Unexpectedly

A Surprise

Divya sighed while looking outside of her hostel room's window. The weather was windy and damp, just the way she loved it. The summer holidays were over and she was back at her college. Her ears twitched a little when her roommate exited the room but she bid her no attention. Even after staying in one room for around two years or so, they were basically strangers who only talked when they needed a favor.

But now Divya's peaceful attention was broken and she realised that there was a pen between her index and middle finger. It was then she realised that she sat to actually make notes. Her books and their flapping pages were asking her to look at them. She drew in a long breath and steeled her nerves.

"History of Elizabethan literature" She mumbled and started reading the topic for a 100th time. Ever since she took literature, this topic was basically the 'water cycle' of it. It was there in the syllabus every year. But she never made proper notes of it. So today she decided to do so. But the nature was so distracting that she kept looking outside the window.

She started growing drowsy and yawned. She closed her books after writing two points and leaned towards the window. The cool air caressed her face every now and then lulling her to a sweet sleep, but her tranquility was disturbed when her ringtone blared inside the quiet room.

'Vijay' it read.

'Vijay? Why is he calling me now?' She wondered.

"Hello? " Her tone was a bit unsure.

"Do you often sleep on windows? " That question caught her by surprise. She sat upright now fully awake. She looked outside the window but a tree was blocking her full access to the road outside.

"How did you-? "

"Look a little bit from the right at where you are watching. " His voice was quivering slightly. Maybe he was containing his laughter.

She looked where he was indicating, her eyes as large as saucers. She quickly abandoned her room and ran to him.

"Oh my God what are you doing here?! " Was the first thing she said. Vijay ended the call and pocketed his phone in his jeans. He looked at the peach colored building that was clearly getting old and needed a paint job. It would have looked like a government office if it wasn't for clothes hanging from the windows and different arrays of trees near the building.

"I was just passing by." He signalled at another guy who was standing near the entrance. He glanced her way and nodded, which she returned with an awkward smile, and returned his attention to his phone.

"Soo... " She didn't know what to say. She was in her baggy shirt and sweatpants and her hair was held back by a hairband. She looked so messy and she only realised that because he was watching her.

"What were you doing? " Vijay started.

"Just trying to study. But I was so sleepy! But then your phone came-" She rambled.

"Okay, okay I get it. " He chuckled quietly.

She didn't like that they were conversing like that so an idea struck her.

"Why don't you- Why don't you and your friend come in. It might rain soon. " She said, looking at the sky.

"Oh no! I said I was stopping by. See you later. " But when he turned both his friend and the bike that brought them there was gone. He mumbled something under his breath which Divya failed to catch. She peeked from beside his broad back and saw no one was there. Then she looked back at Vijay without blinking and said,

"He ditched you. " It was a statement to which Vijay furrowed his brow. He took big strides to the entrance and looked around. He called the said friend but he wasn't picking up. His phone buzzed meaning there was a message.

'I'll be back in an hour. An emergency. '

"You should get inside." Divya suggested to which he complied with a face of annoyance. While he was cursing his 'friend' Divya was busy calming her racing heart and mind that were making up scenarios. She led him inside and her room and shifted her books providing him a place to sit. She herself adjusted herself at the other end of the bed. The air was thick with awkwardness as both humans sat looking everywhere else but themselves with a border of books separating them. Divya found her hands very interesting and kept fiddling the fingers while Vijay scanned a small bookshelf behind her.

There was something that caught his eyes while he was going through the shelf. He got up and slid the glass door open and took out a book, flipping its pages.

"You read manga?" He sounded genuinely surprised.

When Divya heard him, her reaction was to quickly glance at the comic he was flipping, her cheeks flushed in embarrassment.

"Ye- Yeah" She didn't realise how squeaky she sounded. She gulped and calmed herself and adjusted herself to read the title,'Final chance'. It was a really cool manga about a man who was sent back in time to make things right. Divya loved the artstyle and storyline along with awesome action scenes.

Vijay read a few pages and closed the book. Divya looked at him waiting for taunting or snide comment but was met with twinkling eyes and a soft grin. She looked up at him innocently when he asked," I don't have this one. Can I borrow yours?"

The short haired girl was dumbfounded. She nodded dumbly and replied in a daze," Return it as soon as possible."

"Cool!" This was maybe the first time in a while she saw his genuine wide smile. It made her smile softly too. Vijay scanned through her comic stash commenting on which he read which he liked and softly teasing her about the spoilers of the ones she didn't read yet. The conversation flowed smoothly.

They took out one comic that both of them liked and discussed their favourite parts and dialogues. They sat beside each other, the formality long forgotten as they chatted away. While Divya had a good collection of all genres, Vijay was much more interested in the action/mystery ones.

They also shared a few memes and comments upon the comics, enjoying every moment with Divya's secret stash of snacks which she took out while conversing. The hour flew by so fast that they didn't even realise that it was already time for Vijay to go. Both were a little disappointed but happy they had something to discuss about.

When it was time to bid Vijay goodbye, Divya came outside to see him off.

"I'll try to finish it as soon as possible. "

"Sure! Take your time, but make sure it doesn't get damaged in any way. "

"Yeah yeah. "

"And when you come back , please bring 'Dungeon warriors'. I heard it was a nice book. "

"It is. However it leans more on the values and fantasy side, something I generally don't prefer but it was good. You will like the character Lucy when you read it. "

"Really? I can't wait! See you! "

"Yeah, bye. "

"Bye! "

Vijay slapped his friend's head once Divya turned around and they rode off. The 23 yr old male couldn't point out why his cheeks were hurting so much. Maybe not having the habit of smiling often has its side effects. But he couldn't deny how full his heart felt or how unknowingly his interest had drawn him to the girl that was invading his thoughts recently.

The situation wasn't any better for the young woman who was acting like a teen girl experiencing her first love. And even though her head might deny a thousand times that she was not smiling like a fool because of a certain "friend", her throbbing heart knew that he was much more than that. Who would have thought that a thing like manga would draw them closer than before?

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