Lover Is A Day

Chapter 8

‘So, when are you gonna tell him?’, Zenna asked me.
The film had ended, Neha walked ahead and Shubham followed her. Zenna slowed her pace and had caught up to me, as I was walking behind them.
‘What?’
‘Him, that you like him’, she pointed to Shubham and smiled.
I paused. Everything spiralled out of control. The sky slipped above my head, and the floor below my feet. The bile in my stomach started to rise. I feel my head became heavy, and my mind going blank. My heart felt like it was pushed in a wrong place, and it ached. This was the one thing that only I knew here. How come she knew it too? She can’t! my thoughts can’t escape my mind! They’re just filled within me; they make me sick of myself, but they cannot spill out of my head-
‘I was just joking’, she said, she rid her face of that menacing smile. ‘I notice that you’re always with him, or talking only with him. That’s why I was teasing’.
She does not know then. I calmed down again. But now I could realize myself shaking. I can’t think of anything else, other than how I can not make others notice me in this state.
Zenna felt uneasy and walked ahead to Neha., leading to Shubham walking with me.
I felt much calmer now, and my shaking had also stopped. Now I just want to rush out here as fast as possible.
‘I must go home now, its 9 already!’ Neha said
‘9:28’ Zenna added, ‘Way past your curfew’, she teasingly smiled
It was night already. Not that I was in any rush, since my dorm didn’t have a curfew.
‘Shubham, how will you go home?’, Neha asked
‘I’ll walk’, he said
‘And Raj?’, she asked
‘I’ll walk too’, I said
‘Okay, then me and Zenna will take an auto’, Neha said
We waved them bye, and left.
‘Do you stay at college dorm?’, Shubham asked
‘No. Private’, I said
‘Then what will you eat now?’
‘I don’t know’
‘Come over to my place. My mom would have cooked dinner by now, you can join us’, he said
‘No, it’s fine, you don’t have to- ‘
I realized that Indians don’t take ‘no’ for an answer, especially Shubham.
Some 10 minutes of walking later, we reached his building. And soon I was in his house. His house was cramped. Like a typical Indian house., ones which have embroidered cloth’s covering everything from tv tops to tables, and ones which smell like spices.
I was made to sit on the sofa, which resembled a mini bed. He went inside, probably in the kitchen. I could hear cooker whistle and some kinds of cooking noises. A girl came out from inside and picked up some textbooks which were in my sight and went in again.
‘That’s my sister’, Shubham said, he placed a steel glass of water infront of me.
I nodded.
His mother came in, she was in a night gown and had a steel spatula in hand. Maybe coming so late in somebody’s house was not a good idea., but since I am already here, I cannot leave just like that.
‘You’re his friend?’, his mother asked in Marathi. I didn’t speak marathi, but I could understand.
I guess I am his friend now.
‘Yes, aunty’, I obliged
Then Shubham and his mom spoke something in Marathi, which I couldn’t make much sense of.
‘Good good, you sit I’ll set the food’, his mom said and left smiling.
Soon, me, Shubham, his mom and sister were all eating dinner in hall. His mother was sitting on the sofa on opposite side, while Shubham and his sister sat on the floor to eat. I felt like sitting on the floor too.
I tried to slip down, but his mom and Shubham told me to sit on the sofa.
‘They’re both used to sitting down to eat, you don’t have to’, his mom said, referring to Shubham and his sister.
They had turned on the tv, and some serial was going on. I couldn’t make out any of it since it was all in Marathi. I quietly ate what was served. Soon ads rolled in, his mom muted the tv and turned to me.
‘What is your full name? Raj-?’
‘Malhotra. Raj Malhotra’, I said
‘Oh, and you’re from?’
‘Delhi’
‘I see’, his mother said
They made an effort to talk to me in hindi, but it felt less awkward now, even though they didn’t speak hindi.
Once I was done eating, I got up to put the plate in sink, but his mother was also done eating so she took my plate too along with hers, and his sister’s. I asked where the wash basin was to wash my hands, and his sister pointed.
It was time to leave now. I thanked his mother for the food.
‘Did you eat well?’ she asked
‘Yes, aunty’, I said and smiled
‘You came, it felt good. You should come over more often’, she said ‘Shubham hardly ever brings his friends over’, she added, and waved us goodbye.
Shubham accompanied me to till his building complex’s gate.
‘Thank you for having me’, I said
‘Oh! Don’t mind’, he said
I am familiar to walking with him like this now. It feels calming. I could get used to this.
‘So, what do you think?’, he asked ‘…about Zenna?’
‘What about her?’, I said
He looked at me, dumbfounded. He dramatically hit his head, with his hand. And then giggled.
I looked at him. He looked more humane now, than just some guy who is trying to set me up with his friend. Cute.
‘You are really clueless, aren’t you?’, he said
I looked back at the road. I couldn’t help myself but crack a smile.

I came out of the shower. Today I got to be very close with him…But that doesn’t mean anything. I shouldn’t get my hopes up. I sat on the bed and dried my hair with a towel. I had a new text on WhatsApp. It was from Zenna.
Zenna: Hey!
You: Hi
Blue ticks instantly appeared on my text. She was typing…
Zenna: Lets be friends