Drugged Love (On Hold)

Chapter Five

Monday morning. Nothing was more painful than waking up and attending lectures in the morning after an unusually interesting weekend. Ishan had found a new friend in Elena, and the prospect of seeing her had eased that pain by a fraction.

He walked across the hallway thinking if and how he should greet her. Saying a simple "hi" never seemed so tough. What if she didn't reply? What if she ignores it and people notice? That would be terrible. His footsteps took him into the class. She saw him. He saw her. The radiance on her face was too difficult not to notice. She held an aura around her that made everyone else look ordinary.

She waved and smiled, Ishan was surprised. He found his hand rising and his grin becoming wider. He walked all the way up to his seat with the widest of grins on his face.

"What are you so happy about? " Reuben's hoarse voice and unkempt face greeted him. He looked as if he'd had a sleepless night.

"Nothing, you look beautiful ", Ishan smirked and two or three boys surrounding them burst into laughter.

The day passed like every other day and Ishan was at the school gate for Reuben.

He felt a hand brush the back of his head. "What the—"he turned around and caught his tongue.

Elena was standing there, "My driver won't be coming for the week, and my parents told me to manage on my own. So guess who's ass I'm gonna annoy all the way home everyday, "she giggled and started walking as if it was understood that Ishan would follow.

At once Ishan grabbed her pony tail and pulled her backwards.

She was pleasantly startled, before she could protest, Ishan stared deep into her eyes, "Wait here miss, I'll be back". Ishan walked towards the school building, extra cautious to walk straight and not look back. He was surprised by his own effrontery which had taken her by surprise. He could still feel the texture of her hair in his hand, the softness which made them slip out, God he wished he could feel her hair again.

He met Reuben in the school building and in one breath told him what the situation was. Reuben understood and punched Ishan playfully, "It's nothing like that,"Ishan said although he knew Reuben would never believe him.

He went back to Elena and they started walking home. They chatted casually, Elena would turn and look towards Ishan whenever he would speak,

"Tell me about your girlfriends ", Elena asked playfully.

Ishan was taken aback by a slightly personal question. He looked at his feet not wanting to answer, "I've never had a girlfriend "

"Wow. That is quite hard to believe"

Ishan tried hard to force away the blush and the smile that came along with it. He could feel Elena's gaze scrutinizing him and he decided not to meet it. He decided to escape the delicate situation

"You tell me. Do you have any boyfriend? "Ishan knew what he hoped to hear but was not sure if it was right to be hopeful of anything.

"No", Elena's voice had never seemed sweeter. A two-letter word with a single syllable contained so many emotions. He didn't let it overpower him, composed himself, and looked at Elena

"And you've never had a boyfriend?"

Elena's smile vanished, he noticed that her face lost some color and she looked wearily into the distance, as if waiting for the moment to pass and hoping her silence would answer the question.

Ishan felt remorseful. His question had reminded her of something from her past. He had touched a nerve which shouldn't have been touched and reached a corner of her mind which had been long since shut down and forgotten.

He blurted out, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be so intruding. You don't have to answer"

They walked silently for a while. Elena looked at him, finally she spoke, "When I lived in the US, there was a boy", Ishan couldn't help but notice her tone had become calm, and it lacked the childish exuberance, which it always had. "I met him when one year before I left for India. I was living the life of an outcast there, I didn't have many friends, I felt out of place everywhere. But he was always there for me. We spent a lot of time together. I was crazy for him. I would lie, lie to my parents, lie to the one or two friends I had just to be with him. He loved me for who I was. Everything in my life was happy again. "She paused to look at Ishan. Ishan nodded implying that he was listening attentively.

"My parents told me that we have to leave for India within a month. I told him about it. I was scared about us. He told me we'd make it work. The last month I spent there, we argued a lot and he just didn't seem to be interested in me. The day before I was about to leave my friend who was her friend too told me that he was dating someone else already. I was shocked. I just asked her since when was this going on. I just wanted to know if he did it because I was leaving. I came to know that he had been with this other girl for more than two months. So in a way he was not only cheating on me, but he had been relieved that I was leaving for I would never know is secret. I am sure once I had left, I would have never heard from him."

Ishan didn't know what to say. He didn't know how to react. Sympathy was one emotion that he had a hard time exhibiting.

The story took him by surprise, he was not at all expecting this. He swallowed hard and uttered, "I'm really sorry to hear this Elena. He was not worth having you. He didn't deserve you at all. It's a good thing that you got rid of him. I know it was tough for you—"

"I cried and cried the whole night, but coming here helped me a lot, I didn't shed a single tear after coming here. But there are nights you know, when the thoughts come back. It just makes me sad for sometime, then I'm as good as new", she smiled and looked at him.

Ishan could swear he had never seen a more beautiful smile. "You are a strong person Elena. It's a good thing that you've learnt to by happy again", Ishan said and placed a hand on her shoulder.

She didn't resist a bit under Ishan's touch, "Thank you Ishan. You know I have friends here too but I didn't tell about this to anyone. I'm happy I can confide in you."

Ishan cupped his hands and mocked her in a girly tone,"Aww. I feel so special" and looked innocently at her. She burst out laughing and punched him playfully.They both laughed until they realized they had reached her place.

"I gotta go now, "she said her tone suggesting that she didn't want to. "Hey you never told me, where do you live?"

Ishan was dumbfounded. He didn't want to tell her that he lived in a gloomy colony in a tarnished house. He didn't want her to know about that part of her life. He thought that maybe he would tell her someday but that time it didn't seem right. Telling her the truth about that part of her life was difficult so he chose the easy way out and lied,

"I live in the colony right across that park." He pointed to a park a few hundred meters away from them.

"That's great. I have been there a few times. We don't live that far away, "she paused "I'll see you tomorrow". She leaned closer to Ishan and gave him a quick hug. Ishan's could hear his own heartbeat, his cheeks flushed red and before he could react and wrap his arms around her, she had turned and walked away.

Ishan kept smiling all the way till he reached home. He smiled so much his cheeks hurt. But still, he smiled and smiled.

.........................................................................................................................................

Thankyou for reading this chapter. 

So Ishan and Elena are becoming really good friends? Friends? Now we know something about Elena's past, how lucky must Ishan feel that he's the only person she decided to tell.

Votes for this chapter would go towards easing Ishan's cheek pain from all the smiling so he could smile a bit more.

The next chapter is gonna be here in no time. Much love xD