Falling in love after Marriage

Chapter 24

Vidhya's POV

I waited till Janu's laughter died down to tell her everything that I had hidden all these days. To remind the time is moving fast, our dinner time reminder alarm went off. We quickly grabbed our plates and washed them before rushing down to the canteen.

The best four letters word in the world to me is FOOD!

No doubt today is the day full of surprises!

Guess what!

We have chapathi/chapati and paneer masala for our dinner!

Cooking chapathi in the hostel is a very very rare possibility as it involves lots of work to prepare. But we have luck today! We decided to eat in the dining area as we don't need to walk back all the way down to get another chapathi!

We discussed some packing ideas and the application form submission for ITT and Orientation Classes. We wished to complete those classes before returning Kancheepuram but there are no seats available till February. I guess we have to do it after our results. The main drawback in taking those classes after the release of our results is, we could join our articleship (Internship) only after completing them. So we have to wait another month or two to join articleship, which has the risk of no vacancies in top-rated firms. Janu suggested getting advice from our teachers to get better options.

We had a second round of the meal and went directly to the terrace because we need a walk to help our digestive system as the exceptional taste of the food made us fill it beyond the limit. Being in the terrace at nights will always fill you with joy and peace.

"Hey Vidhu, will you please continue your Kaadhal Kaaviyam' (Love story)?"

She asked mischievously.

"I got a friend request from him on sss the same day. I..."

"Ding! You would have accepted! Then! In a flash of a song, you both are in love! Right?"

Janu cut off me sarcastically.

"No!"

She looked confused by my response

"What do you mean by 'No'?"

"Have some patience Janu. Let me tell."

She kept her index finger over her mouth and signalled me to continue. Crazy woman!

^ Flashback ^

I got a friend request from him. What does he think about himself? After all those scoldings, he sent me a friend request! He didn't even have the courtesy to apologize for his stupid behaviour towards Janu. Now he wants me to be his friend. Without thinking twice I pressed 'Ignore' and continue swiping my mobile screen. But that time I didn't realize he is not the person who takes 'No' as a response. The very next day he made me realize that.

Our law professor asked Janu to meet him after class to have some unfinished discussion on a case study. I cautiously excused myself as she would go on asking clarification till the break gets over. On my way back to class after buying our breakfast, I spotted Ajay standing alone near the entrance.

I chose to ignore him. But before I walk past him, he extended his hand blocking my way. I suppressed my annoyance and looked at him with a blank face.

"Hi, Vidhya!"

"What do you want Ajay?"

"Hey, chill ma. I just want to talk. Nothing else"

He spoke with a very innocent expression. I kinda umm.. couldn't resist.

"Then talk"

"Why you didn't accept my friend request?"

Wow! Straight to the point! But he can't tell what I shall do.

"What do you mean?"

"I know that you are fully aware of what I mean. Why?"

He tilted his head one side and smirked. i***t!

"I don't accept friend requests from strangers."

I stated the fact.

"Ahaah! Good policy. But that only applies to strangers. Not me! You came to me to talk and we got introduced yesterday."

"Yesterday I came to put some sense into your little brain. Nothing else. You didn't even seem to have a thought to apologize for your mean behaviour. But you are here to know why a woman didn't accept your friendship. I couldn't understand you!"

"Yes! You can understand me better if you accept my friend request. If you want me to apologize, no problem, I am sorry. If you want me to apologize to your cousin, I will tell her too."

No! If he apologizes to her, I have to explain her regarding yesterday's incident details.

"You don't have to tell her. I will convey your apology. But..."

"Great! I am getting late now. We will talk evening on f*******:. Okay, bye."

Before I could reply he hopped onto his bike and disappeared like he hadn't been here a minute ago. I stood still contemplating what just happened and went shaking his thoughts out of my mind.

I thought he would let me go if chose to ignore him. In the evening, I have been washing my clothes on the terrace. I got a call from an unknown number. But I didn't want to ruin my mobile with my wet hands, so I quickly pressed 'answer' button.

"Hey, Vidhya!"

Am I hallucinating? How is it possible?

"May I know who this is?"

"You knew who I am."

Why he has to be always right? It's true I recognised his voice instantly.

"How did you get my number?"

"Rude! You told me I am behaving very mean. But you are the one who always behaving meanly to me. Can't we be friends? If you really don't want to talk to me, you can disconnect the call"

He is right. But that doesn't mean he can do whatever he wants. I analyzed for a minute to decide what to do.

I shrugged and disconnected the call. But before placing my mobile down, I got his call again.

"Now what Ajay? I have a lot of works to do. I don't have time for your games."

"Hey, I accept that we don't have a good start. But we can be good cou...hmm...friends. Give me a chance to prove that I am not what you are thinking. Don't argue with your mind. Ask your heart and reply to me."

Mind and heart? A chance.

Yes, my mind is telling me to block his number but my heart is asking me why not?

"Okay."

"Thank you so much, mam!"

I laughed at his accent mentally.

"So anything else? I am actually washing my clothes. Can I call you later?

"Sorry for disturbing you. We will talk later. Bye. Take care."

Great! I had the same chemical reaction in my heart now. I kept my mobile down and resumed my chores. We exchanged our basis details that night.

After that day, our friendship grew very quickly. We had a lot of interests in common and also equally had opposite opinions over things. It made our bond to grow but the guilt of hiding all these matters from Janu also grown in my heart. He knew I didn't tell her about our first meeting and told me to tell her everything as soon as possible so our relationship will be as normal as before. But I couldn't find the courage to do the same.

We started to meet daily in the parking area of our coaching centre without Janu's knowledge. I will speak to him a lot about my family. He too loves his family. His parents chose to have a single child and also they both are a single child. His parents showered him with love but he had missed the feeling of growing with siblings and cousins."

^ End of the Flash Back ^

Janu seemed lost in her thoughts. I shook my hand before her face.

"Are you listening or not?"

"Yes. Don't overreact. Just thinking about you said"

She snapped making me confused.

"What do you mean?"

"Life without siblings"

She sighed and turned her face.

Damn! I should have realized it. I shouldn't have mentioned that knowing the impact that has on her. This topic always made her sad. And I am very well aware of that.

"I didn't mean to hurt you, Janu. Sorry"

I said slowly and held her hand for comfort.

"Yeah, that's alright."

She gave me a weak smile. I simply nodded. She quickly shook her head and smiled at me.

"Hey, when did you realize that you are in love with him?"

"That is the day my all emotions were at the peak. I didn't know whether you remember it or not. But that day you almost caught me twice."

She had a glimpse of realization in her eyes.

"God! How stupid I am! Now only everything falls in its places. Tell me everything!"

I started narrating... no! reliving those memories.

"That day started normally. After talking to him, I was returning to the class. I thought you would have gone to class with our food. But you came behind me while we are exchanging bye. I almost had a heart attack when you placed your hand over my shoulders. I am too shocked. But you showed me Ajay and told 'Vidhu, Who are you waving at? Oi, see the person sitting on the blue Royal Enfield. What do you think?' I don't know what to tell.

If you aren't glaring at him, you would have heard my heart thumping. But you didn't want to leave it. 'How does he look' I absentmindedly looked at him and before I realize what I am thinking I blurted out 'He looks cute and hot'. Your expression is priceless. But for myself, I am very shocked by the fact I am thinking of him 'cute and hot'. Then you told me that he is Ajay and started teasing me. I wanted so badly to tell you everything then itself but something stopped me doing that. I got so depressed.

That afternoon you stayed back at the coaching centre to complete the homework. But I told you that I am having a headache and returned without you, even compelled you to stay back and finish it as you wanted to be with me as I am sick. But after completing the class I diverted all my depression towards Ajay.

I know he didn't do anything wrong. But that day our argument heated up by me claiming he should have been aware of your presence behind me and should not wave at me to which he replied that he didn't notice you. I called him 'irresponsible'. He asked me to calm down and think before speaking. I didn't. He told me to cut the call as he had some meeting at the client office. But I continued blaming him for almost getting caught. After a few minutes, he disconnected the call without a word and switched off his mobile. I tried to contact him back but couldn't reach him.

After a few more failed tries, I started crying, letting out all my depression through tears. Then, I took a shower and slept. You came around 3 PM and applied eucalyptus oil on my head which is really a great relief as I brought a severe headache from crying crazily. I woke up as soon as you came but decided to stay still and eventually drifted off to sleep.

Then after an hour you woke me up with a hot coffee and spoke with me about how I am feeling and went to wash clothes after knowing I got better. My senses were back now and I felt so guilty for shouting at him. Then tried calling him but his number is switched off. I thought he would be angry with me. I felt so restless. All I wanted is to listen to his voice. After trying literally more than a hundred times I came to the conclusion that he might have blocked me.

I know that I can see him tomorrow. I want to apologize to him. But the thought of he may not want to be my friend anymore, shaken me more than I had imagined. All negative thoughts started to fill in my mind. Then you came back and I couldn't tell you anything. I hide my emotions and tried to behave normally. But you felt something is abnormal with me and I blamed my headache for it. Your love and concern made me feel heavy with more guilt.

After finishing our dinner, we spoke with athai. Then I got shocked when you asked me who is this 'A' and why I had called that number multiple times. Then I realized I forgot to delete the recent call history. Fortunately, I deleted it before few minutes, and it shows only some ten unanswered calls. I instantly lied that is some classmate but I couldn't get time to edit her name while saving and later felt lazy to edit it. And called trying her for speaking about reminding her to bring my law note that she borrowed in last class. You looked at me suspiciously but distracted by my amma's phone call. And we went to bed as it got late.

That night I couldn't sleep. And that night I realized I wanted to him more than I thought. And our relationship is not mere friendship. I knowingly ignored our family aside and impatiently waited for the sun to rise to end our 'First fight'. I just wanted to see him and apologize. I decided to accept whatever his decision would be.

I used to descend as soon as you were gone to buy food, but I wanted a few minutes to calm myself before going to face him. But he surprised me by coming up and sitting next to me in your seat. I didn't mind that anyway. Yet surprised more because he was smiling and I felt so relieved to see him. He didn't decide to leave me! I smiled and muttered sorry & kept on telling him how guilty I felt. He placed a finger on my mouth and shushed me ignoring the fact we are in the middle of the classroom, surrounded by a bunch of people. I blushed at his sudden touch. And he again pinched my cheek and told me to come to the parking. We walked to go to the parking with comfortable silence.

He told me that he totally understood my situation and his mobile is out of battery couldn't get time to charge it and he reached home late after completing his work. And that's the reason for not contacting me earlier. He behaved very mature and made me feel silly. And to control the anger issues he gave me a 'happy smiley' sponge ball attached to a keychain.

'The first gift.'

I thanked him a lot and told him without thinking that I missed him very much. He gave me a very calm face and took my hand in his before telling that he also missed me. That is the moment I realized how much I love him. My each and every cell solely focused on him. I smiled big at my realization. He returned me the smile but his expression turned sad and sighed 'Go back to class otherwise Janaki will start to send a search party for you.' I glared at him but what he said is obviously true, so I bid him bye and turned around. He caught my wrist and pulled me towards him, standing just a few inches away from me. I had to press my toes hard to hide my blush. He is the only person having this effect on me. Otherwise, I would have imprinted my hand on the cheek of a man who touches me without my permission. 'Vidhya, I will NEVER leave you. Keep that in your pretty head.' His confession made me blush hard and I was on cloud nine. Happiness overloaded. He didn't take his eyes away from me until I reached the door. I nodded finally and went to class."

I finished my lengthy monologue with a dreamy smile. Janu had a genuine smile on her face.

"Hmm... My little girl had grown too quickly."

She wiped her fake tears.

"Don't tease me Janu!"

I whined.

"I value your privacy chellam (dear) but never hide things from me stupidly thinking that I will scold you for doing some idiotic things. See how one thing leads you to another and here we are." She exclaimed.

"Okay, mam. I will keep that in mind. Anything else mam?"

She hit my arm playfully and dragged me to our room. We settled in our bed. The time is already 11.30 PM. We spoke a few minutes and drifted off to sleep. I texted him everything happened after reaching hostel before getting enveloped by sleep.