Midnight Kitchen Services | ✓

3 | idiyappam & paya curry

─── ★ 𝐑𝐀𝐆𝐇𝐀𝐕

It was the lecturer's prerogative to drone on and on about the subject they teach. The professor for Raghav's Programming course took it to a whole other level. Raghav never bothered listening after the first class.

As he typed away on his computer, pretending to work out the sample problem set his lecturer had handed to him and the rest of the students, his thoughts trotted back to Ayana. She had managed to make a cozy home in his mind and refused to give it up; all after just one glance at her. 

Raghav pulled back his fingers from the keyboard, scanning a section of the code for the game he was developing. He glanced to his side. 

"Say, Dhruv."

His friend lifted an eyebrow.

"This is about a friend of mine."

Raghav was met with a surprised look. It then morphed back into an amused expression. "Go on."

"The thing is, he met this girl." Raghav lingered on the last word, wondering if indirectly confiding in his friend was the right way to go about things. "They didn't really converse or anything but uh, he has a crush on her now. That's the gist of the matter."

Dhruv leaned back on his seat, crossing his arms and letting his cap sit low on his head. 

"What do you think this...friend should do?"

"Isn't it obvious?" His friend responded, softly rocking on his chair. "He should talk to the girl."

"Quit talking, you two at the back." The lecturer's stern warning had the two of them facing the front again. But it didn't stop them from continuing to whisper.

"How is he going to make conversation?"

Dhruv eyed him. "You've never talked to a girl before?"

"No." Raghav blinked. "This is about my friend, not me. He probably hasn't ever talked to a girl either."

"Quit the act. I know this is about you."

Raghav looked back at his screen, a hue of red creeping up on his skin. Nothing could escape his closest friend's notice.

"Who is the girl who's gotten you all worked up?"

"I only know her name."

"Spill." Dhruv tapped the space-bar and tilted his head, examining the screen before him. 

"Ayana."

"Ayana." Dhruv tested the name on his tongue. "I feel like I've heard that name somewhere before."

"She runs the midnight kitchen service."

Dhruv made a sound of acknowledgement, "Right. I know that girl. I'm surprised you haven't heard of her. It's been like a year now since we started college."

"I only got to know about the service from the forum two days back."

"So you're crushing on her." Dhruv went back to rocking on his chair. "You've got some serious competition, bro. From what I heard, almost every guy on the campus likes her. She's quite pretty."

Raghav examined his friend, "Don't tell me you too li-"

"I don't like her. You can rest easy." Dhruv rolled his eyes. "All I'm saying is you had better make a move before she gets taken. Maybe she is already taken, who knows."

That was a depressing thought. It would be a tragedy with comedic undertones. The one time Raghav had a crush on a girl, she might end up being in a relationship already.