The next morning was uneventful, but around 10 or 11 am I got a follow request on  Instagram from her. Please note, I didn’t send her a request or stalk her profile, I have my  principles, seriously! I was taken aback. I dropped a text to Ameer to check whether he  blurted out anything, he hadn’t. Ameer also told that she could have sent the request after looking at the pic me and him took together. I wondered if this was sign from God or  something. I didn’t do much about it either, just brushed it off as if it was some nonsensical  deal or just coincidence.  

Thursday came, which meant I had practices, football, but this week it was futsal (indoor  football). The grounds were damp from heavy rain last night, so clearly it wasn’t ideal to  play there. Afterwards, I walked through the campus to the bus stand to grab some short  eats maybe as it was lunch time. Ameer was there, sitting in the same canteen where I first  saw her. I approached him and asked him whether he was coming to practice. He said he  was planning to, and then he invited me out to lunch with his gang as well. This is where I  had my first ever conversation with her, during lunch in a mediocre restaurant. I doubt the  exchange we had can be called a conversation either, just a meagre 2 or 3 statements. I vaguely remember it asked about what my school was, where I was from and which faculty I  was from. We were from the same school, different branches, and different batches as well.  She was a year older than me. I was buzzing the whole day after this rather minor  interaction. Typical fan boy behaviour. 

Fast forward to Saturday, there was a beer can left at Ameer’s room, from the night before.  He and his friends, Ayan went out to smoke and Jaan followed. I DO NOT SMOKE, I just limit  it to drinking. Jaan doesn’t smoke or drink, a pure soul, but he cusses like a sailor.  Eventually, we got together at Ameer’s place. They smoked, I drank, and we moved on to  the sharing life experiences part, some major revelations pursued. Ameer revealed that  Aishwarya finds me cute as well. I didn’t know how to process this as it was an entirely new  experience for me. Not once before in my life had I been complimented like this, but all was  in vain as her boyfriend still exists. I just passed it off. 

Monday, none of my friends from Mechatronics visit campus premises unless its lunch time.  I was starving so I grabbed breakfast from “that” canteen. Partly, because I wanted to see  her, and the other reason was the food they had was passable and priced decently. I’m not  one to go strike conversations with people I’ve had zero interactions with. (Yeah, I’m an  introvert until I get close give it a week maybe) So as I laid my bag down on the table with  Ameer’s group of friends, Zahaa and Thea were the first to strike a conversation with me from the whole group.

Edited and published by: RACSLIIT Editorial Team 2022-23