The Partial Affection

Chapter 4

"Nice to meet you." She says to me with a sweet smile. She seems kinda nice. But I remember, Rohan said to me not to talk to her. She is not a good influence.

I feel a bit nervous so I reconsider my sitting position. What if Rohan gets to know? No. He can't control me. He is my friend not parents.

"I know you are not allowed to talk to me." She answer my thoughts. I give her a awkward smile, not sure how to respond. "Even no one is!" She sounds unbothered but frustrated.

"See. No one is talking to me. Not even looking at me! I even stopped wearing my favorite clothes because they keep judging." Now I notice, she is wearing normal clothes, not the fancy ones she wore on the first day. She is wearing no makeup. She is still flawless so I didn't notice before. But I don't understand, why is no one talking to her? Why is she telling me this?

"Why are you telling me this? I didn't do anything!" I can't help but ask.

"Yes but your friend did!" She raises her voice. I can see her eyes flooding and her voice deepening.

"Which friend?" "Rohan!"

What? I men he told me some things about her because he wants to protect me but why would he tell others? I doesn't make any sense.

"No he didn't. You're lying." She's just like how he described.

Suddenly her face falls but she picks herself up and tells me in a calm tone, "Let me guess. He told you that I'm a manipulative bitch, I'm controlling. I hit on boys, I steal others' boyfriends, etc."

"Yeah he did. Because you are all that." I tell confidently. She definitely is all of those, otherwise she wouldn't be making a scene here.

"Guess what? He told the exact same thing to half of the college. And then it just started spreading." I see a single teardrop falling from her eyes. Gosh she is so beautiful but why is she like that? Rohan has told me 100 times not to talk to her bur I still did and now she's trying to turn me on my friend? But why would she do that? Because I am hanging out with her ex boyfriend?

"I don't know what you're trying to say but I'm sure he didn't do any of this. He is not like that." I say confidently.

She starts laughing. "Oh princess! You don't know him. You think he is the perfect boy but he isn't."

I feel my eyes widen and my hands shaking. Then she takes her mouth nar my ear.

"I've seen him flirting with you. I know you don't understand that. You think everyone is good in the world so you trust him. I don't know if you like him or not but there's a advice, girl to girl." Then she looks deeply into my eyes. (Gosh her eyes are beautiful.) "Don't date him. If you break up afterwards, he will end your reputation and make sure you don't date anyone else." And then she takes her food and starts to stand up but then again she whispers in my ear. "And tell him to stop spreading lies about me, and to tell everyone that he lied, otherwise it won't be good for his reputation. Tell him that I said, "I have the video, still." He'll understand."

Then she stands up and waves me bye. I just sit there with confusion all over my body. What just happened?

After 5 or 10 minutes, Aakash breaks my thoughts.

"What are you thinking? You look like you've seen a ghost." He laughs.

"Maybe I did." "What?"

Then I tell him my conversation with Aaradhya. He listens carefully with no emotion on his face. After I complete he looks at me and speaks, "I think you should talk directly about this to Rohan when he comes back. You two have a bond, I think he will tell you the truth. Otherwise it won't be good for you two. Even if you want to date him or he wants to date you, you will feel insecure. So you have to talk to him."

"Okay", is all I manage to say. Aakash is a mature person. Being a part of lgbtq+ community, he has gone through a lot. He knows good about all this relationship stuff. But I never thought about dating Rohan before today. He is a nice guy. At least he is nice to me. I don't know what else, dating or not, I have to tell him about Aaradhya.

I come home and talk to my mother for a bit. Now days my family doesn't always go tpo pick me up so I take the bus. Things are good in home this week. Dada is in college and Baba is in work. Ma is baking some cookies. So I go to my room and go through my assignments for half an hour. Then I feel anxiety kicking in about what Aaradhya said. I don't know how to feel about that. I decide to ask Rohan about it tomorrow. Then I hear Dada coming home.

I go out of my room and knock his door. He opens it and goes in again and I see him get ready to go out.

"Where are you going?" I ask. It's unusual to see him go out right after coming home.

"In Utkarsh's place. They are having a party." I gasp. A party? Do my parents know he is going to a party? Do they allow him?

"Silly monkey. They don't know." He answers my thoughts. I smile. Then it comes in my mind. It's Rohan's place too. He is sick, so what if I go see him? I will ask him my doubts there too.

"Can I go?" I ask before I can make my mouth stop.

"What?" Dada's voice is full of shock. Not judgement, but pure shock. I'm a antisocial person, never had friends, and now I'm suddenly wanting to go in a party. I am shocked too.

"Um- actually, Rohan's sick, and I have something to talk to him so I was thinking about seeing him." I share my thoughts, clearing his doubts.

"I don't know Missy if Ma Baba-" and my face falls. "Okay I'm gonna tell them you're gonna work on a assignment together as partners. They don't know he's sick do they?"

I nod. They don't know.

Then Dada goes downstairs while I'm in his room. I hear my father's deep voice shouting. Hope Dada's okay.

5 minutes later, he comes back. "Let's go." He says and I jump, hugging him. "Thanks Dada." I say.

I see his cheeks flush. We are not used to showing love for each other in this manner. I feel shy too.

I go in my room as soon as I can and grab a pink t-shirt and a black jeans. I have to look normal otherwise I don't know how my mother will react. I put my hair in a ponytail and go downstairs with Dada. My parents give me a stare full of judgement. I keep my eyes down and roll them in disgust.

In the car drive, I feel anxious about confronting Rohan. What if he is the boy Aaradhya described? He isn't gonna tell me the truth if he spread those things about her? How will I know?

"Did something happen?" Dada breaks my thoughts.

"Uh- No." I lie. I can't tell Dada about all these before I confront Rohan.

"You can tell me if something happens." He says. He knows when I'm anxious and he cares about me a lot. And I'll tell him.

"I promise, I'll tell you later." I reassure him. He gives me a calming smile.

After a pause for few minutes he asks, "So are you and Rohan a thing now?"

"No!" I say in surprise without even thinking.

"Oh okay! But I think you'll make a cute couple." He says with his eyes on the road. I blush, but he doesn't see. The though of loving someone and being free gives me butterflies.

I was less anxious but now I see his house as Dada parks the car in front of it.