His Dusk, Her Dawn

Chapter 9. Important to me

Chill, Ved, don't think about it. Why are you wasting your time on such a stupid thought? Come on, bro, it's Sandy Pandy we are talking about.

Yup, I am definitely overthinking. It is all my friends' fault. They keep defending Sandhya and sing praises of her so much that I am also getting affected by their words. I should forget about yesterday and focus on the moment.

I refused to divert my attention whenever my mind brought up Sandhya's topic. I knew I was paying too much attention to her, that's why she was always on the top of my mind. I had nothing to worry about.

I managed to clear my head and attended my classes. I didn't get involved with the girl I should be avoiding at all cost and survived through the first half of the day. In the lunch break, I swapped places with Shree because I knew that if I got even a glance of her, my mind would start playing games with me.

Just don't look at her, and everything will be fine.

"Ved, what do you think about Elina?" Shree asked.

"Elina who?" I raised my eyebrows.

He shot me a flat look. "The girl who has been constantly visiting our table for two weeks in a row, asking me to tell her if she can be your girlfriend in case are single at the moment."

"What? Tell her I am not interested."

"Thought so. I already did that, but she is coming here again. You deal with her yourself." He shrugged.

I cursed under my breath when the girl named 'Elina' elegantly walked towards us and settled herself beside Shree. He gave her a smile and winked at me. I mentally prayed to myself and waited for Elina to speak. Ayush whispered to me 'All the best' and left to sit on another table.

Hmm... He was still uncomfortable around new people.

"Hi, Ved," Elina said.

"Hi." I smiled.

For a minute, she didn't say anything and glanced at the other guys present. Nikhil nudged me and told me to continue the conversation; I didn't want to, but I also didn't want to make the girl feel bad - I was confused.

"Did Shree say anything about me?" Elina asked shyly while tucking loose hair behind her ear.

"Yup." I nodded and glanced at my friend.

"Well, I haven't seen you with anyone yet, so I wanted to tell you that I am interested in you. Will you date me?" she confessed, her whole face turning red.

One more proposal... How lucky I was!

I should've been on cloud nine, but even after hearing her straightforward confession, I didn't feel anything. Not even a beat skipped. I pursed my lips, avoiding my friends' death glares. Nikhil shook his head as he already expected my reply, while Shree put up his hands in air.

Why am I like this? Why can't I get myself a girlfriend when the girls are themselves proposing to me? Why do I always push all of them back? Should I say 'Yes'?

I glanced at Elina, and she looked at me expectedly. Her brown skin glowed in the afternoon sunlight as her short hair swayed with the wind, making her earrings jingle. I tried to imagine her as my girlfriend, but it seemed difficult than reading my Physics textbook.

In the end, after taking a lot of time, I rejected her proposal. Her face fell, her eyes losing the glint the moment I said 'No'. I felt bad, but I didn't want to give her false hopes. She said she understood and left.

"That was the eighteenth girl you rejected," Nikhil commented.

"Are you gay, bro?" Shree asked.

"I don't know," I groaned.