Is It A Love Story? - Part 4

The sun was on its journey down the horizon by the time Amit was returning back to the hostel. The sky was a beautiful picture of orange, yellow and violet streaks. A cool breeze was blowing his hair upwards. Was it really happening or was he in a dreamland, he thought. The sun went down everyday, breeze blew all the time. But it was only today that he realised the beauty of these simple things. The flowers seemed brighter in color, the grass greener. Could life be any better?

As he was walking along the lane, he received a thump on his back. He turned around to see three of his classmates walking besides him.

"So at last, the silent Amit's got a girlfriend huh? Man, we really thought you were useless in this aspect." joked Abhinav.

"Dude, it was just a friendly coffee. No need to get hyper." Amit replied.

"Oh yeah. A friendly coffee that ended up in 'licking' fashion, with the icecream of course." Raju said with a wink and all four burst out lauging.

"You can justify all you want mister, but the crimson color of your cheeks and that silly smile is totally giving you away. Awesome, so today we have some gossip news for our online group."

"Go on, boil your heads, fry your necks assholes. If you start putting up any nonsense about me on that group, you just beware." said Amit and walked away.

He knew they were just pulling his leg and never meant to do any such thing. But could it be true? Was he really falling in love?

By this time he had reached the hostel and was walking in the corridor when he passed room number 154, which was Ravi's. Had Vidya told him already? he wondered. 

Amit knocked on Ravi's door. After several moments, the door opened. Ravi was standing still, glaring at Amit.

"Hey, you alright? You don't look so good." Amit said.

What happened after that was so quick that Amit didn't have any chance to react. The blow landed flat on his face and he stumbled down on the floor.

"You bastard. You knew it all along. Still you played with me right? Wanted to see some fun did you? How's that? Is it funny enough or should I add some more humor?"

Ravi was fuming. Amit staggered to his feet. He could feel the blood pumping in his cheek as it began swelling.

"I guess its better you vent out whatever anger you have before I do any explanations." Amit mumbled.

"Explanations eh? What the fuck do you think you can explain? Can you explain why you let me fall for Vidya while all along both of you were together? You knew it all along. Still you never confessed to me that both of you liked each other. No, you wanted some entertainment. Let Ravi propose to her and get rejected. A perfect television soap scenario. Then you can be the hero who wins over the heroine. Screw you!"

So this was what the Toblerone and Hershey's debate was all about. Damn you, Vidya. What the hell have you done? Amit went slowly and held Ravi's hand. Ravi pushed it away and leaning on the wall he let himself slip down on to the floor and suddenly burst out into tears. Amit went and sat down beside him.

"I guess its someone else who has to do a lot of explaining, not me." he said.

Payal sat down on her bed in her hostel room. She just stared at the floor, her mind racing with thoughts. Had she just had a date with a guy she barely knew? This was crazy. Nothing made any sense at all. The supposedly studious and career-minded Payal had just had a coffee and icecream with a senior guy. Oh God, what the hell was wrong with her?

Just then, her roommate Neha arrived. She closed the door behind her and jumped with glee. 

"Mission successful!!!!!!!!" she screamed and began dancing. 

Payal looked at her and smiled.

"Not yet sweetheart, but the path to success has just begun." she said and both of them danced together in the small cramped room.