Sugar Rush! (✓)

CL (1)

Three Years Ago

Mumbai

Neil had managed to steal a few hours of productive self-study before the first lecture began at college. Life had been busier than ever when he was nearing the end in his 4th year of MBBS. It was just a week left for his last semester exam & he was supposed to start his year long internship before he could finally use "Doctor" as a prefix to his name. 

Once done with the classes, he was finally making his way out of the college when someone tapped on his shoulder. He turned around to find a girl who, he was sure wasn't from his department. 

N - Yes? - he asked as he turned towards her. 

Girl - Ah, my name is Avni. 2nd year student, Botany Department. - she said while Neil nodded his head to acknowledge. Uh, this..this is for you! - she said while handing him an envelope. 

Neil was confused, but he took the envelope from her & before he could say anything she ran away making him even more confused. 

He was about to go after her when a friend of his stopped him & asked him if he could help with some doubts. Shaking his head, he safely put the envelope in his bag as he went along with his friend. 

_________________

Neil was finally done for the day after long hours of studying at a stretch. It was when he retired to his bed that he was reminded of the envelope that Avni had given him. Sighing, he got up from his bed & took the envelope out of his bag as he sat on his chair. 

It was a neat ochre-coloured envelope with a snowdrop flower design on it, he had found it beautiful. He carefully opened it only to find some papers inside which looked like some hand-written letters. 

Frowning, he unfolded them & finally began to read after rubbing his eyes so that the sleep could go away. 

"Neil, 

Its been two years since I saw you for the first time, all engrossed in your textbooks & notes. For the first two weeks I couldn't even look at your face as you always sit facing the window & hardly raise your head from your books. 

I always wondered what was so fascinating about the textbooks that you didn't even glance around for once - I was intrigued, to say the least! So after two whole weeks, I decided that I would stay in the library to wait for you to get up from your desk so that I could see you! 

Now that I think about it, I probably shouldn't have stayed back, because the moment my eyes found your hazel brown eyes, I couldn't look away - at all! 

Then you walked out of the small lobby & placed the textbooks back in the shelves, and I couldn't understand how your eyes changed colour! They looked dark brown in that particular dark alley of the library. I had never seen such beautiful eyes, and if I'm being totally honest, I was a bit jealous of your long eye-lashes & the way they'd sweep off your cheeks every time you blinked. 

Hazel, chocolate - & all shades brown had become my favourite colours! 

Two months after that, I finally heard you laugh for the first time and suddenly, all the musical notes that I had learnt during my piano classes felt trivial. They were not good enough! Your deep voice & unapologetic laughter had become my favourite genre of music - it still is! 

After almost four months of watching your from afar, I had decided that it was just a crush & it would go away - that I'd bring my heart to stop racing every time you came into view, and that I'd stop my lungs from pumping extra oxygen every time you laughed.