Strangers?Or Not? ONGOING

Chapter 17

2014

The week passed by in a blur. Studies kept getting harder. Exams were looming just around the corner. They started 5th of the next month. It was also nearing 19th. That would be our two monthiversary. Five days to go. I was wondering what I could do for him. It had just been two months so I wasn't sure if I should actually do something for him, but I wanted to nevertheless. We hadn't done anything on the first month, except wish each other. Sure, it had just been two months, but I knew this was actually going somewhere. We weren't just fooling around anymore. I wanted to give him something that was symbolic of my feelings for him.

Maybe I could make a playlist?

Hmm, not a bad idea.

***

"I have to go give this book to Neha ma'am guys, be back in some time," I said. It wasn't completely a lie. I did have to give it to Neha ma'am, but planned to take a detour to the terrace, get what I mean?

Pragya raised an eyebrow at that.

"Aaj kal saara time teachers se milna hota hai tujhe?" She asked, suspicious of my recent frequent visits to teachers. (Nowadays you wanna meet the teachers all the time?)

"Staffroom ke baaju wali class mai koi ladka mil gaya kya taadne ke liye?" Added Kanak, teasing me. (Did you find a nice guy to stare at near the staffroom?)

That's not even the half of it.

I thought to myself.

"That is very weirdly specific, but to answer your question, no. Exams aa rahe hai na, toh kabhi doubts puchne, ya kabhi koi sample paper dene jaati hoon," (Exams are approaching right, so I go to ask doubts or give solved papers to our teachers)

"I'll come with?" Anquit butt into our conversation.

I rolled my eyes at him, "I don't need an escort thank you very much,"

He pouted back at me, and god I melted then and there. He looked so fucking kissable I almost forgot we had an audience. And the fact that we hadn't crossed that boundary. Yet.

"Okay,"

His answer broke me out of my trance. I shook my head at myself and my thoughts, leaving the classroom. I knew he was going to follow in five, and I couldn't wait till then.

I didn't know what reason he would give to our ever-so-nosy friends, but that was his headache not mine. I let my mind wander as I caught the lift for the fifth floor.

Among other things, that stupid fucking feeling was still there, but I didn't care about it, nope. It could go to hell for all I knew. It should go to hell honestly. I had kind of figured out what it was last night though, so kind of plus point ig? It was fear, like mind-numbing, crippling fear. Of what? I had no idea. Just this ridiculous fear of something unknown. Like the sense of foreboding you get that something is going to go terribly wrong and there'll be nothing anyone will be able to do about it. Right now I was doing my best to ignore it, and it was working for the most part, thankfully. Sometimes, however, this unsettling feeling would rise in my chest and I would feel like I can't breathe, as if there was a heavy weight I was buried under. It went away in like a minute and didn't happen more than twice in a week. But it bothered me nevertheless. There was nothing I could do about it. I knew Anquit would worry if I told him, hell, anyone would. Hence I was keeping it to myself.

I pushed those thoughts to the back of my head, thinking of happier things, like the playlist I had started making for him. I was so excited for him to listen to it. Tomorrow couldn't come sooner.