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