Chapter 6

Karan 

Flashback continues 

The sun shone brighter in summer days. Her face shimmered as the sun rays hit her skin. She had flawless golden skin which looked more attractive in sunshine. We walked inside the building and reached our classroom.

  "Hey, Karan! What a surprise!", Mitali reacted as she found me early in the class. 

  "Trying to be early", I grinned, looking at Divya who sat on the same seat like every day. She opened her book and turned pages, lifting her spectacle from her nose bone with her index finger. I realized I was noticing her more carefully from yesterday. 

There's a fact that when you target someone to impress you automatically start noticing them more.

I walked towards her and she lifts her head.

   "Can I sit beside you?", I asked her. First, she gave me a rambling look as I had never behaved like that with her.

   "Sure", she smiled at me. "You can sit wherever you want. You don't have to ask me"

   "Still, if your friends come…", I muttered, sitting beside her.

   "They can manage anywhere. We don't talk much during the class", she chuckled.

   "Good girl", I laughed and looked at the book.

   "Ammm… which class is this?", I behaved like an idiot.

   "What?", she threw me a strong glare as if I was asking the name of the president of my country.

   "The thing is…", I mumbled. "You know I'm always late for the class. So, I have always missed the class"

   "Haha. It's sociology", she laughed, resting her chin on her palm.

   "Oh!", I turned back and checked inside my bag. Heck! I haven't bought anything. My bag was full of cola, drinks, perfume and protein shake. 

For a moment, I felt like leaving the classroom right now so that I could save myself from a massive embarrassment. I was so lost in my thoughts that I didn't notice her looking at me.

   "You didn't bring the book?", she raised her eyebrows.

   "No. I didn't know", I mumbled.

   "No problem. You don't need a book to attend the class. Professor Paul delivers a good lecture. That's enough for you. Listen to him and note everything down. Simple", she made it sound so easy that for a second I believed study was actually easy. But it would be simple for me too if I had at least a piece of paper and pen. I mumbled to say anything.

   "What happened?", she asked, rolling her eyes.

   "Actually, I don't have paper or pen", I uttered and waited for another cringe reaction from her. 

   "Karan!", she took my name in a strange tone as if she wanted to tell me that I was impossible. I gave her a smile of embarrassment. 

She turned to her bag and took out another notebook and pen, holding towards me.

   "Take this", she smiled. That day I realized I came across the sweetest girl in the world. No matter what happened, I wanted to make her my girlfriend at any cost.

   "Thanks. That's so kind of you", I took her stuff.

   "You don't need to thank me. Didn't you say that we are friends now?"

   "Yes"

Meanwhile, the professor came inside and at first rolled his eyes around the classroom. He wished us a good morning and pulled out the attendance sheet. So, I was finally finished. 

   "No. 14", he called out.

   "Karan!", Danish, one of my classmates pushed me from behind. "That's you" 

Shit. It's me!

   "Yes..yes, Sir", I hurriedly spat as Divya threw me a blank look, so as the professor.

   "Basically, you'll remember your roll number if you show up in the class", he shrugged, taunting me indirectly.

   "Sorry, Sir. I'll be regular", I took my seat again.

   "Karan! That's a limit", Divya angrily said. I swear she looked something else when she was angry. I had never seen her anger, it showed me another version of her. However, when she got angry she didn't look dangerous to me instead she looked cuter. I smiled at her innocence filled anger as she passed me a glare.

   "It's not funny. You don't even remember your roll number? What are you gonna do to your life?", she exclaimed?

   "Enjoy", I simply answered her.

   "Really, Karan? You're…", she searched for words.

   "Impossible?", I helped her to say.

   "Yeah. You are impossible", she muttered. 

We both remained silent, looking at each other and then we burst into laughter together. We didn't even remember that the professor was there.

   "What's going on there?", the professor roared at us as we regained our senses. Divya bit her tongue and looked at me. 

   "Divya! That was not expected from you. Both of you are creating a disturbance in the classroom", he spat.

   "Sorry, Sir", Divya stood up, lowering her head. I didn't bother to do that. 

   "Karan!", she whispered. "Say sorry, otherwise he'll throw us out of the class"

   "So?", I rolled my eyes.

   "No sorry is acceptable. Leave the classroom right now", he continued blabbing. The whole class looked at us as if they had seen some zombies.

   "But Sir", Divya tried to calm him but he was sticking to his words.

   "Out!", he roared again. 

We had no choice left except for leaving. At first, Divya left the classroom, lowering her eyes. Then I followed her. 

   "I missed the lecture", Divya whimpered, strolling through the corridor.

   "It was just a lecture. Why are you crying?", I walked beside her, putting my both hands inside the pockets. I felt kinda relieved as his lecture sucked.

   "It wasn't just a lecture. No teachers or professor had ever asked me to leave the classroom. It is a pathetic feeling", she continued sobbing as I looked at her. I was feeling a little guilty since she was ousted from the class because of me. 

   "That's not a big deal, Divi", I held her hand gently and looked at her. She too looked at me. We shared deep eye contact. "We should make good memories in student life, but if there's no bad memory, life isn't fun"

I knew that logic wasn't valid for her. Still, she shook her head and wiped her tears. She left my hand and crossed her arms while walking. I glanced at my hand which touched her skin for ten seconds and then looked away.

   "By the way, we have a lot of time before the next class. Let's have some cola", I approached her. She passed me a weird look.

   

   "Cola?"

   "Yes. Don't make dirty faces", I threw a blank look. "It's a cola, not alcohol"

Suddenly she bursts into laughter, looking at me.

   "Now what's funny here?", I blurted out.

   "Nothing! You look funny when you make dirty faces", she kept laughing. What an insult. I glared at her as she put her palm on her mouth to stop her laughter.

   "If you're done laughing, can we go for a cola shot?", I murmured. She couldn't utter anything as she was trying to control her laughter. She just shook her head in agreement as we walked towards the canteen.

Flashback ends

I ring the doorbell and the door gets opened within just 5 seconds. I discover Divya standing at the door as if she was roaming around it. I pass her a glare and come inside.

   "So you ate?", she asks me from behind.

   "Yes. I hope you ate too", I tell her and make my way to the room.

I've never been outside for so long. It's near midnight. I'm too much exhausted and need an immediate shower. When I reach inside I find my clothes and towel laying the bed. It should make any husband happy but it freaks me out. The more she tries to be good to me, the more I doubt on her intentions. 

Instead of picking up those clothes, I open my closet to take out another t-shirt. As soon as I open the closet, my eyes pop out. What the hell is this? I discover her clothes in my closet. She has fully prepared herself to stick with my life, my room, my closet and not the least, my family. Unfortunately, I can say nothing to her since she is my so-called wife with so-called rights.

I ignore her stuff and pick another towel and clothes for me. 

Taking a cold shower always worked for me. It relaxes me to go for proper sleep. Now I just need my bed, before that a glass of water of course. But I find the jug of water placed empty on the table. If she is trying to be such a good wife, she should have kept a filled jug here. This happens when you pretend to do something that you don't wanna do. 

Taking the jug I walk out of the room and come near the kitchen. I find Divya eating her dinner on the dining table. Ignoring her, I walk into the kitchen and start filling the jug. That moment my gaze automatically goes to her. She is struggling to eat because of her burnt hand. But she isn't making any sound of hisses. I can figure that out by her expressions.

    "If you had your dinner with mom and dad, you wouldn't have to eat like this", I shrug as I reach near the table and she looks at me surprisingly.

    "No! I'm not having a problem", she mutters.

    "Yeah! I can see that", I look at her hand then go back to the kitchen to bring the first aid kit. I return to her, holding the kit and sit beside her as she keeps staring at me.

   "Give me your hand. If you drape it with a bandage, you will be able to hold the spoon", I tell her. She shakes her head and proceeds her hand to me. The burnt area has turned black, not matching with her bridal henna. 

   "I thought you are gonna feed me", she lowers her voice. I wasn't ready for it. But was she really expecting me to feed her?

I look at her surprisingly, looking for words to utter. Before that, I sense her sobbing. She has lowered her head but I can see her tears, flowing through her golden cheek.

   "Divya", I am clueless about what to say. I find the old naive Divya into her right now. It leaves me in a massive dilemma.

   "Tell me what I need to do to make you believe that I still love you, to prove my love for you. What do you want me to do for being your wife? What's wrong with me, Karan? Am I not beautiful enough? Am I not faithful? It wasn't my mistake. You know that. Whatever happened between us was never my mistake. Then why are you punishing me like this?", she breaks into tears, leaving me in a huge mess.