Touch Her And... (Completed)

Chapter 19

Triss:

I entered the school when few of the kids were waiting outside with their parents. From their eyes it was visible that they were still sleepy. I felt sad for them but I knew it was also necessary. Discipline needs to be a part of your life and it begins from the very childhood.
Before I reached the reception desk I was welcomed by a girl who seemed a little older than me. She gave me a warm and welcoming smile. “Hello there, you must be Teressa?” I smiled back at her assuming that she was going to be my colleague from the coming days as I said, “Yes, good morning.” She didn’t really wait and turned around while saying, “Good morning, I am Pihu. I teach numbers here. Let me show you the the teachers’ chamber.” I nodded and said, “you can call me Triss and I don’t really know what subject I am going to be assigned with.” She looked at me with a smile. “Your subject is going to be Language and literature. Do not tell anyone, I just overheard.” I looked at her and gestured zipping my mouth. We both smiled and continued to our destination. Something inside me indicated that I might get a good friend in her very soon.

The day passed by, I got introduced to most of the teachers there. I was taken to various classes to see how they were doing it. Being the fast learner I was it didn’t take much time for me to learn the basics. Finally I was taken to the class where I again got to see him. My replica, Nilesh. This was the first time I couldn’t really pay attention to the teacher because I was totally focused on the kid who was looking outside the window. It was obvious that he was not looking or even listening to the teacher. “Now, everyone say ‘hello' to your new teacher, Teressa ma'am.” The teacher’s sudden announcement of my name pulled me back to the class where all the tiny things were shouting “hello ma'am” in unison. I couldn’t hold back my laughter and shouted back “hello” to everyone. They were ecstatic which I guessed was a very common feature of them whenever they met a new teacher. But only one kid, kept looking outside the window. It somehow hurt me. An idea suddenly sparked in my mind and I looked at the teacher beside me. “ Suravi ma'am, do I have any more visit left for today?” She smiled and shook her head as she said, “you can spend some more time with the kids here.” This came as a relief to me. “ Thank you very much ma'am.” I smiled at her as she looked at me and said, “ be a little careful with that kid over there. His name is Nilesh. He is a little stubborn. Few minutes later Maya will come and bring them back to the waiting area. Have fun.” With that she left and I inhaled sharp.

“Now.. who would like to tell me their names?” I stood in front of a tiny little girl, her hair was divided into two small braids. She looked at me with that innocent smile and said, “I am Diya Rao.” I took her hand in mine and kissed it lightly. “ You have a beautiful name Diya.” I was about to talk a little more to her when another voice cut me, “I am Raghu Narayan and I love playing cricket.” I turned around to see a rather too small teddy bear. It was not difficult to understand that he was the naughtiest amongst all of them. Oh my goodness, I could spend the whole day here. “Wow, that’s great Raghu. Even I love playing cricket you know. Who is your favorite cricketer?” He looked at me with the same naughtiness and said, “Virat Kohli. He is the best. Papa calls me ‘Virat the Junior’.” He said with his cute utterances. His words were still a little unclear and that made those even more cute. I almost got to know every other child one by one leaving the one I actually planned this whole thing for.

Finally, I reached the desk beside the window and cleared my throat before carefully saying, “hello, there.” The head remained glued towards the window but I could feel him tensing up. He was ignoring my presence, probably a huge ability for a kid of his age. “ Seems that you like looking at the mountains outside. Even I love looking at them. Do you love birds?” He still didn’t look at me. So I made my mind. I decided to continue talking to him unless he gets irritated. Any sort of response from him will do. “You know when I was small, my father used to tell me that the birds are the keepers of our secrets. We can share anything freely to them and they will take the news to our close ones. From that time onwards I shared everything with them and I know that they brought all the news to my mother who is staying somewhere up there.” This worked. He slowly turned his head towards me. He was looking at me with a curious pair of eyes as if he wants to know more.

“ I love my mother a lot, although I can’t really remember her face properly. My father said she can see me although I cannot.” I didn’t understand his expression but I knew he was responding. I could understand he has grown a little more mature than his age, so I was talking accordingly. “ My name is Teressa Brown. My friends call me Triss.. and you are?” I was a little nervous. He seemed not to respond any  time soon.

Suddenly Maya came inside. “ Come out everyone. Time to go to the waiting area.” Wow.. great timing Maya. All the kids started moving out. He lifted his tiny bag from the desk and stood up to leave. I had to give him space so he could move his tiny body out of the chair. He pushed past me. I felt a little upset as I hung my head down. I was looking at my feet when he spoke for the first time and I knew I fell for him as he said, “ Nilesh Sherpa..” he turned around to look back at me. “And my mother used to call me ‘Nilu’.” At this I couldn’t hold back a small smile. “Nice meeting you Nilu.” He looked at me with awe, probably because I called him by his nick name and turned around to leave. I already loved him. He was such a nice kid.

Pihu was telling me about every rule and regulations.  She lived nearby, within walking distance. So I waved my hands towards her as I moved towards the parking area. I reached and a car door opened suddenly.

I assumed that meant I need to take that one because the Nagpati’s had a lot of cars. I advanced towards the door and when I was about to get in my jaw dropped. “Mr. Nagpati?” He didn’t look at my face as he replied, “do I seem to be someone else?” This rude man! “It’s just that I didn’t expect to find you in this car.” I stated as nonchalantly as possible. “ I am going to your aunt’s place only and besides it is my car. I can take any one of these whenever I please.”

Yes, that explains why Manik calls me a dumbass. Without saying anything I got into the car. During half of the ride he continued working on his laptop and I continued listening to the songs with the headphones on. All of a sudden the headphones were pulled out of my ear.

“You need to work on your manners Teressa.” I was stunned. That man, what did he think of himself. “Excuse me sir, did you just say I need to work on my manners?” I asked sarcastically pointing to the headphones that were pulled out by him. “I was asking something and due to these things you couldn’t not hear a single thing. What if I have said something important?” Now I felt a little defeated. “Umm.. what did you say? I am sorry I did not thought you could have anything to say to me.” He continued to look at me with those blank pair of eyes. “How was your experience today?” He looked back at his laptop screen again. “ Oh, it was really nice. They were really welcoming. The kids made my day. I had visited most of the classes and saw Suravi ma'am teaching the kids. She seemed to be nice person too. All in all it was a happy day.” I said smiling at him.

Obviously he didn’t even feel like replying back to me. So I turned to him and cleared my throat, as he turned his face towards me. I pointed my index finger to the headphones on my lap and asked, “ Now, may I?” He looked back at the screen and said, “no.”  He was insane or what? “So disgusting!” I said to myself and turned my face towards the window.