Everlasting Love

Chapter Four: Is this Deja Vu?

Siva

The first day of university was tough! I had five classes in a row. Five classes! There was not even a ten-minute break in between classes. Well, there was. That ten-minute break was only for transition! As if that was not bad enough, I have a heaping amount of homework from each class! There was one good thing that did come out of the first day. That one thing was Keerthy. There was something about teasing her that brought a smile to my face.

Whenever I walked by, girls would fawn all over me. They would ask me out to no avail. They would intentionally brush shoulders against me. It was atrocious. There was this one time a girl put a confession letter in my locker.

I had to pick up some notebooks for my next class since I forgot to grab them before class started. I was walking down the hallway. Once I reached my locker, I opened it to see an envelope covered in hearts. I had a hunch it was a love letter, but I wanted to put my assumptions to the test, so I opened up to see cursive handwriting. The person wrote my name incorrectly. She wrote Shiva instead of Siva. Annoyed, I proceeded reading the letter.

Dear Shiva,

I like you. I have liked you ever since I laid my eyes on you. I like how you bite your nails when you're nervous. I like the way you raise your voice for the weak. I like the way you do whatever you set your mind to. Do you like me?

Love,

A close friend

I was raging with anger. Whoever sent me this letter observed my every move. The love letter did not make my heart flutter. It made me question my surroundings. Who would be this crazy to confess her feelings through a letter? Was she that shy to say it to my face? I was so angry that I did not feel the need to mention anything to my friends. They did not deserve my wrath that day.

I commended whoever sent me this letter for her bravery, but I did not want love to come in the way of fulfilling my mission. Even though Appa implored me to not search for Amma, I was secretly searching for Amma. I was preparing the necessary methods to make the search easier. Amma usually kept a light profile after marriage. My relatives used to tell me that Amma was the life of the party before marriage. After marriage, her personality died down. She became a dutiful housewife. When I asked my relatives what made Amma decide to lay low, none of my relatives gave me an answer. Instead, they would try to change the topic and I let them. I was afraid that if I pushed for an answer, the results would not change, even though my mind was always on Amma. 

Just thinking about Amma was enough to drive me to tears! I did not want to end the day on a sour note, so I called Dhanush for some ice cream. Those guys are so crazy about ice cream that they will escape work just to eat ice cream.

"Macha, do you want to go for some ice cream. It is really humid outside and I could really use some ice cream,"

"You do not need to give me any excuse to go out for ice cream. I will be more than willing to go get some ice cream. After all, ice cream is my life da. Is something bothering you? You do not usually ask to go out for some ice cream. You tell us that you want ice cream. Whatever the issue is, we can definitely have a heartfelt conversation about it," Dhanush asks, concerned.

"Don't worry da. Everything is fine. Just call Soori and tell him that we're going for some ice cream."

"If you say so, da. I will call him. Knowing Soori and his fetish for ice cream, I know he will come. Take care of yourself da."

"Okay da. I'll meet you in five." I don't give Dhanush the chance to bid me farewell before I hang up. I didn't want him to hear my voice quivering. The last thing I needed was for Dhanush to tell me that everything is going to be fine. Nothing is going to be fine. The day everything will be fine is the day that I give Amma justice.

I pull on some blue jeans and a red and black button-down t-shirt. I call it the "Siva Classic". I went to the garage and let the Bad Boy roar to life. The Bad Boy is my car which is a shiny black Mercedes. I drive the Bad Boy to Cream and Fudge. Cream and Fudge is my favourite ice cream parlour. There are so many different flavours to choose from. The possibilities are endless. I meet Dhanush and Soori at the entrance of Cream and Fudge. We walk into the parlour. Dhanush points to a table.

"Look guys. It's Keerthy and Raji from our Introduction to Engineering class. Let's go ruin their day. Just look at their smiles. They look too happy. What do you say, guys. Guys?"

The moment Dhanush pointed to that table, I lost it. Keerthy and Raji looked so happy. Raji was eating this strawberry concoction and Keerthy was eating this bizarre waffle bowl of ice cream. Before I could let my demeanor soften, I had to put a straight face. Siva never shows anyone his true emotions. Dhanush, Soori, and I walk to their table.

"Well, look who it is. It's Keerthy and Raji. I wonder what bought these losers here today."

"You cleaned up pretty well, Keerthy. Oh, wait. Never mind. You have something on your nose." Dhanush said.

"I do?"

He took some of the whipped cream on my ice cream and put it on my nose. "You didn't, but now you do." I could not help, but laugh. The opportunity was too good to give up! Keerthy's facial expressions were too funny. Her face was a mix of surprise stringed along with anger.

"Don't you guys have anything better to do? If you could kindly leave, that would be greatly appreciated."

"Don't be so ungrateful. You should be happy that you're worthy of my time. Whatever, there's no explaining this to you. Let's go guys and let these losers eat their ice cream. It's melting anyways."

The two girls leave in a huff shortly. It was too bad that they didn't take their ice creams with them. I noticed that the in the container of Keerthy's waffle bowl, there were three letters written on it: LMC. I remember seeing these three letters together. Where did I see these letters? Is this deja vu?