The Unforeseen Path

Chapter Three

There are some firsts, that you can't wait for them to happen, like first date, first boyfriend, first kiss and then there are some firsts that mostly aren't that pleasant. This first was one of the latter firsts and I never saw it coming, which now looking at the signs I should have.

If there was anybody I thought who was more hard working in my coaching then me, was Nikhil. He would solve a lot of math questions beforehand and even used IIT-JEE books to solve problems. IIT-JEE was engineering entrance, and by this point I was barely mastering the basics, so Nikhil, solving those problems was a big deal. He asked a lot of doubts to our teachers, and all in all my impression of him was that he was a nerd like me and it'd be great help for me if we were friends.

We would occasionally solve physics numericals together and once we were randomly talking about places to hang out and he said, "Someday we'll go to Cafe Coffee Day," and assuming he was talking about the whole group I said, "Why not."

It was a month after college and everything had started when Nikhil asked for my number and told me to be online on watsapp around 10 pm. Assuming he wanted to talk about physics or maybe just generally, wanted someone to talk to, I gave it to him.

That day, just as the clock striked 10, he messaged me, if I was free, and what I was doing, who all were in my family and after that his questions were somewhat confusing to me.

Nikhil : Have you ever had a boyfriend?

Me : Nop.

Nikhil : Are you Single?

Me : Yes, I am.

Nikhil : Do you have a crush on anyone?

[I just decided to lie here]

Me : No, I don't.

Nikhil : I Love You Pia.

Whatt? Like what?? Is this guy for real now? He barely knows me and he loves me, and he thinks I am supposed to believe that.I decided not to reply.I looked at my elder sister who was watching TV and showed her the chat.

My sister being the cool kid that she is, said that I shouldn't make a big deal out of it and maybe have a college fling with him. I looked at my sister, whom I loved with all my heart, being unreal and just glared at her.

Nevertheless, I handed her my phone to my sister, since I had little  experience in this area, and hers was abundant, but I shouldn't have. Cause my sister wrote something even crazier.

Me : I Love You, too

Nikhil :  Oh, Pia your so beautiful, I'll be a nice boyfriend.

After that my sis handed me the phone but the damage was done. Then I wrote to him.

Me : The 'I love you' wasn't me, it was my sister she wrote it.

And I just switched off my phone, yelled at my sister a bit and went off to sleep .

Next day, I called Tanya and told her everything and she told me that I sounded happy because he proposed, and I told her she was just crazy.

But when I thought for a minute, I guess I liked that he proposed me, not because of him, but because somebody, in whatever screwed up way, liked me. All through my school years, I had friends proposed by guys, friends having boyfriends, but nobody was into me. Some part of me, how much ever I denied it craved that kind of attention. And with that thought in my mind I switched on my internet to see Nikhil's text messages.

Nikhil : Your face is as bright as the moon, baby.

Nikhil : Your eyes sparkle like the stars.