Change Ahead

Chapter - 5

Evening, I was packing my bag to go home.

Varun, came by and asked, "Hey... Where are you from? Do you need a ride home?"

I said, "No thanks. I can take a bus."

He said, "It is raining. How will you take a bus?"

I told, "I have an umbrella. I can go."

In a more compelling way, he said, "It is raining and you cannot take a bus. I will give a ride in my bike." He spoke to me as if he owned me.

I asked, "So... Do you drop everybody here whenever it rains?"

He said, "No... I'm offering this only to you. Not to anyone else."

I said, "I said I do not want. I have an umbrella and I can go."

I hurried towards and exit and came out. After about 5 minutes of walk, I reached the bus stop to take a bus to my home. I saw Varun coming towards me in his bike. He was fully drenched. His hair was so neatly combed by the rain. I could see the rain drops dripping down from his eye lashes, unwillingly.

He said, "The offer is still open."

"I rejected it a long time back," saying so I folded my umbrella to take the bus that came to a stop. I did not want to appear weak to him.

As it was raining heavily, I almost got fully wet within the time I got into the bus. I sat in the front row. I could see him still waiting between the people who got into the bus. He waved at me as if he said bye. I smiled back. They closed the door. It was really a cold day. It rained throughout the night.

Every day, Swathi and I had lunch together. Sometimes, we saw Varun with his friends. Swathi was so crazy about him. She only talked about him. I had developed so much interest in him. But I kept myself in the dark. I did not want to earn anyone's empathy. One day, it broke down.

Swathi asked me, "Hey.. We never talk about you. Tell me something about you. Where do you come from? What are your parents? Where are your parents? Do you have any siblings?" She kept piling up the questions.

I said, "I am an orphan. I grew up in a home. I came out of it as I started earning."

Her bright face turned upside down. It was so full of sympathy towards me.

She said, "Oh..!! I feel very sorry for you."

I said, "Please. Do not feel for me. I am happy the way I am."

She was not able to stop feeling for me anyways. Soon the news had spread, exactly which I did not want to happen.

Varun should have known about it. He came to me asking, "Gaze... Gaze..." He thinks it is his form of making a joke about my name.

"Gazella..." he called.

I said, "Go on. I can hear you" as I folded the clothes and arranged them.

He asked me, "Shall we go out for tea? To the same spot, I know you liked it." Before I agreed, he started walking.

I said, "No. I am not coming."

He said, "You are coming."

I said, "Do not order me. I don't want to come."

He asked, "Do you know what you are doing now?" I looked up to meet his eyes.

He bent down and came close to me and said, "I would like to share something with you. Can you please come with me? I cannot share it with everyone."

I was afraid. I said, "No. Let us do it here."

He said, "I want only us to be there. Please."

I said, "No."

He shrugged and said, "Ok. Your wish! If you want to make it public and let everyone know about this, I'm fine. I'm totally fine about it."

He looked at me as if he was waiting for me to change my answer. I knew it was nothing big or serious. It should be something rubbish.

"You can show me here or never" I said.

He said, "Ok. Let us at least go to the corner." He showed me one of the corners of the room near the shelves. It looked like a hide out. I stood there thinking what he was going to do. He held my shoulders and pushed me saying, "Come on. Your precious time is running." He laughed out loud.

I pushed him away and said, "Ok. I'm coming. Now leave me."

It was a small place. We were standing so close that we could smell each other and hear the heartbeat of the other person. My heart pumped fast. I was afraid if he was going to hear my heart out.

He bent down and looked into my eyes and said, 'Gaze... Can't you just let me keep gazing at you? Why do you want to make everything so hard and complicated? I like you so much. I fell on the first look of yours.'

I asked him, "What?" in a more startling way. He tried controlling his laughter and said, 'Let me kiss you once.' I pushed him away and came out.

It was all my thoughts. Iwas hallucinating about us. He was stood there innocently still trying to partition the chocolate.

He looked at me asking, "What? Why are you going? You don't want it? I saved it for you."

I said, "Ok. I'm not going anywhere. I couldn't breathe there."

He smirked at me saying, "I was able to breathe." I did not care to answer him. We ate the chocolate and I waved at him and left.