Parinayanantaram

College again

Next morning, I woke to the usual noises my wife makes in the kitchen.
{She cooks and arranges everything, before leaving to college.
See, such a good wife you have, who manages the house well.
Manages the house, but not my feelings.}

I sighed and got up to head towards bathroom. By the time I freshened up and exited the room, she was already at the door.

“Bye!” She waved, not looking up at me. {Why does she have to be so embarrassed?}

“Siri!” She turned back. I gave her a smile. She blushed.

{AHH! That blush!
Stop drooling over her.
But it is her blush! How do you expect me to …
Stop your nonsense right now!}

“Take care!” It came out softer than I expected it to. She turned a deeper shade, and turned around after a small nod.

After she left, I started searching for my old notes and brushed up with the subject. Frankly, I was feeling nervous. It was not like I was not confident; because I had been informed several times, during my seminars, that I explain topics well. But the feeling of going in front of my lecturers, but not like their student; made me jittery.

My nerves did not allow me to have proper lunch too. I finally, turned towards coffee, for my rescue. I was about to make myself some coffee, when I got a call from Principal sir.

“Hari! I just wanted to know if you are alright with this.”

“Of course sir. I will be there in half an hour.” I assured him and carried my bag to the car. I reached the college about 10 mins earlier than expected. Principal sir cordially welcomed me and offered me coffee. After that we had a casual chat for a while and I signed a few documents. I then followed Principal sir to the final year classroom.

As I walked through the corridors, memories flooded me. I had walked through those corridors a few years ago as a student. Now I am walking through them again, but as a part-time Lecturer! It was a strange experience.

As we entered the class-room, the students stood up and greeted us. Principal sir then introduced me to the confused looking students. My eyes searched through the classroom, but I could not find the person I was searching for. {Where could she be?} Instead I found a familiar face with a stunned expression. A smirk formed on my face, as I tried not to laugh at the gaping Bhoomi.

"So ... Mr. Hari, the class is all yours." I smiled at Sir and he left after whispering 'All The Best'.

There was pin-drop silence in the class, for a few moments. I cleared my throat to bring the students out of their thoughts. "A very good morning to the beautiful young ladies ..." I gave a brief moment of pause  to notice the reaction of the girls who all blushed and 'Aww'ed. "... and the handsome young men." I completed, but the boys only rolled their eyes with a bored expression.

"I am Hari. Since Principal Sir had already introduced me to you, let us skip that part. And as much as I would love to know about each one of you, I had been told that you don't have much time left for exams and we need to utilise all the available time in the best way possible. So, I guess we will get to know about each another eventually ..."

"Excuse me sir!"

{I must admit that I left a breath of relief when I spotted my Siri at the door.
My? She is not yours here! Maintain some distance.
But she is my wife!
Outside the college. Here, she is just a student.
OK. Fine.}

"What is the time now? ... Miss ..." I slowly faced her.

"Siri" She softly muttered and lifted her head. But the moment her eyes spotted me, her jaw dropped.

I clear my throat
"Oh ... So ... Miss Siri ... Would you like to enlighten me, as to why you are late to the class?" I try to keep my face neutral, even though I have a volcano erupting in my heart.
{It hurts me like a stab in my heart, to call my own wife 'Miss'.}

She too must have felt it, because the moment the word 'Miss' rolled out of my mouth; her eyes showed guilt. But she concealed it soon. "I ... I am sorry Sir. I was at the Library. I ... I just lost track of time."

"How could you lose track of time when you have a class to attend? Why did you even leave to library, when you were supposed to be here?"
{Don't you sound harsh?
I can be strict when it comes to my duties.
Strict is fine. But ...
Shut up now.}

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How are you all?
Hope you enjoyed the chapter.