Crush: A Tale Of Silent Love and Admiration by Ritesh Prasad (e manga reader txt) 📕

stop.  I intentionally stood near her and opened my umbrella and was about to step outside, and the voice came from back “Excuse me, are you going towards the taxi stand?” My heart just skipped beating the moment I heard her voice. I was so nervous that I even forget to look back. She again asked me with a little louder voice. “Hello, excuse me” , this time I turned back and looked at her, and said “Yes” in crisp trying to be poised. The next moment she came near me, I was shivering from inside, my heart started beating faster. Somehow i control my breath and gave a short smile, she reciprocated with smile too and asked “If you don’t mind, can I come along with you till the taxi stand….Pleaseeeeeeee”.

 

The please was stretched in a such a way that no guy in the earth could say no to her. “ Oh sure, why not”.  Prompt was my response. The very next moment she came very close to me, I could smell the fragrance of her body. This moment was still like a dream come true to me. I opened my umbrella, and we both headed outside towards the main gate. We were walking very close to each other, though she made her best effort that our bodies did not touch. We kept walking few steps in silence and passed the campus gate, and few steps further, all of a sudden there was loud thunder noise and she grabbed my wrist very tight with her soft hand in reflexes. This was one special moment that melted my heart and I was submerged in deep paradise feeling, those few seconds were beyond explanation, as how I felt.  Even after years, I can still feel the freshness of her touch. We were freezed in exact position for few second and then I guess she realized what she was doing, she felt a bit awkward and  removed her hand very next moment, we both were blushing, her cheeks  became pink with the infusion of blood. We both started looking to opposite direction, to ease this discomfort situation, she started the conversation.

 

 “Hey thanks a lot…. I am Neha from Meerut and you?”

 

 “Rishabh, i am a localite ” I replied in short. She responded with a smile and we kept walking silently again.

 

After covering few distance, she again started the conversation,

 

 “I have seen you in the class, do you always remain so quiet? hope you are okay?” She asked very politely.

 

 “Yes, I am fine." I replied in crisp and we kept walking. I least expected this line from her. Ahhh.. so she has noticed me in the class, butterfly started rolling around my stomach when i realized that.

 

"Even you are not saying anything.” I continued after a pause, we both looked at each other and exchanged smiles again.

 

"Yes true." She replied in quick and there was awkward silence followed again between us and just the rain was doing the talking. She being so close to me and the rhythmic sound of the rain, was making the atmosphere more romantic. 

 

While i was lost in my own world, suddenly her voice echoed in my ear and brought me back again.

 

“Ahhh …Actually, I was a bit hesitant to ask you for help, but it was getting late as well, and I need to reach my PG as soon as possible. I was wondering, what you might be thinking about this.”

 

"Hey, don't be so formal... it’s okay. We are classmates after all." I tried to make her feel comfortable.

 

"Yeah ...thanks." She said while taking her hand out from the umbrella to enjoy the rain droplets. This little gesture of her amused me. I started wondering, the real Neha is so different from the one we see in college.

 

Also, while walking I notice our pace suddenly became very slow and now people who were behind were quickly overtaking us. Ideally in such scenario we should have rush, but this was not the case. I don’t why, may be because of the rain or it might be we both started enjoying each other’s company and wanted this to last a little longer. The other thing I observed was whenever our eyes met, we smiled spontaneously, so our body language was in sync too.

 

She looked at the sky and continued her conversation “ I don’t think this rain is in mood to stop anytime soon.”

 

 “Its peak rainy season, what else can you expect”, I responded straight, while  i was still lost in my own thought.

 

“Are you being sarcastic?” She said with a stiff tone.

 

I gauge her tone and undertsood may be she didn't like the way i replied to her. I immediately tried to cover the damage. “ No no, not at all, I didn’t mean that way”. I fumbled while trying to appease her.

 

“Okay Okay calm down.... take it easy”. She chuckled and that eased my tension. I don't know what was happening to me, why suddenly I was reacting so stupid, i was literally getting over conscious.

 

She looked at me and further continued, “I have become so half minded, I forgot to carry my umbrella, during rainy season who does that…you tell me?”

 

I smiled and responded “True”, she again gave a dread look but before she could say anything and react. I promptly changed the conversation in her favor. I continued, “No that’s true…I mean this can happen with anyone, we all do that at some point of time, its normal to forget things sometimes, so don’t feel pity on yourself.” I closed my sentence with a smile to bridge the gap for any contradiction.

 

With these casual conversation we were opening slowly, and I observed the hesitation barrier between us was reducing and now she was very close to me, and sometimes her body touched mine too while walking but this time she was not much bothered. Her body language changed and seemed more comfortable now. I never knew, she speaks so much, I have hardly seen her hanging around with any gang or laughing loud but she was completely a different person now. In between all these, I thank god several times from my heart while we were still walking, occasionally I used sneak peek her too. She was simple yet looked gorgeous with very minimum makeup, in fact no makeup I would say. She was wearing peach color salwar kurta and matching earing, bindi and lipstick shades, her color matching sense was great, and she carried it were elegantly.  Her open hair which sometime would come in front of her face due to heavy wind complimented her looks perfectly and then softly she would put it back by the side of her ear while still talking to me. This action of her would give me some more buffer time to gaze her.  I noticed some of her hair strands on the side were slightly wet and small droplets were gently travelling all through her soft cheeks and then splashing on her neck, this made her look even more beautiful and the mood sensuous. At this moment she was no less than an angel who was accompanying me in the rain. The vibes I was getting from her was simply beyond words. We kept on moving and soon reached the taxi stand, I got her near the taxi and then she opened the back-seat door and went inside.

 

“Aren’t you coming?” She enquired.

 

I said no, I will go little late, need to meet my friends in the canteen, l purposefully lied her because I was hell nervous to go along with her in the cab.

 

“ Are you sure?” She asked again.

 

“Yeah” I said while my legs started fumbling. This was already too much for me in a single day and couldn't handle it anymore, what if I started behaving stupid in front of her in the cab. Its better to let her go. There was a inner voice commanding me to do so.

 

  “Bye Rishabh and thanks a lot,” she said while pulling the door to close.

 

 “Byeeee” I responded in crisp, I felt that I was getting impatient, my heart even kept on urging that I should go with her, but i was so nervous i could not mustered the courage to do so. So I was just waiving my hand foolishly while waiting for the cab to leave.

 

“See you tomorrow in the class and thanks a lot once again”.  She said and smiled.  In just 5-10 mins we get along so well that i never felt like this was our first meeting.

 

“Yes sure… you take care”. I said and kept waiving my hands. We both continued exchanging greetings through our eyes while the car engine was igniting, the driver moved the steering and slowly pressed the acceleretor and the car drove towards the main road. For the last time our eyes met, and this time i could clearly see the spark in her eyes, this last moment before parting was very very special, it just melt my heart. My eyes were a bit moisten, and I felt the urge to stop the cab immediately, rush ahead and hug her tight in my arms. But stopped the very next step. Wish i could do so but again i knew that was a far distant dream, so I just stood there quiet, watching till the cab disappeared from my view.

 

Post that I went to the nearby pan shop and lighted one cigarette took a large puff and as soon the nicotine got inside me, I felt a bit relax. I was smiling and releasing the smoke in the air, I still could not believe this happened with me. It was one of the most memorable day of my life. Wait was really painful but sweet as well that night. I went to my bed early with hope that I will fall asleep but to contrary night seemed long, I was feeling restless and could not sleep, I was just tossing on the bed and waited desperately for the sun to rise early. I could not believe myself, i  was brushing my teeth at 6 am, when my Mom woke, she was shocked to see me in this state, normally my impression is, if my classes are at 10 am, I woke up around 9 am, 1 hour is enough for me to get ready and reach college. But today it was altogether a different game. 

 

I could not wait anymore though my class was at 10 am, I was already there in the college by 8:45 am, well before time, excited,  eager, impatiently looking at my watch again and again, it was like I was running too fast and everything seemed slow. I was excited to see her. Finally, it was time for our first period on statistics. As usual,  I was there at the  main  gate  desperately looking for her to arrive but she didn’t come. I looked at my watch again and it was now getting time for class to start, I felt low why she has not arrived yet. I consoled myself and said “ maybe she had entered from the back gate. So I rushed to the classroom but she was not even there. This was making me impatient now, i wanted to see her at any cost. Classes keep on going but she didn’t arrive and soon It was lunch time but she was still nowhere. My anxiety level rose. I was really upset from inside... i came home early that day and didn't attended any further classes post lunch. I could not even sleep that whole night, I was desperate to reach college next day. In the morning i was so desparate  i skipped my breakfast and rush to college. But that day too, she was missing. Somewhere in my heart i felt something is wrong and this instinct became strong as she didn’t attend college that day too and so on week passed and she didn't come to college. There was no way I could contact her as I didn’t even have her phone number. Every day I