The Irony of Life(Chapter 7)

Abhishek was looking forward to the day that followed. He really wanted to meet the girl and find out her name, talk to her, know where she lives and maybe hang out with her.

Yeah. That would be lovely.

Thing was, she wanted to do the same, he just didn't know it yet, and that's why the next day ended up the way it did.

The next day

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The day was full of theory, and Abhishek had already read up the manual, he had consulted the instructors and had asked them if he could leave the class to have a look around, the instructor approved after a quick oral test and was amazed at his interest in the topic. As a reward, he gave him an extra boiled egg, and a jam sandwich.

I'll give this to her and we'll share.

His face flushed red at the mere thought. He walked away from the site where the guys were sitting towards the girls' spot. As he was walking he felt a soothing breeze on his face, enjoying the breeze, he slowly walked on the short, green, swaying grass, no grass had ever been beautiful, this was not because of what he was feeling because of her, Abhishek actually liked scenic beauty. This grass was mountain grass, fed with the sweet mountain water and fresh pollutant-free rain, the air was clean, the mountains beautiful, the grass the greenest he had ever seen, this was the most clean air he had ever breathed, the most tasty water he ever had in this place, he had started loving this place, almost as much as his home. He might actually miss it, when he'd leave it forever.

I hope she would be from the same place I live in, anyways, she appears to be from a hostel like me, let's keep my fingers crossed. I hope she is from Delhi. That way we can meet daily.

A smile again burst upon his face, his eyes started shining, he could have almost stopped walking and lay on the green grass he was walking upon,  but he had to meet her, meet the brown-eyed girl.

He heard some giggling.

Almost there, I guess.

It was almost funny, he had this perception, that girls, most girls, would laugh at the silliest things, he knew what he thought didn't , make sense, but, he couldn't help it, every time he would hear someone laughing, he would assume it to be a girl and smile at his foolishness, how could he be so presuming…it was almost funny.

But the most amazing thing was, he loved women and girls laughing, somehow, it made him happy from inside, their voices were so beautiful, unlike the guys, it could make him happy. And that was weird.

Very weird.

As he neared the group, what he saw was supposed to be surprising to others but not to him.

She is not laughing, she is just sitting there looking around, wow. Strange, but expected.

"Hi." he said.

"Hello," said one of the girls from the group, "and you are?"

"I am Abhishek….ummm..I wanted to talk to her.."said he, pointing towards the girl.

"Her? You see, Mr. Abhishek wants to talk to you," said the girl with mild sarcasm in her voice.

"Ok, I should be going."

I should be leaving, I'm not getting a good feeling.

He was getting very uneasy and nervous suddenly. He turned around and started walking.

"Hey, listen.."

The brown-eyed girl stood up and started walking towards him. He stood on the spot.

Now, we must know, that he hadn't listened to her voice, so what he did was entirely, unexpected.

"STOP! DON'T YOU DARE COME NEAR ME!"shouted Abhishek.

"Who! Me?"said she.

Abhishek hadn't turned around. He thought it was the same girl who had been sarcastic to him.

"HOW DARE YOU MOCK…"he turned around, "me…?"

His jaw dropped, it was her.

"No, not you, although, you didn't stop her! How could you do this to me?"
"Huh? How could I do what to you? Are you COMPLETELY INSANE!"

Suddenly, he started realizing what was happening.

"I'm sorry, I was not in the right state of mind, I'm very embarrassed, please don't hate me, I should be going…"

"Are you a traveller? All you do is keep on going, stand here!"

She pointed towards the ground where he was standing before. He froze.

"ye…ye…yeah..ok…" stuttered Abhishek.

"And damn right you are sorry, you should be."

"Yes, I am sorry. R…r….reall…really, sorry."

"Ok, now tell me, what did you want to talk about?"

"I wanted to know your name."

"Huh? My name? Just right now you were stuttering!"
"Yeah, but now I'm fine, by the way, I can't always refer to you in front of my friends as the 'beautiful brown-eyed girl', you must be having some name."

Her faced turned pink, almost red, she was blushing.

"Ummm…Neha."

"Ummm..Neha?"

"Noo, my name is Neha."

Beautiful name.

"Your name is as beautiful as your eyes."
"Thanks Abhishek…"

She started looking down.

Why is she looking down? I want her to look up into my eyes…what's wrong?

"Neha, what school is this?"

"I am from St. Teresa."

"You live with your friends there?"

"No, I live here only, in Nainital."

She looked up.

Her glistening brown, innocent, beautiful, shapely eyes.

Wow.

He suddenly realized what she had said.

"NAINITAL?"

"Why? What happened?"

"No..nothing..na..aa. So friends?"

"Yeah, I thought we were already friends."

Awesome.

"So, friend, Neha, let's meet up at the embassy restaurant on the mall road, this Saturday, let's have some rajma chawal, and let's go and play some games then?"
"Games! WOW! Yes, let's go, and their rajma chawal is so yum!"

She is not boring at all. And so bubbly, wow….amazing.

And that's how they started meeting each other every 2nd Saturday.

And that was how they fell in love.

Abhishek and Neha.

Until….