Crushed-part 2

 It was Diwali – time for celebration and happiness. However it didn’t bring any happiness except my fear closer to me.

I was sitting at the worn out leather sofa, staring at my dream girl. She happened to be the daughter of my landlord. She was serving lemonade and homemade sweets.  As she served me, I struggled to hold it. My hands became sweaty and shivering. This was the first time I was so nervous. I didn’t look at her beautiful brown eyes because I was so focused on calming down myself.

Gosh! Fear ruins even the sweetest moments of our life. I was so close to her and I couldn’t speak to her. 

Why? I was scared… I was scared that my true feelings would surface on my face. I didn’t want her to think I was desperate.

We were there for an hour. But that hour seemed to pass very slowly. I looked at my watch continuously. It seemed like as if I had an urgent appointment. “ Are you getting late for some meeting, Rahul anna?”, she asked. What! Did I hear right? She called me ‘Anna’? I wasn’t that old. I was ..maybe five or six years elder to her. I nodded my head left to right , suggesting no. My tongue was tied and words stayed deep inside my heart. We bid them goodbye and visited the next house.

I would always meet her due to coincidence. It was not that I wanted to be close to her. I tried my best to stay away from her. But God had other plans for me. He would use his magic wand and make me meet her in some way.

I was walking home from playing cricket with my friends. I saw a car stop by and driver (none other than my landlord) peeping out of the window of the car. “ Hi! Come inside, son. I am taking same route to home.”, he said.  I hopped into his car.

We started chatting about life and everything else. I didn’t expect that my landlord had interesting personality behind his cold exterior. I learnt something valuable- Never judge a book from its cover. I discovered his fun loving personality from our conversation. His advices on life seemed so simple and clear.

“ So… I heard you were good in math and science. I was thinking about you helping my daughter in these areas. She’s not weak. But she seems to be disinterested in them. So a bit of help is needed to make her focus on them. Could you help her?”, he asked out of blue.

Teaching! I did teach my friends and few from my old neighbourhood. But I don’t think I could teach her. I wanted to say no. But I blurted out ‘yes’. My fear to say ‘no’ had landed me into trouble.

(To be continued)