Karmic exam benchmate

Part-1

Throughout February, we navigated exams together, and as March rolled around, bringing holidays, our encounters became less frequent. However, come April, when school resumed, our shared proximity resumed as well.

In July, I began attending tuition classes and discovered that M was also enrolled there. Our schedules differed, with his classes ending as ours began. This timing often led to chance encounters on the road, where we would pass each other without acknowledgment. Despite the exams concluding in February, I continued to steal glances at him and gave him attention at school, but he never looked at me. He acted like I wasn't there, so it prompted me to reciprocate in kind, gradually turning my attention away from him as well.

Just a few weeks into August, I found out that M has a crush on me. During lunch break, my friend Monikha came up to me and said, "Hey, you're a big girl now!" I was confused and just smiled. As we lined up after the bell, she told me, "Tonmo, someone has a crush on you." I shook my head and gestured a 'no'. Monikha insisted, "No, really."

Later, on our way to tuition, both Monikha and Bhumika brought it up again. "Someone has a crush on you," they said. I couldn't help but ask, "Are you pranking me?" They denied it, so I replied, "I don't believe it." Then, I challenged them, "If it's true, tell me his name and show me who it is." That's when they revealed, "His name starts with the letter M."

After July, both M and I started attending tuition together, along with our respective groups of friends. One day, while sitting on the last bench in the corner, I overheard Priyanka asking Bhumika, "Was he looking at Tonmo?" When M was outside the room and me and my friends were in the room. I didn't catch a glimpse of who they were referring to that time, but his friends were loudly calling out his name. Later, as Priyanka and I were heading home in a van, she joked, "If he gets to know your personality, he'll run away."

The next day, he still didn't join us during tuition, but as our session was ending, his friends arrived with him. Though I didn't know who was sitting behind me, my friends later informed me it was him after our session ended. I felt too shy to peak through the door and see who it is, fearing embarrassment if caught peeking. The following day, he was absent, but his friends mentioned my name as we passed by them.

After a couple of weeks, I finally learned his identity, and I was shocked to discover it was the boy who sat next to me in exam. I realized I had feelings for him too although I had been uncertain because of his avoidance.

As I was returning from tuition, we passed by a shop where some boys from M's grade were hanging out. They immediately remarked, "Didn't M come today?" Priyanka (my friend) nudged me, saying, "See, they're teasing you." With shyness, I replied, "Shut up and let's go."

On August 18th, we had a class with M and his friends. He sat on the first bench in the corner, while I occupied the last bench in another corner. Romon, his friend, occasionally glanced at me, while smiling at me and whispering to M. Another one of his friends sat on the last bench in a different row, but I noticed him frequently turning back, seemingly engaged in conversation with his friend who sat in a different row's last bench but likely stealing glances at me. And I was looking at M saying something to his friend and Bhumika noticed me looking at him and smiled, I suspected she had noticed my covert staring and found it amusing.

While we were in the van Bhumika told me, "M was secretly looking at you, that's why I looked at you and smiled." The news of M having a crush on me spread throughout the entire school, reaching even the fifth graders, thanks to his popularity. As I exited the tuition room after our tuition ended, I noticed a guy from a different grade, a year older than me, who was sitting on a bench in the room with his friends and was whispering to his friends, "Look, that's the girl." I overheard it, glanced back at them, and then walked away.