanyu doesn't get up or say anything, Yash pulls him from arm to get him up.

Yash: Abhi, you are burning. You have such high fever. You should see a doctor. He puts his hand on his forehead to check. He says seeming worried.

Abhi: No, I don't want go to a doctor. If you guys have a Paracetamol, just give me one. After taking a couple of them fever should go away. I'll be fine. Don't worry. He said shivering as he crouched  in the bed.

Ram put a warm blanket on him.

Yash: Before taking tablet, you eat something. He tells Abhimanyu.

Abhimanyu listens to his friends, takes a few bites of idli and asks for the medicine.

Ram: Here, take this. Ram says handing him the tablet with a glass of water.

            Abhi feels week and stays in bed for the whole day. Events from the last night keep rolling on repeat in his head. Abhi had not mentioned Shanaya to his friends when he narrated his adventure story last night. He wanted to ask  Yash about her , but he stopped himself. He knew if he did that, they will tease him with her name forever because this is what they loved to do in college. Just mention a name of a girl and it will go down in your history, biography etc. except autobiography, may be.

          Shanaya told Bela about the great difficulty with which she reached the college last night. She decided to withhold the information that she met and walked to the college with Abhimanyu. She wanted to avoid Abhimanyu, but next day she took morning, afternoon and evening stroll around the college in a hope that she might get to see him again. She didn't want to be alone if they crossed paths, so she persuaded Bela to come with her. Shanaya was disappointed when she didn't spot him anywhere. She couldn't keep him out of her thoughts no matter what she was doing, eating, drinking, studying, sleeping. He would somehow seep into her thoughts.

             Abhimanyu felt little better on Sunday evening. So, he joined his friends on an evening walk. Usually they walked up to basketball ground but that day Abhi suggested to walk until girl's hostel. Both the friend's teased him on the effects of getting wet in the night and waking up with none other than love fever. Abhimanyu really wanted to see her bad. But she was nowhere. Later, he thought it was silly and he wasn't going to go looking around.

             The pretest results showed that they needed to work harder if they wanted to secure top positions. Days passed in usual college routine of attending classes, practicals and assignments. Abhimanyu and Shanaya never happened to see each other. The fact that their classrooms and hostels were in opposite directions didn't help or may be helped to avoid each other. Practical exams and vivas by an external examiner contributed 30 marks to the total of 100, where 70 came from theory exams. After the practical exams, most of the freshers went home on PL's( Preparatory Leave before semester exams), but most of the seniors stayed back.