Chapter 2

Siddharth’s POV

She got up and came towards us confidently.

I was still looking at her. She was an above-average looking girl but there was something about her that was drawing my attention to her.

“Yes, ma’am?”

“So… fresher, you were smiling?”

“Ummm… yes, ma’am, sorry but it was hilarious.”

“But you were not supposed to smile. Now you will be punished or have to pass a test.”

“Ok ma’am,” She said confidently. I liked her, while all the other freshers were a bit scared, she looked quite confident.

My batchmate said something in her ear, she smiled and nodded.

“Go, fresher…” my batchmate said and she left.

I wanted to know what task was given to her but I wanted to see what she was doing.

I followed her and saw that she went outside and saw a guy in an open gipsy. She talked to him for 5 minutes and then smiled and said something but I could not hear as I was too far off.

She came back and said, “Ma’am, I asked for his matrimonial biodata. His name is Nihal. He completed his engineering last year. And is currently working with some MNC and is already earning in 6 figures. His height is 5’11”. He is tall, dark and handsome.”

“Wow! You asked all this from him? Great confidence yaar! You did not hesitate to talk to him even once? He looks so hot.” My batchmate said and this girl smiled.

“It was simple ma’am. Ma’am can I please leave now? I just got a message from home, I have to go.”

“Yeah, sure… You may leave now. By the way, You did not introduce yourself.” She said.

“Ma’am, my name is Shruti Singh. I am from New Delhi.”

“Nice talking to you, Shruti.”

“Same here ma’am. I really enjoyed this funny and friendly ragging. Good day to all of you.” She said and left the room.

Oh, Great! So she was from Delhi as well…

I was intrigued by her, so I followed her. She went back to that guy, slipped into his open gipsy and left with him.

What was that?

She just met him… How can she go out with a stranger like that?

The thoughts of this girl kept coming to my mind. The very next day when I saw her coming, even before my mind could stop me, my legs took me to her and she greeted me.

“Good morning, sir!”

“Good morning, miss…”

“Shruti Singh.”

“Yeah, Shruti… Can I ask you something?”

“Yes, sir!”

“Yesterday my batchmate asked you to do a task and you came back after completing it. But after you took our leave, I saw you going back to that man, sat in his gipsy and left with him.”

“Yeah… So?”

“So? Don’t you think it was too risky to go out with a stranger like that? I mean you had just met him for less than five minutes and… How could you trust a man within 5 minutes of meeting? What do you know about him, except what you asked him? How do you know if he was not lying?”

“Hold on sir… I know him very well. I went out with him because he came to pick up me only.”

“What do you mean? You knew him already? So you did not perform the task?

“I did sir…”

“You were supposed to ask the matrimonial biodata of some stranger.”

“Sir, ma’am didn’t specify that I have to ask some stranger only.”

“But isn’t that obvious, you are a fresher, you don’t know many people here. Do you?”

“But sir, she just said that I should go out and ask some handsome man for his matrimonial biodata. I went out and saw him. He is really very handsome. Girls go crazy about him.”

“And it seems you are one of them.” I muttered.

“What did you say, sir?”

“I said that you are also crazy about him like other girls? What was so special about him?”

“Yes, I am. I don’t know about others but he is very special to me.”

“Oh, you seem to be the craziest. Since when do you hero-worship him?” I said but I don’t know why my tone became a bit sarcastic.

“Since the day I started recognizing people.”

“What do you mean?”

“He is my first cousin, our fathers are brothers. He came to pick me up as we had to go somewhere.” She said with a smile.

“Oh! First cousin? Great! I was worried about you.”

“Sir, I am smart enough not to go out with strangers.”

“Yeah sorry… I am sure you are.” I said with a smile.

“There is no need to be sorry, sir.”

“Ok, but if he is your cousin, that means you did not perform your task. So shall I punish you?”

“Sir, can I complete the task now?”

“The same task? Are you sure?” I asked as I just wanted to ask her out for coffee.

“Yes, if you don’t mind…”

“No, I don’t mind…”

“So sir, if you don’t mind, would you tell me your biodata?”

“What? Me?”

“Yes, you are a stranger to me, I don’t know much about you and you are quite good looking… So can you please?” She said with a smile.

“Well, why not? Ok! I am Siddharth Jindal. I am studying here in my fourth year and as you can see, I am tall, dark and handsome. My height is 6’1”. My family consists of my parents and my elder brother, Gautam. My parents are bureaucrats and Gautam is a radiologist.

“Here?”

“What?”

“Your brother works here?”

“Oh, no he lives in Delhi with my parents. So, we both are from Delhi.”

“Ok, thanks a lot sir for the information now that I have completed the task, can I go? I have my first class of the day in less than 15 minutes.”

“Yes, of course… I was just thinking, would you like to process the information I gave you about myself?”

“Sir, I just asked for the task, I am not interested otherwise.” She said with a polite smile.

“Hmmm,” I nodded and she excused herself and left immediately.

But I liked talking to her… She was not like other girls who used to follow me everywhere.

Someone patted me on my back and I looked around and realized that I was thinking about the good old days…

My other friends had come out after having breakfast. We all went towards the Volvo bus which was supposed to take us to our next destination.

We got settled and then I saw her coming with her friends. They all started looking for seats. She was sitting in another row and I could see her.

I wanted to talk to her, tell her everything but she was not talking to me… I could not create a scene.

Parth was getting annoyed with me.

“What are you doing Sid? I swear, I will throw you out of the bus. If you keep sulking.” He said while glaring at me.

“Why? What have I done?” Just then the bus slowed down and stopped finally. We reached Hawa Mahal in Jaipur. We all got off the bus.

“You are spoiling my trip too. Be normal or I will go and say something to her. I swear you would not like it.”

“No! You will not.”

“Try me… Now enjoy with us or… As it is, she is enjoying. Why does it matter to you so much, if she is so cool about it? It doesn’t matter to her that you are suffering, but it does to me. I love you.” He was becoming very serious so I had to make him laugh.

“What? Do you love me? Oh, god! I was dying to hear it, Parth… I love you too. Let’s tell everyone that we are in love and start our life together.” I said and his eyes literally came out.

“What? Oh No! Spare me…” He looked terrified.

“How can I leave you now? I love you and you just said that you love me too.” I said and hugged him hard.

“Ewww leave me… What happened to you all of a sudden?”

“I realized that you are the love of my life.” I said and he pushed me and started running, but was laughing now. I was happy to see him like this.