Lover Is A Day

Chapter 10

Chapter 10

‘Hey’, Shubham stopped me.
He told me that Zenna no longer liked me. I already knew this. But hearing it from him gave me a reason to talk with him.
‘Did she say anything else?’, I asked
‘No. Why?’
‘Nothing… I was just asking’
‘Oh, okay then… I hope you don’t mind’, he said
My ears ached for him to say something reassuring, something like ‘We can still stay in touch’. But he didn’t. Maybe without her we were nobody to each other.
‘I was going to reject her anyways’, I said and looked at him
‘Right hehe’, he smiled and turned to leave
Is this it? I wanted to move forward and hold his hand and stop him from leaving and ask him-, but I didn’t. He left. I stood and watched him walk up to his friends, and then walk away with them.

Zenna had made it easy for me to talk to him. But now I had no reason to talk with him, or be in the club. I will be lonely here now. Or atleast I thought I’d be., because Abhi and Mayur also joined the club. The reason behind them joining was clear- being close to girls. Since there weren’t many girls in engineering, and none in the team, they had to go out of their way to find girlfriends. 
Mayur might have read a book or two in his lifetime. But Abhi probably has not even touched a book other than study related books.
They sat next to me and tried to focus on the person talking about a book. I could tell that they’re bored out of their wits.
Shubham didn’t look very interested either, Neha was paying full attention, while Zenna’s attention was at Neha.
If Zenna is also like me, then she is brave to pursue her crush, unlike me. I think I understand what she meant when she said that she wanted to ‘help’ me. But I am truly helpless.
The person speaking, stopped, and we all felt obliged to clap. I got up to leave. Abhi and Mayur stayed behind to introduce. Since I already knew them, I left for class. I might have looked rudely awkward while leaving, because everyone stopped and stared at me.

Headroom professor distributed our marksheet from a test. I had scored average marks, like always. I never score a full grade.
I sat through the hour lecture, while leaving the professor stopped me.
‘Raj Malhotra. You are a smart student; then how come you don’t score full marks?’, he asked
‘I didn’t study sir…’, I muttered
‘If you didn’t study, then how come all your solving methods are correct and only the final answers are wrong?’
I looked down.
‘It’s as if you are deliberately scoring a passing grade. See I know you have potential to score full marks, I just don’t understand why would you not do that?’, the professor said
‘I am sorry sir’. It is easy for a smart person to play dumb. And playing dumb meant you wouldn’t be questioned too much.
He sighed.

It was lunch break now. I sat on an empty table eating canteen food. I took out my phone to look busy. Looking busy felt better than looking alone., but others hardly noticed.
Neha, Zenna and other people came in the canteen and sat on the adjacent table. Shubham wasn’t with them. I finished eating and got up to throw my plastic plate in the bin. I didn’t realize that Zenna had also gotten up, and had run into me. She stood in the queue to give order. I stood to dispose the plastic plate in the bin, which was right next to the queue. 
‘I’m sorry for the other day’, she said
‘How many times are you going to apologize?’, I said, lifting the dustbin cover
‘You didn’t reply’, she said fixing on the display menu above the canteen counter
‘It’s okay’, I said ‘You don’t have to say sorry…’
She turned at me
‘…because you weren’t wrong’, I looked away.

It should be fine to let her know, Afterall I know her secret too. She’s pretty smart to figure it out though, I thought, or maybe I was just too obvious. Eitherways, she knows of this too. Why is it always girls…?
And it’s not like I even have a chance with him anyways, so her knowing or not knowing hardly matters.
I was walking to the gate to go home, that’s when he came up to me. Shubham was in his cricket jersey, with bat and gloves.
‘Hey I thought about…’ he huffed and stopped to catch a breath, ‘just because you and Zenna are not on good terms… doesn’t mean that we can’t still be friends’
‘Okay…?’, I said
‘…We’re still friends, okay!’, he tapped on my shoulders and ran away
‘…’
Huh!?

You: You told him anything?
Zenna: I swear I didn’t 🤣
I thought that maybe Zenna talked to him about me, that’s why he came to “clarify”. But I guess she didn’t.
Zenna: That could mean that he is also interested in you 🤔
You: Shut up
I switched off my phone and tossed it aside. I had planned to not get involved in funny matters here, but I guess that ship has already sailed. Honestly it feels good to tell someone about my “secret”. People call it Coming Out! But it doesn’t matter because she’s also like me.
Ugh why do I already regret this?
My phone pinged. It was a text from Shubham!
Shubham: Hey!
                   Wyd?
What does that mean?

Authors note:
First of all, sorry for the short chapter. I promise the upcoming chapters will be longer and more consistent (◐∇◐*) *whispers in a low voice* or atleast i hope so. FYI: Shubham ran away because he had cricket practice.

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