Lover Is A Day

Chapter 11

Chapter 11

I had to look up what ‘wyd’ means. It means ‘What are you doing’.
You: Hi
         I was just about to sleep
Shubham: It’s too early to sleep
                   Goodnight then
He replied instantly. I think he wanted to say something.
You: When do you sleep then?
Shubham: I don’t
                   But I’ll probably sleep at 4 😆
                   Med student life 😭
What should I say now!?
You: I see
Shubham: You should sleep now
You: Is there anything you wanted to say?
Shubham: nothing
                   Goodnight!
He definitely wanted to say something.

‘What do you want?’
‘Help us out at the library!’, Zenna said as she walked next to me in the hallway at college, ‘Three of us aren’t enough, we need someone’s help’
‘Ask somebody else then’
‘Aren’t you a part of the club too? Besides we- me, Neha and Shubham aren’t really that close to anybody else in the club, so we can’t ask anyone else either’
Right, Any of Shubham’s friends other than her and Neha aren’t in the club…
‘How come you and Neha are friends with Shubham?’, I asked
‘Huh? We went to the same junior college, that’s why we’re friends with him’
‘I see’
‘- and from then he likes Neha’. It appeared though she had a dark cloud over her expression. She turned to me.
‘Are you coming or not?’
‘I am busy-’
‘Liar!’
I sighed. ‘If I have got nothing to do after college, then I’ll come’
‘You should come, that way you’ll get to be near him’, she winked and left for her class.

Zenna and Shubham were bickering about a broken shelf, and who gets to fix it. A series of unfortunate events and a failed attempt to escape lead to me come here and turns out that what Shubham was trying to tell me yesterday on text, was to help them here. The library at our college is old, it was probably built during the British times and hasn’t been renovated since. With nothing but old, wooden shelves and wooden tables and big chairs. It smells like old books and wood. Everything about this place is old, even the librarian. And there is not a single person here, except us.
I was helping Neha in shifting books. These were all books in Marathi and Hindi.
‘We have to make place for new books, so we have to move the old books’, Neha said
‘You hold the ladder I’ll go up!’, Zenna said to Shubham
‘I’m a boy! I should do this!’, he said
‘What do you mean!?’
‘Guys! Don’t fight’, Neha said ‘The sooner we finish this, the sooner we can leave’
‘Okay, fine whatever’, Zenna said and held out the hammer. Shubham took it and climbed the ladder. Zenna rolled her eyes.
‘Hey! don’t just stand there! Hold the ladder!’, he said.
He started hitting something inside the shelf. Soon a "Thakk” sound followed, Shubham broke the thing he was supposed to fix. He held it out. Zenna burst out laughing, and Neha started giggling.
‘Let me do it now’, Zenna said
Shubham obediently came down from the ladder and handed the hammer to Zenna, she took it and climbed the ladder, the ladder was shaky. Shubham crossed his hands.
‘Careful!’, Neha said and rushed forward to help. She quickly dumped her pile of books in Shubham’s hands and held the ladder.
‘Thanks’, Zenna looked at her
Neha blushed, ‘…welcome’
Shubham was dumbstruck. I sighed and went back to work. Later he joined me in shifting the books.

At 4:30 we decided to stop.
‘There is still some relocating to do, but we’ll do that next time’, Neha said ‘This is enough for now’
We walked out. With no students, the college looked lifeless, all its glory was in the morning and afternoon, now it was just a place. We walked out the gate. Neha said that we should reward ourselves with ice cream. I passed, but I got included anyways. Later they went home.
And Shubham and I walked home together.
‘Do you usually walk to college?’, he asked
‘I come by car; I didn’t bring it today because the petrol tank was empty’
‘Are you rich or something?... you stay in private dorm and have car and all’, he asked
‘The car is rented. And am I rich…? No., but my father is’, I said
He paused for a second and the started laughing.
‘Now that’s a guy from Delhi’, he said
‘What about you?’
‘I come by bus, and back walking., sometimes when I’m late I take auto’
‘oh’, I said. Awkward silence followed
He was walking next to me, and I could feel his stare.
‘By the way, are you in the group?’, he said
‘Which group?’, I asked
‘The one on WhatsApp’
‘Yeah, I am in the club’s group’, I looked in his direction
‘No not that, the other one… wait I’ll tell Zenna to add you’, he said
‘You should come to help us often, so you can still be near Zenna’, he added
‘What?’, I said
‘I know you like her. It’s kinda sad that she told you off like that, maybe you still have a chance’
‘You think that I like Zenna?’, I asked
‘Yea… or else why would you still talk to her, or be near her? It’s pretty obvious hehe’
I had to restrain myself from hitting my head or rolling my eyes.
‘I’ve known Zenna and Neha for a long time now… they’re good people’, he said quietly

Extra:
He later told me that he wants to ask Neha out to date.
I looked at him, he looked lost in thought.
This situation is pretty complicated… and none of my business.
He is straight, he likes Neha. Someone like him, would never even think of associating with me. Is it time I break contact with him?
It was evening now. I sat on my desk chair, stalking myself on Instagram. I had 106 followers and 8 following, they were Abhi, Mayur, some guys from basketball, my relatives, cousin sister and… Mira. Should I unfollow her now?
The little heart icon next to my profile had a red dot. I had 2 new followers- it was Zenna and Shubham. I clicked on his profile. He had a few posts, some were group photos with his guy friends, one was a picture of cricket lawn, one was him in a tradional kurta, and his most recent post was a selfie of him, Neha and Zenna at library. It must be from the other day. He also had highlights, they were selfies of him and his friends, and food they ate, he also had Neha and Zenna tagged in a few. He has a lot of friends, I guess.
Suddenly, my room bell rang. I opened the door. It was Abhi and Mayur. Abhi barged in and sat on my bed, Mayur followed.
‘What are you doing?’, I asked
Abhi lifted a plastic bag that he had, in it, glass bottles clinked.
‘In our dorm, they don’t allow drinks. So, we came to your room’, Mayur explained
‘Oh no, not this…’, I held my head. I wanted to try sleeping early today.
‘Aw come on, it’s been soo long since we last sat together and had drinks, and look what I got-’ Abhi showed me the bronze-colored bottle of Budweiser.
‘I thought you were going to get Old Monk’, Mayur said
‘It was costly!’, Abhi replied
‘You guys will leave at 9, okay?’, I said
‘Sure’, Mayur said
‘Sure sure, it’s like two hours from now’, Abhi said ‘Should we order something?’

It was 10:45 now. We had ordered chicken something. I had told them that I didn’t want to participate in their “Daaru Party”. But somewhere along the lines in started drinking too. Abhi yapped about a girl that he had gone on date with. Everything was starting to get dizzy, maybe I was sleepy or drunk, or maybe both. I gulped down a glass of water. I came back to senses now. I took out my phone.
I had a notification or notifications on WhatsApp. I could see a new chat. I may seem sober on the outside but on the inside, I am really tired.
Zenna added you to ‘Friends Forever’
Neha: Hi Raj 👋🏻
‘What?’, I thought
I had another personal text from Zenna.
Zenna: Don’t you dare think about leaving the group chat 🙂
‘What are the looking in the phone…got a girlfriend or what… Hickk’, Abhi bluttered
‘You are clearly drunk now, let’s go back’, Mayur said
‘Why go back?... we can stay here…with raj., he won’t hick …mind’, Abhi said
‘Please go back’, I said, calmly
Mayur held Abhi’s shoulder and helped him stand up.
‘You’re like my wife… you should-’, Abhi started
‘Yeah, whatever dude, shut up and walk’, Mayur said
And they left. I turned off my light and fell on my bed.

Authors Note: ♡
I've been struggling to get back on my daily schedule, I've gained weight and my exams are starting next month, so thats all good 🤡 Anyways enjoy the long chapter. And please like and comment. Until next time. Byeee.