Chapter 6: A pleasant shock or a jolting surprise!

"Baatien kuch ankahi si, kuch ansuni si honi lagi...shayad yahi hai pyaar..." sang my room mate as I talked to Shashank on a winter night, snuggled in my blanket. It had been 2 months since we had first met, our talks still didn't seem to come to an end. Talking about almost anything under the sky: books, characters in a book, movies, TV shows, almost anything.

It had become a daily ritual. We would get the same book issued from British Council library and then read and discuss it everyday. I would tell him how much I loved or hated a character. He would just listen, as if it was the most important thing in the world. He was in the middle of jobs and I was yet to join my office at Pune. We had all the time in the world and we spent it doing what we loved most.

I met him after my class at Rajiv Chowk metro station, every other day and we would sit there for a while, and talk. We never had much in common to talk about in the beginning but then one day he suggested that we discuss books. It was something both of us shared love for.

That night was supposed to be no different. But it was. He asked me to come online, said he badly needed to see me. "Why do you want to see me?", I asked. This was the first time that he asked me to do that. We had not been able to meet over the weekend. I had been sick. "Just come online, listen to me for once!", he insisted.

I did as asked, a little reluctantly. "Oh! this feels so much better. I was anxious all day, looking at you makes me feel relaxed", he said. I blushed. I hated it that he could see that. "I love you, Deepali!", he said. I was out of the blue and I could not believe my ears. I wanted to shut the laptop and go hide in my blanket. I almost had, when he said it again. "I love you and even if you shut this laptop and go away, I will see you tomorrow and tell you the same thing again. So stay here and listen to me." It was a weird moment. How could he guess what was on my mind? But he could. He had been doing that since we had first met.

"I do not want you to reply to that. I just wanted to let you know, I love you. I could have said it weeks ago, I have felt this way for a while now. I just wanted to be sure about it, before I said it."

I was dumbstruck. I had nothing to say. So, I really shut the laptop and snuggled into my bed. My room-mate was right there and saw everything happen. She was happy for me. She had a smile on her face, unlike me. My face was expressionless.
Everything happened wide-eyed.