Lover Is A Day

Chapter 4

June 2018, Mumbai

After mom left, I settled in properly and had spent rest of my time studying. Rains had begun. I got to experience Mumbai rains for the first time in my life, it wasn’t a pleasant experience. But it wasn’t a big deal since I was driving to college.
My university was a spacious place. Now that im here, I should focus on graduating. If I don’t ask for trouble then I should be sailing smooth. Abhi and Mayur were in different classes, I didn’t know anyone in my class. It doesn’t matter.
For lunch, I would go sit in the canteen. This is where students of all majors could hang out together. However, I sat alone. I think someone was staring at me… it was a group of girls from adjacent table. They stopped when I glanced at them.
‘Sitting alone huh?’, Abhi smacked me from behind and Mayur sat Infront of me.
‘Come to think of it, Raj you don’t look half as bad… if we hang out together then maybe till the end of this term, we can all find girlfriends’, Mayur suggested
‘Ye-yeah, I guess’
‘Hey don’t say that, even I don’t look bad myself’, Abhi added

Somehow even in crowds I find myself alone.
A few weeks had passed by. Back in Delhi, everyone called me ‘good looking’, kids in my school used to call me ‘Chocolate boy’ or whatever they meant by that. Surely girls did ask me out in the past, even here a few girls had asked for my socials. I told them that I didn’t use my social media actively. Which wasn’t a lie. There weren’t many girls in my major, but the girls from other classes were trouble.
I spent my time hanging out with Abhi and Mayur sometimes, sometimes alone. And after college I would go straight to my dorm. I tried to study most of the time, when I got bored, I would read a novel or watch something on the internet. Sometimes I would play YouTube videos just to distract me from thinking, like a sort of background noise. Perks of staying alone, I guess. I learned how to cook from internet. Overall life was going well. Mom would call me and ask about studies and how I ate, dad would ask me if I needed anything, I didn’t.

However, there was one thing that bothered me.
It was just like any other average day for me. Professor had declared a mock test and we had some time to prepare. I sat on one of the many benches our university had. I had spent quite some time reading my textbook so I lifted my head to look. Most students were walking in groups. Infront of me, passed two girls in white lab coats. And one of them glared directly at me. She had dark brown wavy hair and grey eyes, her face was expressionless, but it looked like she was judging me. We made an eye contact for some time. I snapped out of it and went back to reading. If I stared to much, she might get the wrong idea. She stood out to me, because unlike other people her way of looking at me was different, even a little bit scary.
Just my luck and I had ran into her again, once or twice maybe. And every time she stared at me with her strict gaze.
It didn’t look like she had any interest in me, but it didn’t look like she disliked me being around either. I wonder if I knew her.
Second such incident was when I was sitting in the canteen with my friends and I realized that a pair of eyes were glaring at me from across. This time it appeared as if she was observing me. I quickly looked away. Sometime later, I looked back to see if she was staring or not., and she wasn’t anymore, she was giggling about something with her friend.
I think im thinking too much and its probably nothing.
I think I should join some club, just to keep me busy. I did know basics of a guitar, as Abhi had suggested me to join the music club. But I felt rather cynical about performing infront of other people.  Not that I am shy or anything., but its just a guitar, what’s the big deal about it? People react as if it is a great achievement and treat me like a child. I can read their shallow compliments.

Abhi and Mayur had picked up a new hobby: bunking classes. Unlike in schools, professors here didn’t care less even if students attended the classes or not. They would motivate me to do the same, but I declined most of the time. However today I felt that the classes were too boring, it was not like it was my least favorite subject or a bad teacher’s lecture. I didn’t dislike any subject or teacher., it was just that today I felt like my mind was a little bit disturbed, I don’t know why. I decided to bunk.
I walked through the hallway, there were other students, some had breaks between lectures while others were bunking classes, either way it would be hard to differentiate as to who was supposed to be in class and who was not. I submerged with the cluster. I couldn’t find Abhi or Mayur, maybe they were actually attending to class today.
“Hey! wait-”, someone called me from behind.
‘Would you like to join the books club?’ a guy asked me. He was tall, almost the same height as me and wore plain, white buttoned up shirt, which was the uniform of university with jeans. He handed me a flyer.
‘Do you read?’, he asked while smiling
‘yes’
‘Good. Then please consider joining the club’, he smiled and left.
If my cheeks were buring right now, nobody would be able to tell. Maybe I imagined this. But this was him! The guy I had met that day.
I stood paralyzed for seconds after he left. I figured that it would look awkward if just I stood around like this, so I also left.
‘There he is’, Mayur spotted me and they both caught up to me.
‘Bunking alone, huh?’, Abhi giggled. ‘What’s that in your hand?’
‘nothing’. I was still holding the flyer that he gave me., I carefully put it in my bag.