The Boxes We Are Put In

Chapter 12

Having a boyfriend is not always just a good thing.

The first thing I realised is that it puts unnecessary pressure on you to look good. After fishing through everything, I own and spending an hour in front of the mirror, I was irritated at the way I was so overly conscious about the way I looked.

The second thing is that you will have to lie to your parents. Obviously, it does not apply to everyone. This applies only to those who are not that confident in telling their parents about their dating life. And unfortunately, not everybody is as lucky as Nikhil is. He went and told his mom on the first day. I was shocked. But apparently, she really likes me.

Nikhil: Got Sharan's bike. Will pick u up.

Nikhil: See u in 10 mins. Can't wait

Nikhil: Reached

"Where are you going?" Achan asked as I was about to walk out of the house.

"Final Project work," I told him.

"Shall I drop you? I am going to the bank in a while."

"No. I am already late. Will go by auto." I walked out. White lies to your parents' face...

Our house is in a lane, and there is a 10-minute walk to the junction. I could see Nikhil waiting in the lonely part of the road. He was leaning on a bike and grinning at me. He was wearing an orange and white t-shirt and looked so good that I almost turned around and went home. I mean, what is the use if you spent 2 hours dressing up and he still ends up looking better than you so effortlessly?

The demerits of having the cutest guy in the world as your boyfriend – you can't get angry with him, no matter what he does. Especially not after that afternoon in the library. No, the kiss was not what did it. It is the back story. I can't know something like that about him and be detached. Now I have this immense deep bond and affection for him. Seriously I can not manage to have any sort of ill feelings towards him anymore.

I was not sure of 'love' in the sense others talk about. But right now, I did not care because I knew that I genuinely care about this sweet boy in front of me. And what I felt for him was significant enough for me. He could make me laugh and be annoyed like no other human could. And 'I' wanted to be with him. So much so that the 'list' was out of the picture.

"So, I told Sharan that it was not made out of metal. It is plastic. But he simply would not agree." Nikhil was telling me and laughed. "At last Adi had to convince him." There is always a lot to talk about. Always never boring.

"How did you become friends with Adwaith?" I asked.

"Hm...First-year. First I was not sure he was an approachable person. But then second week of college, in the canteen I dropped my wallet. And he picked it up. And it was open."

"So?" I asked.

He took out his wallet and held it open. There was his mom's photo in it. "He handed it back to me, asked if it was my mom and did not comment anything bad about that," Nikhil said. "And we ended up talking, and only then did all my prior idea about him fell away. He is a great guy, almost like a brother to me. He is mature for his age and all. Do you know?"

I nodded.

Our food arrived, and the chicken dish smelled terrific. It was this new grilled chicken with some special marination menu that had gone widely popular. We began to eat. "This is seriously good," I said.