Love At Last

Intruders

It was a little after sunset and Zaara was alone in her room, as Anakha, Gayatri and Esther were in the library. She had been too tired because of all the recurring nightmares and wanted to catch up on some sleep.

After having a refreshing bath, she sat on her bed, drying her hair with a towel. Her skin felt cool and she couldn't wait to cuddle inside her blanket and have a long nap.

Beep, Beep... Vrrrmm... Beep, Beep, Vrrrmm...

Zaara picked up her mobile phone and opened the message. It was from Jacob.

Hi,
rehearsl @ 8am 2mrw. I've msgd evry1 abt it. Pls brng d script.

Zaara wiped off the water droplets that had fallen from her wet hair, on the phone's screen and typed out her reply,

K. Gt permission?

It was mandatory to get the permission of any faculty to enter the college before working hours. The only exception to this rule was to use the library.

She realised how stupid her question was only after she had sent it. Jacob wouldn't have scheduled the rehearsal unless he hadn't gotten permission from Arora.

Then her phone rang and it was Jacob.

"Hello, Jacob." Zaara said.

"Hi, I got permission from Arora. Um... Would you mind mailing the script to me? Didn't have enough balance to message." asked Jacob.

"Yeah, sure. But didn't you have it earlier?" Zaara asked.

"Oh!  Er... yeah... that was the rough one." he said, sounding uneasy. "Misplaced the original. I've been quite mad after all these sessions with Arora. And the never ending homework on top of that. I've never studied like this in my life!" he exclaimed.

"Everyone's been saying that. Esther said that if she had put in half the hard work she has been doing here, for her graduate studies, she would have been the university topper." Zaara laughed. "I guess all this hard work will pay off when we get placed." She sighed.

"Yeah. I guess."

There was a lingering silence.

"Any plans this weekend?" Jacob asked, breaking the silence.

"Yeah. It's my cousin's wedding on Sunday. So, I'll be going to Vaikom." Zaara said.

"Great! I and Dev are going to Kottayam on Sunday. It's his hometown. Since it's via Vaikom, we could all go together. That is, if you want." He said, hesitantly. "I guess you're going by bus?"

"Yeah. By bus. Are you going by bus too?" She asked.

"Yeah."

"I'll have company, then." Zaara smiled.

"Alright. What time will you leave the hostel?" He asked, sounding a bit too enthusiastic.

"Well... About seven in the morning." She said.

"We too will leave around that time." After, yet another long silence, Jacob said. "Okay Zaara, see you tomorrow. Goodnight."

"Night, Jacob."

Zaara had an odd feeling about Jacob's over-enthusiasm. He had been messaging her for the last two-three days. Most of the time, it was for college-related work. But otherwise, there were 'good mornings', 'had dinner?' and 'good nights' almost everyday.

She felt silly. Maybe Jacob had nothing like that in mind. Nowadays, they talked to each other a lot in college for the Emerging Nation program and about Gaurav. Maybe, he just considered her a friend.