Manav

Chapter 20 - The Dilemma

4 years ago,

"Oh god, again these less marks! Have to think of some other excuse today, otherwise my parents aren't going to let me in the house." Dev said.

"Well, once you think of the excuse, then surely let me know!" I said.

"How much did you get?" Shefali asked.

"Some fifty out of eighty. How much did you get?"

"Oh no, I can't tell" she said as she hid the test papers behind her.

"Come on, show me."

"No no, they are quite less."

"Are they more than mine?"

"Yeah, obviously. But still, I'm not going to tell you."

"What did you mean by obviously?" I said. And then some other classmate called her.

Priyanka was going through her test papers, and looking at her face, I assumed she scored very badly. She didn't talk to anyone actually. She just sat there, in the class, at one corner, with a sad face.

That time, I actually wasn't a close friend of hers. Like, I didn't even think of her as my best friend and we only talked to each other when we were in groups. Otherwise, not at all. But that time I felt something. That time I never paid any attention to what I was feeling, but I thought that something good was going to happen.

"Come on guys, let's leave, it's already 8pm." Shefali said.

Dev, Shefali, Priyanka and me, four of us used to go to the same tuitions four years ago.

We came out of the class. We were standing near the gate. And before leaving we all used to just talk stuff a little and then leave. Shefali was never close to Priyanka. And there was one another girl, with whom Priyanka went home with. The two were very good friends actually.

"Come na, let's go! See we'll be back home in an hour." Priyanka said.

"No way! It is 8 already!" her friend said.

"Yeah, so what?" Priyanka said.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Priyanka wants to go for shopping now." her friend said. "You know it'll be late. And moreover looking at your marks, you really shouldn't go for shopping."

Priyanka's face went down. She was sad. I didn't bother that much, but I really felt bad for her. I think even Dev did.

Later that night I and Dev came home. And I happened to have an old phone without touchscreen. So I freshened up and I was in my bedroom when I messaged Priyanka.

Hey it's okay that you scored less. It happens. Tell your parents that you'll try even harder next time and score well.

And then for a while I didn't care about her reply. I had my food, and was spending time myself watching TV and all, that's when I thought of the message I sent. I got a bit nervous, because I wasn't really close to her and honestly, I never wanted to. But then I messaged her that time. Did I do the right thing? Or would she not care and just have an impression of me that I'm just trying to flirt with her by talking such encouraging lines? Will she even reply? What will she think of me?

So to answer those questions, I had to see whether she had replied or not. And yes she had replied.

Heyyy...that's so sweet of you Manav :)

And I couldn't believe my eyes! Did she really reply that to me? I checked the message again and again till the time I didn't digest that the message was real!