Wrong kind of Attraction

13

Shaurya

Guess what? At the end my 'ladies first' didn't work on Anokhi and her obstinate determination to get her answer persuaded me to speak first.
"Honestly your silence is not helping" Anokhi said after few minutes of silence "And based on your previous answer that your cold behavior towards me have nothing to do with me. There can be two possible answers either this is your way to boost your ego by playing hide and seek with me"

What does she think about me? Am I some immature teen who would use such infantile tricks to get attention?"Wait" I tried to speak with a big 'that's unbelievable' , but she continued "which I highly doubt, so my next best guess is" she looked at me more closely and intensely "are you bipolar?"

This is the face palm moment. Bipolar! Great.
Sighing, I leaned back in my chair.
"You are genius, Miss Bhalla"
"I mean can you blame me? You are fine one moment and not so fine next." she replied shrugging. And waited for me to speak while I tried to think of some believable excuse.

"You know the fact that you just wanna pass time is so obvious, atleast try to be more vague" completing she too leaned back in her chair, tapping her fingers on table.

The moment I get back home I'm gonna ask Kitty what does she exactly mean when she says 'I'll be ten minutes late'
"Listen, one I'm not bipolar. Two... Last week was kinda stressful for me."

"Stressful" she don't believe my pathetic excuse.
"Yeah, Stressful" I say a lil more confidently this time as she's reading me. Lying with so much confidence that the other party believes you is an art and I am the artist.
"But-"
"What but? I literally have an Institute to run, yeah I know I'm not running it alone but hey at the end of the day I've a fraction of responsibility on my shoulders as well. Along with a responsibility of students like you"
This time it was her turn for 'that's unbelievable' face.
"What do you mean by students like me?" Frowning she asked.
"Ain't you a lil touchy?" corner of my lips quirked up.
Looking bored she raised an eyebrow, silently saying she's not amused.
"Students like you who constantly defy their teachers, students who interrogate their teachers-"

"Well one I don't remember defying you." Anokhi said cutting me short "Two this is not an interrogation, this is....as person who you considered a friend sort of I was just worried and wanted to know what happened. That's exactly what you do when you see one of your friend acting strangely"

A friend, Ha! If she had any idea...if she had power to look inside that fucked up head of mine, I'm sure I would have been sitting here with stinging red marks of fingers printed on my cheek.

"May I know why are you smirking?"

Oh was trying to hide it. But obviously I failed.

"Nothing" I am in no mood of getting slapped in a public place or getting slapped at all "anyways now your turn"

Rest of our fortuitous meet went peacefully for Anokhi. I think she bought my stressful week excuse, as she didn't press me further for a valid reason.

As for me?Well for most of the part it was all about conflict between my rational and irrational side. Rational side wanted to keep guards up and block that joy and sense of calmness that only Anokhi's presence brings. Meanwhile irrational part was hellbent on breaking all those guards and be free, just like I was for those two weeks, before the realization struck me in the face.

And with each passing second, that rational part that dominated me for days, the part that seemed invincible crumbled piece by piece before stubborn irrational part. Fueled by her occasional short laughs and half smiles as she talked about her chaotic housemate. It got stronger.
Whilst the rational part that knew that this small talk will look disastrous once I am alone and think about it. The part that know that this unexpected,unplanned meeting has destroyed all the efforts I was putting up to get all that I feel for Anokhi out of my damn system. The part that knew these moments of bliss, of clam will cost restless days and nights in future. Days and night I'll spend to unfeel what I feel for the girl sitting across from me. Was pushed away until it's loud and clear voice, that directed me for days became just a whisper.