CHAPTER 2 - THOSE AWKWARD MOMENTS

"𝓐𝓵𝓵 𝓸𝓯 𝓶𝔂 𝔀𝓱𝓸𝓵𝓮 𝓵𝓲𝓯𝓮 𝓽𝓱𝓻𝓸𝓾𝓰𝓱.

𝓘 𝓷𝓮𝓿𝓮𝓻 𝓵𝓸𝓿𝓮 𝓷𝓸 𝓸𝓷𝓮 𝓫𝓾𝓽 𝔂𝓸𝓾."

DATE - MAY 18, 2023

PLACE - DHRUV'S HOME ( SIROHI)

•~DHRUV'S POV~•

What can be a morning ritual in an Indian family, an Indian mom entering your room, switching off your fan, calling you once by your name and waking you up by saying time which is 100% PERCENT NOT TRUE.

But if you are someone like me who stays in a hostel for your studies and visits only during vacations, you can expect a royal treatment during your stay.

By the way, I am Dhruvpratap Singh Deora aka Dhruv ,an English literature student at St.Stephens college (Jaipur). My parents wanted me to opt for career in STEM but I switched to English Literature during my college admission as those two years of studying Bio -Maths made me realize that science is not my cup of tea.

You will know me more as the time passes.Let's start the day as I have an important task to do.

I woke up, stretched my arms and started praying to my Kuldevi maa as a form of gratitude for letting me live another day. It has always been a part of my morning routine since childhood. I went to take a shower and dress up as soon as possible.

I suddenly remembered that I sent a request to Ms.Shaktawat. I started searching for my phone everywhere.

"Shivu Jija, aapne mera phone dekha ?"I asked my sister as soon as I entered her room.

"Please help me, if maa gets her hand on my phone and finds out that I have sent a request to Virendra Bhaba's cousin she will give a lecture to me without giving a chance to explain myself"

Soon, we started a treasure hunt in my house oops maybe a phone hunt .

[ SHIVU IS THE NICKNAME OF SHIVANGINI]

[ Have you seen my phone?]

We both, after searching the whole house here and there , started to search it in my room.

" Dhruv, kya jarurat thi silent rakhne ki phone ko, subah subah toofan laa liya.." I can see my sister getting frustrated due to my mistake.

Before I could give a explanation, I sensed shivu jija's face turning red out of anger.

"YE KYA HAI , PILLOW KE PASS." she said throwing a pillow on me.

[ What was the need of keeping your phone on silent? You have turned the situation as a tornado in the early morning]

[ What is this near the pillow?]

After a half an hour of apologizing and promising to gift her favourite dress on raksha bandhan , I was able to calm down my sister's anger .

So it has been nearly 2 hours since I have woken up and I haven't checked my phone. I opened my instagram , went straight to Ms. Shaktawat's account to find the result.

" IS IT FOR REAL? Meri request delete kardi?? Kahi muje stalker toh nahi samjha, O GOD?"

[ She deleted my request? Did she consider me as a stalker?"]

After this, I decided that I need to find a way in order to connect with her.

•~ GEET'S POV~•

As usual I woke up near 8am when I heard my mumma yelling at Avanti in her room for not waking up early.

I left my bed and straight away went to take shower to avoid her scoldings when she enters my room. As usual after putting on my outfit , I did my skincare and started to detangle my hair.

Suddenly I started thinking about Dhruv . No, I was not doing on purpose.. But my brain has registered Dhruv in my subconscious mind.

DOES HE FEEL SOMETHING ABOUT ME? OR WHAT COULD BE THE REASON ? IS HE JUST LIKE OTHER BOYS WHO JUST WANT TO PASS THEIR TIME!!? HE IS GOOD ENOUGH TO IMPRESS ANY PRETTY GIRL.

BUT WHY ME??

I have always been body shamed for not being fair ,YES I have a slight little wheatish colour skin which can't be said as a dark one but society has never accepted our actual Indian skin tone due to the obsession of considering fair skin as a clear beauty standard.

Also I have waist length wavy hair which again is inferior because my hair is not silky straight .

All these thoughts came to an end when I heard Kavya's voice coming nearer.

"Geeeeetttt Jiiiijaaaaa, aapko hai na kitchen me Avanti Jija bula rahe hai."

[ Avanti jija has been calling you from the kitchen.]

I informed her that I will be there in 5 mins. I tied my hair in a loose bun, took my phone and without wasting a second deleted Dhruv's request. I went to the kitchen to make breakfast along with mumma and my so-called lady boss sister.

"Acha Avanti, Abhimanyu k teeke mai jo sirohi se mehmaan aaye the unke saath ek tha na jisne black shirt pehna tha, woh kinka beta tha ,pehli baar dekha tha aur time nahi mila ki puchu?"asked my mumma to Avanti while washing vegetables.

"Mumma, woh Dhruv hai, Anand mamosa ke best friend k bete, unke papa kisi kaam se bahar the so woh aaye the",

I said in one breath without waiting for Avanti to answer it which was actually asked to her and I closed my eyes when I realized that what I have done in last 10 seconds by answering the question.

[ Listen Avanti, who was that guy in black shirt who came along with guests from Sirohi in Abhimanyu's teeka dastoori, whose son is he?I have seen him for the first time and I couldn't ask him due to time constraint.]

[ He is Dhruv, son of Anand Uncle's best friend .His father was not avaialble so he have attended the function]

Avanti eyes were staring me as she has never seen me someone who can know any stranger especially a guy.

"Karta kya hai woh bhi batade, ghar par kon kon hai sab?", said Avanti, teasing me by sensing my awkwardness.

[Tell us what he does,how many members does he have in his family?]

At this moment, I closed my eyes and walked outside of the kitchen to avoid questions .

" Geet yaar, who told you to be such a quick respondent . Avanti is gonna use this situation for the rest of my life"

I started thinking in my mind . Yes, I am an overthinker. I won't speak much at home but the situation is totally opposite when I step into my college.

****

Author's POV

📍At Dhruv's Home

Sitting on a sofa, wearing a navy blue shirt with jeans , Dhruv was watching T.V in his living room. Shivangini, with two glasses of orange juice in a tray,placed it on the table nearby and asked ,

" Kaam ho gaya jo kaha tha tujhe?"

" Nhi na jija, unhone request hi delete kardi meri" said Dhruv with disappointment taking one of the glasses and sipping juice from it

[ Is the work done that I asked you to do?]

[ No jija, she has deleted my request]

The moment she heard this answer from her brother, she started bursting into laughter.

"Are you kidding me??? "

"I guess it is the first time that a girl, who has rejected, our so called Charming English literature lover, all rounder of St.Stephen's cricket team who is none other than Mr.Dhruvpratap Singh Deora, the most wanted boy,hehehe" his sister said by making fun of Dhruv on his mission unsuccessful.

"What is there to laugh so much? You have only insisted me to do this.", saying that Dhruv went to his room .

He sat on a chair near his study table and smirked, "Ms.Shaktawat, I am unable to understand what is going on your mind".

..........

AT GEET'S ROOM

After thinking a while, Geet called Virendra to know more about Dhruv and the only thing she got to know from him was that he will be a final year student in this upcoming academic year and he is from St.Stephen , Jaipur.

She rolled up her long sleeves of t-shirt , put on her glasses and switched on the laptop.

She started searching about Dhruv on facebook,youtube, instagram and google with his college name as well.

Suddenly, she was surprised to see a picture uploaded on his college website.

"So Dhruv is a cricketer , he is part of a sports club. Also he is a secretary of the college literature club. "

" He doesn't look like someone who can be so much involved in any activity.", she thought and smiled after being impressed that a guy can be so much active in various activities.

A notification popped up along with a ringtone and she checked her phone .

IT WAS A MESSAGE JUST RECEIVED FROM DHRUV ON HER INSTA ACCOUNT.

The message was as follows,

"Hi. This is Dhruv here ,I hope you remembered me? We met at Jodhpur during the teeka dastoori ceremony. I had no intention of troubling you by sending a request. The main point is that Shivangini jija's phone has been changed . She lost her photos that were clicked with you. I guess even she lost your number as it was saved in her previous phone. If possible send her a message and photos. You may wonder why she has not messaged you , she doesn't use an instagram account. I guess I have typed too much. SORRY FOR THAT Ms.Shaktawat. :)"

Geet read this message ,felt he was too nervous while typing this . She sent photos to Shivangini as per the request. Then she thought of replying as it would make her rude if she didn't . She started typing ,

" First of all, I am sorry Mr.Deora for deleting your request. I didn't know the real reason behind this.I have sent the photos to Shivangini Jija and no need of any formality of saying thank you or sorry :)"

Reading this message , Dhruv felt a sense of relief that he was not labeled as a stalker.He started typing and backspacing for 3-4 times and at last he sent a '" YES "

After this , she thought of not asking further questions and she sent a smiley emoji to end the chat.

But Dhruv responded with the same emoji which she has sent. Both started sending all kinds of emoji to each other for next 20 mins.

Geet made her mind that she won't be a person who would initiate the talk between them as she has trust issues and also don't wanted to make it an awkward . The same thought was running in the Dhruv's mind that he won't let her feel uncomfortable because of him.

Then Geet started typing, " OK then Take care. I have some work to do so I have to go. Hope you have a great day!! 🙂" and she sent him the same.

•~DHRUV'S POV~•

I read the message which made me realise that she doesn't want to talk more and I replied

"OK, have a good day ! 🙂".

I can understand that how does it feel to talk to a complete stranger. We really had some awkward moment while chatting . I don't know why but I wanted to talk to her. I had an urge to know her more.

I am a complete introvert when it comes to interact an unknown person but for Ms. Shaktawat I had a feeling that I can talk with her without any reason. I opened my bag, took my diary and pen , sat on the study table, started to write what I was feeling in that moment.

I wrote the date, time and place .But I was not able to write anything apart from

" I wish I was able to stop you from going."

Sitting for next 10 mins , I was not successful to write it in my diary. I kept my diary in my bag, took my phone and went to check her profile .

255 followings, 280 followers and 10 posts .

And I can't see any of them as it was a private account . I read her bio again which was written as

" In the world full of colours, I prefer to be black and white"

HYDERABAD | UDAIPUR .

What does she mean by black and white???

After that, I clicked on her profile picture and it was changed .With that,my heartbeat stopped for a moment as soon as I saw her profile picture

Her face was not visible .She was wearing a white indian wear . I couldn't stop myself from looking at her. Then I reminded myself that there is no chance that I would meet her again and I should stay away from her. I closed my phone and went outside of my room.

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I hope you liked this chapter and let me know in the comment section any suggestions to improve myself or the way of telling the story. Don't forget to vote and follow for more updates .

Sorry if there is any mistake related to grammar or vocabulary. You can let me know in the comment

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See you soon with a new chapter till then take care and lots of love!

Avina,

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