Cygnus

| Chapter-1 | Fun and Games | Episode-3 | The giveaway and the gain |

" I hope we will be lucky enough to win the giveaway"

"Yeah. Me too!” though I knew that we won't win.

[For those who are thinking, “Then, why is he still going to the mall, even after knowing about this unsuccessfulness?”

For your information, if we don't repeat the exact same things that we did in the past then, the future will change. And, I don't want it to change. At least... for now]

Mr. Chopra was free today, just like I remembered. In fact, all the things that happened, till now, were perfectly going according to my plan, or, my memories. But, a new observation just put a stop to that streak.

When we reached the mall, we encountered a line that was huge. But, as my memory serves, the line for the game at the mall was so big that it was termed as, ‘the biggest line that we had ever seen in our lives'. But after seeing the line in the mall, to me, it seemed to be quite smaller than I remember. Maybe, the Time-Shift is messing with my memories, or maybe, I have just become old!

The game shop was on the third floor and the line had reached the ground floor. So you can easily imagine how big it was! Besides, the line was filled with different kinds of people. Some where teenagers, some where adults and some where even kids. So, it seemed to me like a fair, and to be honest, the scenery was quite interesting! Especially the variety of people. So, standing was kind of interesting to me. As I inspected the various activities of the people, time passed very quickly or I may say, relatively quick! I was not worried about winning the free giveaway, because I already knew the result. But, somethings also seemed new, to me. The line, especially, looked really unfamiliar. Maybe because, last time, I was so worried about getting the free giveaway that I didn’t even notice my surroundings. It’s weird how our situation and mindset changes our outlook.

There was a new thing that I really need to mention. There was a signboard, a huge digital signboard, showing the number of remaining free giveaways. The numbers had already started decreasing, randomly. People might think of it as a really clever thing. The people would get to know about their possibilities of getting the giveaway and be attracted. But, I think, it was a foolish strategy. Because, as soon as the display will show ‘0’, people will leave the place!

While standing in the line, I was observing various things and also talking to Raj about various things like movies, games, cartoons, music etc. etc. After a few hours, we came close to the counter. There were only 13 giveaways remaining then and we still had a 130-40 people ahead of us!

[Special Remark: The sign displayed the remaining giveaways in the whole world not just the mall, and the lottery was done digitally]

I suddenly noticed a commotion at the counter. It wasn’t quite clear. When I focused on the place, I saw Ambrosia. I was surprised to see her.

Ambrosia is the kind of girl who is beautiful but her beauty is concealed behind a pair of nerdy glasses and attitude. These types of people are “variably” introverted. They are only free with people, close to them. Very few people are able to discover that beauty. And, for your information, I am one of them. I am not bragging or something, she really looks beautiful, at least, to me. The surprising fact was not only her (after being a nerd) act of buying a video game, but her face being displayed without glasses is also a cause. I only saw that face when she was washing her face, in summer camp (not the ladies’ room, I am not a peeping tom, okay!). This time, the face is looking even more beautiful.

I can still remember her face. Even thinking of it makes me happy. I was actually angry at my parents, to send me to summer school, that year. But, meeting her was a new experience. That time, I first understood that, beauty is not always in front of you, it may be concealed, you just have to find it or else it will never reach you!

I, myself, was kind of an introvert and I was uncomfortable around others. She was the same. So that, kind of, made us the sailors of the same boat. But, she was different. Her works were noticeable, her thinking was appreciable and her presence was lovable. That's why, I thought, she is pretty. But she was often bullied. I thought boys were usually the victims of bullying. But, she was also bullied by female Bullies, or I would prefer to say, she-bullies!

She needed protection and among my reasons, for being a person, who goes to the gym, that is prevalent. I liked her. But our friendship didn’t grow that much. So, we were not that close. This time, she also needed protection and she is not alone. She has me and she has someone for her!

A person standing behind her is trying to play a dirty trick on her. He is attempting to touch her ass. I rushed to save her. Because, she needed protection.

She was not noticing things behind her, as she was busy, in a quarrel, with the salesperson.

Well, another thing to learn today, quarrelling between two benefits the third.

I succeeded in saving her by rushing there. I went there pretending that I wanted to stop the quarrel. So I asked the reason for the quarrel. After seeing me, the boy retreated his attempt.

After hearing all the reasons of the quarrel, this is what I understood:

She had come to buy Cygnus. (After hearing this, I shooted her a look of disbelief. Her reaction was, "What! Can't nerds play games. Or, is the problem related to, me being a girl!"). After conquering this huge line, she found out that her purse was missing. She had left it at home. So, she told the salesperson to consider the payment as a due. She would pay it immediately after a while!

But, the salesperson claimed that it would endanger his job. So, he could not keep the request. Then, she demanded to cut through the line immediately after she would get back with the money. But, the salesperson also declined the request, thinking that, it would cause chaos among the public. After then, they started to argue.

*Taking this advantage, the boy behind her tried to complete some naughty business. But, I didn't like it. So, I rushed...

As Ambrosia and I were already known to each other, I thought of applying a plan: I told the salesperson to give 'us' three packs of the game and I called Raj up to the front. Then, we paid the price of the game together and Ambrosia promised that she would pay us back after going back. By applying this, I had two advantages:

1) I impressed Ambrosia.

2) I cut the line and went ahead.

Well, there was also a third advantage that fate had kept hidden for us. We won the free giveaway