18th February, 7:00 pm, Sophia College Girl's Hostel, Mumbai.
My eyes fogged up as I looked at the photograph in my cellphone. I looked so happy in the picture! So innocent and hopeful!
Little did I know that all my happiness would disappear in a month's time!
I looked at the other person in the picture-the one who was responsible for hurting me in the worst way possible!
Riddhima! This is your own fault! How could you let this happen?
All your friends advised you against getting into a relationship with him, yet you didn't heed any of their warnings!
But I was in love, at least I thought I was...and I thought he cared for me equally! So what if there was a fifteen year age gap between us? So what if he was my teacher, and student-teacher relationships were frowned upon?
I ignored everything-what the society would think of us, what my parents would say and so on! I gave up so much to be with him, and what did he do?
He broke up with me as soon as he had his fill of me! I was just a toy for him! He never had any real feelings for me! I was just his latest target in the list of female students he exploited for his perverted sexual needs every year!
I was so stupid to fall into his trap!
And the worst part was, I couldn't even report him to the authorities!
Pandit Trilok Chaurasia- my teacher and the one who was responsible for my current broken state, was a highly respected individual, in the world of arts. He was a world renowned classical musician, as well as a brilliant painter. He had a spotless image in public, and going up against him was extremely tough.
However, I was willing to talk to the principal of my college! After all, I had the pictures to prove that he had misused his position as a professor to get into a relationship with me. I wanted to stop other students from suffering the same fate I had!
But, before I could do any such thing, I received a threatening message from him. I had crossed all boundaries that existed between a teacher and a student due to my impulsiveness. The message had an attached photograph that had me and him-in bed together! I could be spotted in it clearly! He said, that if I took any step against him, he'd leak the embarrassing picture all over the internet!
I was scared out of my wits!
It had been two weeks since his threat and I had kept a safe distance from him and abandoned the idea of reporting him!
I had no choice but to forget this phase of my life, and move on! But it was so difficult!
That's why I was deleting all the photographs that we'd taken together as a couple! The photographs which were fond memories had become snapshots of my humiliation! Besides, I didn't want any elders to find out about it! I was deleting all the proof I had just to convince him that I wouldn't take any action against him.
If he actually, leaked my photo on the internet, my parents would disown me!
After deleting all the pictures, I looked at the contract kept on my bedside table.
My elder sister who stayed at her in-laws place in Pune had put my name in some stupid lucky draw contest, that was being held to choose the contestants for India's first season of 'The Bachelor'.
Silly girl! Maybe since she was already married, she wanted me to fulfil her lame fantasy!
I had just rubbed it off when I heard of it initially, but now that my name had been selected I had every mind to take part in it!
The suitor this year was-Manik Malhotra!
Honestly, I didn't give a rat's ass as to who it was. I just needed an excuse to get away from college for a little while. Seeing Pandit everyday was getting too stressful! I just needed a break!
This was the perfect escape!
I picked up the contract and signed it.
And who knew, if all went well, and maybe if Manik wasn't so bad, maybe I could actually move on...