As days went by me and Thea became close. I treated her like the elder sister I wanted but never had, always teasing her and whatnot. She was elder to me by 8 or 9 months. Conversed with her on Instagram and stuff. Bear in mind, through the course of these conversations, I did not develop any feelings and it was strictly platonic, ruined the fun, didn’t I? Anyways, nothing much happened this week to be excited about. Aishwarya and I did have a few conversations here and there. It is also to be noted that I called everyone in this set brother or sister except maybe Qays. I couldn’t come to terms with myself to call him brother, although he was elder to me. No, it’s not because of his personality. He was the most kind-hearted, gentle person you would ever meet, his smile represented that everything was rather alright in this world. It was just a small malfunction in my consciousness which was the problem. He followed everyone word in the Quran, a very halal boy. The above bit might seem a bit gay but appreciation where it’s due, another one of my principles by the way.
Fast forward to a random day in the third week of interacting with Ameer’s group of friends. Enter Radha, another important character in this tale. We were playing Truth or dare; I had not opened up to most of them. Basically, this session was targeted at me. They got to know about my earlier and traumatic experiences with women. My love life, which consisted of one ex-girlfriend and 3 times where I was rejected and once where the opposite happened. Also, at this point in time the whole group knew that I did find Aishwarya attractive and knowingly they asked whether I would have asked out Aishwarya if she was single. I blushed, moments later a call from Decathlon delivery services saves me (maybe God was smiling at me at that point) from the embarrassment, I attend the call and then reply to Ameer saying he knows what I would do. 2 bottle spins later, the bottle points to her, same question was asked but changed to her context. She replies saying “If that guy didn’t do what he did yesterday, maybe yes”. A little backstory here, I had watched a movie with Thea on campus premises, a romantic movie, this made me think maybe it was this, but who am I kidding could be any other person. Dear reader, at times I was insecure of myself and sometimes I had God complex. The God complex phase happens maybe once a month or something, insecurity the rest of the time.
Later that week, Aishwarya told that one of her friends had a crush on me, but she apparently had a boyfriend. The world does work in weird ways. That would also amount to a grand total of 2 women having a crush on me. She was also a senior from my school, same branch as well.
Also, within this small timeframe she asked for my snap ID and my number as well. I know the men get the social IDs, but I didn’t want to get hurt again and risk my mental health. To sum it all up, she got me chocolates, dairy milk, the one with nuts as well, my favourite and I
got her a bracelet, matching ones. I stopped calling her and the women in the group ‘sis’. A sign that I eased up to the particular ladies and gentlemen.
That Sunday, a huge event was held by my university. Thea apparently had a performance in this event. This was telecasted on a channel as well, a native one though. I didn’t understand the language much despite being a native. I studied in an international school where I spent the whole 8 hours conversing in English, I was also destined to go abroad as well, and Covid-19 had to come ruin it, so I can’t blame myself for not learning it. Thea told me she would get me lunch from a good place. On a side note, I’m a sucker for food, if a group of strangers offered me food, I would gladly jump in their vehicle and ride with them. Yeah so, I went early, spent some time with her, and had a good lunch (although a small part of it was paid by me). It was a rather long walk to get to that fast food place. Anyways the great Ram got good food after ages of eating stale rice and curry.
The event started around 6:30 pm. Thea finished her dance and came upstairs to the balcony part of the stage. This stage hosted all the commoners of the campus who just wanted to watch the event but couldn’t afford to get the VIP seats. Shortly after this, Thea and I went out to get ice cream. It was a 750m walk and the price of an Ice Cream for two scoops was Rs.500. The area in which this event was held was rather expensive, and my wallet was drying up fast. While we were there, something unprecedented happened; Aishwarya called, a huge milestone for me as I’m a person who prefers texts and reserve calls for really important people. She was in the building in which the event took place, and I didn’t hear anything she told me. I cut the call and sent a text, being the sensible person I am. She met her other group of friends and came to sit on the chair next me. My heart was pounding out of my chest, she was dressed elegantly, and I was sitting there in the most God-awful pieces of clothing I had to wear. Seriously if I knew she was coming I would have dressed sensibly. The stage hosted 2 popular singers and the music wasn’t something I would vibe to. She didn’t eat, so me being the gentleman I am, escorted her to the canteen downstairs. Got a couple of Ice coffees and opened up more about my first relationship. This was the highlight of my day.
Edited and published by: RACSLIIT Editorial Team 2022-23