Abhimanyu dropped in his bed, closed his eyes and couldn't stop smiling thinking of how surprised Shanaya was. His roommates looked at him and then exchanged looks as in what's the matter with him.
Yash: How did you find the fashion show, Abhi?
Abhimanyu: Amazing, beautiful, magical, mind blowing. He said with his eyes closed and Shanaya on his mind.
Abhimanyu all at once opened eyes and sat on the bed.
Abhimanyu: Yeah, Shilpa looked great. He said quickly.
Yash: She looked good, but I think the showstopper was beyond stunning. She stole the show.
Ram: Agree. What curves! What's her name?
Yash: Jyoti from first year computer science.
Abhimanyu: You know a lot about her. He teased him.
Ram: Must be planning to drop Shilpa like a hot potato to pursue the latest sensation. He is a worshiper of beauty.
Yash: No yaar, I am not a Casanova as you both might think. I know that because Shilpa and Jyoti are good friends. Their parents are friends and they always went to same school. Jyoti has won many beauty pageants you know.
Abhimanyu: No wonder she was fire on ramp.
Ram: No wonder she is the most wanted girl in boys hostel. Abhi, which girl do you like the most? Now don't give your usual bullshit answer that you are here to study and girls can wait. He said making a face.
Yash: They can wait but can he wait? He laughed.
Yash: Yes dude, you have to tell today. So many firecrackers this year. There has to be one that captures your imagination.
Abhimanyu smiled mysteriously as if hiding something from them.
Ram: I told you Yash, he is in love. Look at him. He is showing all signs of it and behaving weird like only people in love do.
Abhimanyu: I also think Jyoti is really hot. What a killer body! She looked mind blowing on stage.
Yash: Which feature of her you like the most?
Abhimanyu: Her lips. I think they are very inviting. He smiled.
Yash and Ram: Ooooohhh....
Yash: Only that or few more . He teased him reacting to word 'inviting'.
Ram: First time ever, he named a girl he finds hot. Better late than never. He chuckled.
Yash: Do you like her?
Abhimanyu: Like her? Is that even a question? I love her!
Ram: Who doesn't love her! He declared.
Abhimanyu thought for now he can let his roommates tease him with new hot chick in the block and deviate them from the real girl. They were getting suspicious and if he didn't give a name there were chances that they observed him closely and caught his secret someday.
Next day, in the dance party after Valentines, Jyoti asked Abhimanyu for a dance. They chitchatted as they danced happily to many songs. Shanaya as usual skipped the dance party to avoid seeing him dance with other girls. Yash saw Abhimanyu dancing with Jyoti and gave him a wink. He told Shilpa about Abhimanyu's confession to having hots for Jyoti. Shilpa felt a little bad. Whenever, she spoke with Abhimanyu she felt how good it would have been if he liked her, but Yash was not bad. He kept her happy in many ways and she was happy with him. Jyoti was happy to no end when she learnt of it from Shilpa.
One Sunday, Abhimanyu zoomed by Shanaya who was waiting for bus only to stop ahead of another girl. Looking back at her he offered the hot fresher lift who quickly hopped behind him and put her arms tightly around his chest to avoid fall . He smiled before he accelerated away and she couldn't stop smiling at his attempt to show it off to her since she had refused to take lift from him few months ago.
Abhimanyu had not come to library that day. After studying in library, Shanaya was walking to canteen to eat snacks when she saw Abhimanyu in the parking lot of canteen. On seeing her coming, he leaned back against his bike with his legs stretched out together and feet crossed. He placed his one hand on fuel tank and other on the seat. He ran fingers through his hair and chewed on his gum as he watched her without his eyes breaking away. Shanaya felt his piercing gaze upon her and looked back to check if it was indeed her. She saw a group of hot fresh year girls walking behind her. Somehow, she still felt it was her who he was looking at. He was more than happy to see her confused. Shanaya thought after all he wasn't exactly how his image was. She had never seen him look continuously at her like that. So, he too stared like other boys,she thought, but oh, he looked so sexy standing next to bike with so much want and desire in his eyes. Sometimes, she thought he intentionally posed like that to get her attention and kill her with his looks, but nevertheless she was always excited to see him. He never failed to downshift to highest gear and throttle her heart to maximum speed.
News that finally Abhimanyu had his heart on some girl and there were chances that he might have a girlfriend very soon traveled in whispers through the corridors of girls hostel from one room to next and reached Shanaya's ears. She dismissed the rumour because she strongly believed it was her who he was in love with. They saw each other in library in a day or two and the way he looked at her was different. Every time he looked at her she experienced love reaching her from his eyes. Even in his quick glances she could see love emitting for her. Moreover, she didn't find Jyoti hot the way everyone went on and on about her. She was tall and attractive with pinkish fair round face and thick black long hair that reached her waist. Her eyes were beautiful with naturally curled thick eyelashes but Shanaya didn't like how her too plump lower lip curled down a bit making it look like a duck's mouth. Anyways, she thought she was prettier than her.
Close to pretests on Saturday morning, Shanaya was going to her room after breakfast when she saw Shilpa and Jyoti walking out the hostel wearing sunglasses. They looked hot as they showed their long legs in short shorts. She guessed they were out on a trip as backpacks hung on their shoulders.
Sunday night, Bela came smashing and threw the door open before throwing it back again to close. She looked very excited to tell something to her roommates.
Bela: Guess what? I have the breaking news of the century. She announced.
Shanaya and Priyanka looked at her.
Priyanka: What is it now? Someone committed suicide?
Bela: No! Do I look sad?
Bela: Shilpa is on cloud nine after coming back from the trip. And why wouldn't she be. After all, she had lots of ahem ahem with Yash in a five star hotel room. She whispered.
Priyanka: Who told you all that? Mona, Shilpa's roomie? Tell her to stop recycling stale news as breaking news.
Shanaya: That's not even a news. Everybody in college knows they are doing it.
Bela: Yeah, I know. This is not news but the other part of it is more scandalous than any ever. It will blow your minds out of window.
Priyanka: Stop sensationalizing it so much that it fizzles before it sizzles. Vomit it out.
Bela: Okay, guess who went on a trip with Shilpa?
Shanaya: Jyoti.
Bela: How do you know?
Shanaya: I saw them yesterday morning when they were leaving. I thought they were going on a trip.
Priyanka: Anyways, it's an easy guess knowing the way Jyoti follows Shilpa around like a lost puppy. Come to the point. Where did they go on a trip and how is it scandalous?
Bela: Yash and Abhimanyu rode to Vagamon and Kumarakom on bikes with Shilpa and Jyoti respectively.
Priyanka: So...big deal!
Bela: No, two bikes is fine but they booked only two rooms. And no, boys and girls didn't put in separate rooms. Shilpa herself told Mona that they had two rooms and she stayed with Yash in a room. So, what does that conclude to?
Shanaya listens intently and doesn't speak a word.
Priyanka: Abhimanyu put up with Jyoti in the other room for night. No............!!!!
Bela: Yes!
Priyanka: Oh, common!That doesn't mean they did things.
Bela: Yeah, why not? Jyoti, the hottest chick spends a night with Abhimanyu in a hotel room and nothing happens because according to you people Abhimanyu is not a boy in a college but a saint. Moreover, it's no secret that Abhimanyu has hots for Jyoti . Girl's hostel was abuzz with this news months ago and you guys want to believe that nothing happened when fire was from both the sides.
Jyoti's tiny shorts, his bike and a hotel room with them flashed in front of Shanaya's eyes. She couldn't hear anymore. She felt world crashed down on her. Her heart shattered into million pieces and stopped. She couldn't breath and thought she would suffocate to death if she stayed there. She excused herself and rushed down the stairs and out the hostel with tears welled up in the rim of her eyes. She walked at a quick pace holding back tears looking for a spot where no one could see her. It was full moon night and there was no place as dark as she wanted. She sits huddled in a bush near the main building. The tears came rolling down and she cried. She wailed loud as she felt the sharp edge of knife cut her heart apart. Her heart bled and tears didn't stop. The pain was so unbearable that she wanted to scream until she lost her voice and cry until her eyes dried out of tears.
She thought she knew him so well. She couldn't believe she fooled herself into believing that she was the girl he loved and wanted. He never said a word or showed any concrete signs that he loved her. They didn't even know each other. They never spoke with each other. Why she reached that stage in her head where fantasies and reality blurred so much that she believed and saw only what her heart wanted to. In her head they were in love and he was her boyfriend. Worse, her heart ached as if he cheated on her with other girl. She felt someone stole her life from her. She cried and cried as if her world was over.
Abhimanyu heard someone cry and saw Shanaya sitting in a corner with big tears rolling down her cheeks. She looked in a lot of pain as she sobbed uncontrollably. He found his own heart cry to see her like that. He wanted to hug her and take away all her pain. He wished he could share and lessen her pain but he was helpless. He could do nothing but watch her cry and let his heart ache with every tear of hers.
Think of devil and devil was there. She saw Abhimanyu stroll towards her with his roommates. 'He wouldn't even let me cry,' she thought. She wiped her tears again and again but they didn't stop. She saw how handsome he looked in the light of full moon.
Why was she so crazy for him? Why couldn't she get over her attraction for him? She can't allow him to devastate her. She had to stop with what was not real. There was no other option, he had to go from her head and heart. She wanted to beat her chest hard until he came out. He was a drug that her body was slave of. He was a swamp in a jungle that pulled her deeper and deeper into him no matter how hard she tried to pull out. He was that powerful magnet whose magnetic field was difficult to escape, but she had to try. She had to do it now. She wiped her tears with the back of her hand and got up from there determined to do what she needed to do. She goes into room, takes out the dried rose from book and crushes it in her fist with all her strength before throwing it into bin with no feelings.
When she went home in PL's she dug earth, wrote his name on a small piece of paper, folded it and buried it in ground. In annual break, Abhimanyu couldn't unpin the last image of Shanaya looking miserable as she cried incessantly. What could have caused her so much pain? He wondered if someone very dear to her had died that day. What he didn't know that it was him who died in her heart that night.