With Mangoes And Chocolates | ✓

3. Repulsion.

I knew Bhavuk Thakur was mean, but I wasn't confirmed about his evilness.

I don't know how he knows that I am sensitive to loud yells. I think everyone is, but I actually freak out and feel terrible. It's not just about sounds, even terrifying sights leave me thinking for hours. I have been like this since always.

Whatever was it, I didn't know I could be insecure of this characteristic of mine, someday. After Thakur pointed it out that day, I've been going through this endless cycle of having a low self-esteem. Crazy how a simple sentence can ruin you for a week or even more.

I hated him for how he even worsened that week.

We argued a lot, especially during the literature classes. I was annoyed of our altercations. It made me feel insane how we shared unbearably different views about a character. He once called Jessica(from Merchant of Venice) mean and self-centered, while I admired her for her courage.
I thought about all of this as I jotted down the important historical dates from the board.

The bell rang and the school ended. Soon, the class was pretty empty. I usually stayed behind. Apart from me, he was the only human being left. That wasn't usual. It was probably one of those times when he wanted to vex me.

I looked up at him, and witnessed him immersed deep into some physics thingy. He was calculating something. Maybe not everything he does is because of me. I suddenly felt stupid for assuming that he stayed because I stayed. 

I decided that if he wasn't leaving, I would. Being with him in an empty room was funny, but more irritating than fun.

I picked up my stuff and stood up. As I arranged the chair back in, I didn't realize it was supporting a desk which was supporting another chair on which the goddamn pinboards were kept. They spilled on the floor.

Yeah. My classmates were dumb like that.

I had committed a dangerous crime. Imagine someone stepping in here—just horrible.

I bent down and tried to undo the mess I had created. It was few seconds later when he came in to help me(spoiler alert: he would never help me, he only wanted to annoy me).

He bent down too, and stared straight into my soul. I wanted to shoot him an I-don't-care look but. . . well, I couldn't. The way his messy hair rested over his forehead, and the way he was raising his eyes at me. . . man. . . I could die.

"Mehta?" he said softly. I came back to my senses.
"What?"

"Trust me when I say this," he said, "but you would struggle to pour water out of a boot with instructions on the heel."
I was taken aback by surprise. "Is that right? And what exactly have you accomplished in your life time that makes you the Einstein?"

"Things you haven't." He said as a matter-of-fact.
I shoved the yellow pin inside the box. "You are not cool if you behave like a narcissist."
"I'm not," he said. "Are you?"

He stood up and so did I. I started collecting my stuff. "Definitely. My easygoing and down to earth personality makes me super cooler than you."

"Okay, so," he glanced around and then back at me. "If you are cooler than me, does that make me hotter than you?"

Shit. That was a good. 

I didn't know what to say. I stared at the walls dumbfoundedly until he was ready to leave too. He stood by me, near the door, and looked at me. "Think about it. I hope you agree with me when we meet next."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night." I said out loud to his disappearing figure.  

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