'I love you.' I confessed to Manik.
'I don't. We're just friends' He replied.
............................................
'I love you.' He confessed to me.
'I don't.' I replied. I didn't know if I could handle a boyfriend along with my disastrous l...
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My eyes snapped open suddenly as I realized that I was going to be late for my college. I stood up, took a quick bath and dressed up in a full sleeves woollen top and jeans along with my black Chuck Taylors. I decided to put on makeup in order to hide my bruises. I wasn't very successful in concealing it but it was well enough for people to not notice it, unless it was for my friend, Navya. She knew everything about my life. I never kept any secrets from her. I wore my spectacles and tied my hair into braids. People always called me a nerd, I don't mind being that. I just want to be simple and good
I made my way downstairs and opened the fridge to see if there was anything to eat. I saw an apple and I grabbed it. I love apples. I reminded myself that I had to buy some food stuff while coming back from college. I went to my father's room and of course, he wasn't there. He must be in some bar, drunk and going wild, though I didn't know which bar would be open at this time in the morning. I opened his locker which he never locked, took a handful of currency notes and shoved it into the inner pocket of my bag. His locker was the biggest locker I had ever seen in my life.
Fortunately, my college was near to my house. It only needed five minutes to get there if I walked. I walked to my college and entered the huge black gates. I saw students buzzing around the campus in the haste of entering the classes. I jogged towards the building and as soon as I reached there, I bumped my head into someone and it hurt badly since my father had banged my head against the wash basin at the same spot. I was fortunate enough to not fall.
I looked up to see who I had bumped. I was met with a pair of big and captivating green eyes. He had a smile on his face and was looking at me.
'Sorry.' I mumbled to him, not even sure if he heard me.
'Nandini!' someone called me from behind and I was brought back to reality.
I looked around to see my bestie, Navya grinning at me. I went up to her and hugged her. She squeezed me and I felt the pain throughout my body. She realised it quickly and apologised. I just nodded. We walked together towards our first class.
Throughout the class, Navya was explaining about the date she had with her boyfriend, but I gave a deaf ear to it. I wanted to focus on the lecture and take the notes. No way I did want my grades to fall.
I was standing in front of my locker and was keeping my books in there. It was time for the lunch break. Navya wasn't with me since her boyfriend, Cabir had asked her out for lunch that day. I really loved the couple. No one could deny that they looked cute together.
I was going to walk towards the cafeteria when I saw a tall figure walking towards me. I looked up to see it was none other than Madhyam. Madhyam Singhaniya was the most popular guy in the college. All the girls swooned over him (except me and a few others) and he was known to bully people whom he thought were not up to his level. I had been bullied by him a few times before. He really was a brat and he looked dangerous with the tattoos he had all over his arm.
I swallowed hard as I saw him. Fear had risen inside me and I wondered what he was going to do because last time, he had danced in front of the whole college and obviously, I had ended up embarrassing myself.
'Hey nerdy.' He said in his thick voice that held no emotions.
I didn't dare to look up at him. He came closer and I wasn't liking the proximity between us. Just as he was going to place his hand on my shoulder, I heard someone call him from behind. I turned back and saw that it was that same guy I had bumped into that morning.
'Just leave her, man. Be cool.' He said as he stood between me and Madhyam. I noticed that this guy was even taller than Madhyam. My mental calculation said that he was no less than 6 feet 2 inches.
'Why do you care?' Madhyam asked, his voice threatening this guy didn't even seem to have an effect because of his tone.
'Bullying the weak isn't cool, man. Just leave her alone.' he replied and by that time, a small audience had gathered around us hoping to see a fight. I was getting tensed about the fact that I was in between so many people. I never liked attention and hated being among people. I always liked to be alone in the corner, reading books or listening to music and if not that, I loved spending time with Navya.
'You don't tell me what to do, you don't have the authority.' Madhyam growled and this guy was acting really cool as if he couldn't hear Madhyam. I really didn't know what to do. I wanted to run away from there but when I looked around, I saw that everyone had their eyes on me and their looks freezed me at that spot. A wave of chill went down my spine and I was silently freaking out.
'Why are you smiling? Is this funny? Does this look funny to you?' Madhyam growled and I gasped at his sound. He looked ferocious as if he was going to eat this boy alive.
The guy nodded his head, indicating "no". Just at that moment, Madhyam grabbed the guy's collar and pinned him to the locker.
'Just fuckin'get lost, you moron.' Madhyam said in an angry tone. The guy just smirked.
'So you want it the hard way, then? Okay, fine.' The guy said, still smirking and out of nowhere, he placed a hard punch on Madhyam's face. The impact was so much that Madhyam lost his balance and fell down. Madhyam got up and kicked the guy's shin and he kicked back Madhyam on his stomach.
I really needed to get out of here as soon as possible. I didn't want to be in the middle of a fight. Images of my father beating me up flashed through my mind. I saw that they were exchanging punches and kicks together before their friends came and separated them. I felt quite relieved now. The guy that I bumped into this morning came up to me.
'Are you alright?' He asked me.
'Yeah.' I said, looking down.
'Are you sure?' He asked.
'Yeah.' I replied again and went away towards the cafeteria. He followed me first but then his friends pulled him back somewhere and he disappeared.
I felt tears welling up in my eyes due to what just happened. I wasn't at fault in it, but still I felt like crying. I really wished Navya was here and as if God heard my prayers, I saw her walking towards me. She had a shocked expression on her face. Relief washed over me as I saw my best friend.
'What am I hearing?!' She asked, her voice sounding astonished.
'What did you hear?' I asked, puzzled.
'Manik Malhotra stood up for you against Madhyam Singhaniya?!!!' She asked in a shocked tone.
So that was his name..... Manik Malhotra. I had heard the name a lot in college but I didn't know it was him.
