FOURTEEN

Life had been different for me in the last few days. Sheza was now my fiancée and our college life was going to start the next day. Adah and Sheza had been getting along well together. Adah was the most excited one about our engagement and that hurted me. I had to pretend to be happy about my engagement just to make our parents happy. I even had to act like Sheza's fiancé since our parents had told me that she was now my responsibility.

Responsibility? Really!? Won't I have a bachelor life?

Do a man have to take his fiancée's responsibility? I mean, it happens only after marriage, right?

Anyways, everyone was acting as if I was married to Sheza and one thing that I couldn't take was Sheza's flirtatious nature. Since the day she had confessed her feelings for me, she had been going all flirty on me. She was being very mushy and cringy. Well, I wouldn't have mind if Adah was in Sheza's place. Yeah, I know I'm a biased bastard.

Sheza's family had now moved into their new house which was just adjacently opposite to our house but Sheza used to spend all her time in our house. She would go back to her home only during night.

A new chapter was going to be opened the next day. I was going to enter into my college life. I had dreamt about this day throughout my whole life. I don't know why but we are always excited about our college life throughout our school life. Isn't it?

Well, I was well prepared for my college and the biggest relief was that Adah would also be with me in the same college. One thing I had to take care of was that I couldn't let Sheza know that I liked Adah because that would create a rift between our families and I didn't want to snatch the happiness I saw in our parents' face after we got engaged.

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Next day I woke up early due to the excitement of going to college. I got freshened up and dressed in the best way I could. I wore a blue denim shirt over a white T-shirt along with black jeans, my favourite combination. Then I came down to have my breakfast which my mom had already made and was served on the dining table. My dad, as usual was sitting on chair reading newspaper.

What's with elders and newspapers, anyway?

Just when I was going to start my breakfast, the doorbell rang and it was Sheza, as expected.

'Assalamualaikum.' She said as she entered my home.

We all replied to her salam. Just after that, my mom left us saying that she had some work in the kitchen and dad also left saying that he had to go to take a bath.

Really, mom and dad? Did you have to leave me alone here with Sheza? Or wait...did you guys do it deliberately? Ughh.... so disgusting!

Sheza came and sat on the chair next to me. She smiled at me and in response to it, I smiled back.

'Come, have breakfast.' I offered her, my voice somewhat stuttering.

Well manners always comes first. Whenever someone comes to your house, you have to offer them something to eat, right?

'No, I had it.' She said, winking.

Did she just wink at me?

'You can have a little?' I offered again.

'No, it's alright.' She said.

'Okay.' I said as I continued having my breakfast. I felt her eyes on me. I could tell she was staring at me.

Hey girl, ogling at someone who is opposite your gender is haraam in Islam! I'm not your husband yet. I said in my head.

As if falling in love with a non-muslim girl and ogling at her is halal. My brain said in pure sarcasm.

To save the embarrassment from my own brain, I decided to look at her.

'What happened?' I asked.

'Nothing. I was just looking at you.' She said smiling and winking again. A smile crept on to my lips too.

'Why? You never saw me?' I asked, still smiling.

'I did, but I've never checked you out.' She said.

Whoa! This girl is openly accepting that she was checking me out! She's gone crazy! Someone get this cheesy girl out from here.

I feel blood rushing into my face.

Was I blushing? No, not at all. Was I? No.. blushing is supposed to be a girly thing, isn't it?

'You are crazy.' I said, smiling.

'Only for you.' she said, looking into my eyes as if trying to find something in it. Her gaze was so intense that I was forced to look away.

Her eyes are really beautiful.

'Ahem ahem....if you guys are done, let me remind you that you guys have college today and you are getting late now. So come out of your own world and go.' My mom said, surprising both of us. And both of us were embarrassed beyond words.

Wait....was my mom there all the time throughout our little chat? No....Jeez, she couldn't have heard all of it! Oh God!!!

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

All of us had decided that we would go to college in my car. So, Mike, Sam, Tina and Adah arrived at my house. Sheza was already present in my house. Then, I waved goodbye to my parents and sat in my car, on the driver seat and Sheza sat on the passenger seat next to me. Rest of them sat at the back. I drove towards my college which wasn't very far away from my home. All throughout the ride, we all kept chatting about our upcoming college life and I didn't miss a chance to glance at Adah through the rear-view mirror.

After a few more minutes, we saw the gate of our college. We entered the campus. It was very vast and beautiful. This place was going to be our second home for the next four years. I saw Sheza looking at me and when I saw her she averted her eyes from me.

She's crazy.

'This place is beautiful.' Adah exclaimed.

Not more than you. I said in my head.

I parked the car and we all got off the car to enter our block. This was the beginning of our new life. Well, I already had a renewed life after getting engaged with Sheza. But this was different.

We searched for our classroom and we finally found it. The classroom was huge with lots of desks and chairs. Every desk had two chairs with it and I knew already that I and Adah would not be sitting together, instead my fiancé whom everyone treats as though she's my wife would be sitting with me. And ughh....Adah would be sitting with Sam because Mike and Tina were obviously not going to sit apart from each other.

Oh man! Life is so unexpected sometimes that you can't register what is happening. Everything happens so fast that you don't understand how it all began. Well that is how it's supposed to be. Your life would not always be smooth and easy. It's definitely going to have ups and downs. It's like a bumpy road where you don't always get a smooth drive. You'll have potholes in your way.

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

We were having our Fresher's Party that day and it was going very well. We were told to go to the auditorium for the party and there, our seniors gave us a hearty welcome. After that, the programme started. Our seniors had organized the whole party and it was spectacular. First, there was a solo dance by a senior girl after that, a group of boys came to perform a Michael Jackson themed dance. There were many more performances. In the end, a music band performed a music show, which the best of all the other performances. All throughout the program, Sheza sat with me, holding my hands but my eyes were on Adah who was sitting diagonally opposite to me in the row ahead of ours. Her eyes were enough to make me forget everything around me. Among all this, I felt something heavy on my shoulder. When I saw my shoulder, I saw that Sheza's head was resting on my right shoulder and her eyes were closed. I didn't want to disturb her sleep, so I didn't move. Few minutes passed and the party was over. I tried waking Sheza by calling her name but she didn't move. When I touched her slightly, her head slipped off my shoulder and fell on my lap.

This doesn't look good.

I tried waking her up but there was no response. I was becoming tensed now and my stomach was churning, which wasn't a good sign. I started calling her name out louder and that attracted attention from many people around me and they gathered around us.

Within a few seconds, a small crowd had gathered and someone from the crowd told that she must have fainted and suggested that I should sprinkle water on her face. In no time, a bottle was given to me by someone and I sprinkled a few drops of water on her face. Nothing happened. I tried again and this time, her eyes opened slowly. Just then, a lady came up to us told that Sheza needed to be taken to the Restroom. That lady was the Physical Education instructor of our college. Someone from the crowd had called her and she had come running to us.

'Let's take her to the Restroom.' She said and I just nodded.

She then lifted Sheza in her arms and started walking towards the Restroom. I offered to help her in lifting Sheza but she declined my offer. Sheza was taken into the Restroom and we were told to wait outside the room.

Ughh....this isn't an operation theater that we are standing outside. She has just fainted, that's it.

After a couple of minutes, the instructor came out.

'What happened to Sheza, ma'm? Is she OK?' I asked her

'Yes, she's fine. Maybe she didn't have her breakfast today which is why she fainted. I have give her glucose and now you buy something to eat from the canteen and give it to her.' She said and went away.

I was relieved to hear that she was fine and as told, I went to the canteen and bought a sandwich and an orange juice and went up to Sheza. When I entered, I saw her lying on a bed, staring at the ceiling. Adah, Mike, Tina and Sam also entered with me.

'Hey, how are you feeling now?' I asked.

'I am good.' She said, smiling and she sat up.

'Why did you lie to me that you had had your breakfast?' I asked.

'I wasn't feeling hungry. Maybe it was because of the excitement of going to the college with you.' She said.

I just smiled in response.

This girl was really crazy.

'Now you have you take this sandwich and this juice and you have to finish it.' I ordered.

'No yaar, I'm not feeling hungry.'

'You have to eat it. No other way.'

'No, I don't want to.'

'You have to.'

'Okay then, you feed me.' She said.

'What?' I asked

'You heard me right. Feed me or else I'm not eating it.' She said, dramatically.

Adah, Mike and Tina and Sam were smiling, looking at the scene going on in front of them.

I didn't have any other way. I had to feed her. If my mother came to know that I had asked Sheza to eat on her own first, she was definitely going to give me a big lecture on how I should take care of Sheza and I definitely didn't want to hear a lecture on this topic.

'You are so stubborn.' I said to Sheza.

'Yeah, I am.' She said and I took a seat on the chair which was there next to the bed on which Sheza was lying. For the next few minutes, I fed her and made her drink the juice. She seemed quite well after eating. Then, we left her to rest and came out of the room. Mike signalled me that he had to talk about something important to me, so we excused ourselves and looked for a place where no one was there and we found that the front garden of the college was the apt location.

'What's so important now that you had to look for a secret place for it?' I asked him.

'Bro, look, whatever happened today has to kick some sense in you.' Mike said.

'What?' I asked.

Kick some sense in me? That didn't make any sense,Duh.

'Let me explain.'

'Please do.'

'You know that Sheza fainted in your arms. Right?'

She fainted in my arms man, how wouldn't I know? Are you crazy?

'So?' I asked.

'Bro, look, she fainted because she didn't have her breakfast today and she didn't had her breakfast because of you. She was so excited to go to college with you that her hunger died.'

'So?' I asked him again.

'So, can't you see how much she loves you?'

'I can see that but you also know that I love Adah, right?' I said and asked.

'I know that but it's almost impossible to find a girl who loves you so much as Sheza does. You don't even know if Adah likes you or not and you are in no mood to confess your feelings for her. Plus, I think that you are just blinded by Adah's beauty, there is no real love present.' Mike said to me.

'What did you just say?' I asked, fuming in anger.

How dare he say that!

'You heard me. You are just blinded by Adah's beauty, because you never talk about anything else about her other than her beauty. So just reconsider and think of getting along with Sheza.' He said.

My anger was at its highest limit and I feared that the volcano that was building inside me would break out any moment now. Mike did the unthinkable and he was going to pay for it.

'I didn't expect this from you, Mike.' I said.

'Don't take me wrong Aman.'

'Really? You are saying this after destroying everything? Mike, at every moment of my life, I looked up to you. Even when everything went wrong in my life, you were there by my side, and now you are saying this? You broke my heart, Mike. So, I want all this to end here. Forget you had a friend named Aman. Goodbye Mike and all the best for your future.' I said and walked away. He called me but I didn't turn back. He also tried following me but I was soon out of his sight.

I never expected Mike would call my love just a blind love. He had supported me throughout and now, just because I didn't express my love, he was saying that I was blinded by her beauty. He couldn't see how much I loved her. I loved every bit and every gesture of her. I loved the way she flips her hair always. I loved how she was always smiling and looked so innocent. I loved how she always spreaded positivity and was so caring. I even loved how she used to hold her pen close to the nib while writing. There were many more things that I loved about her, but I didn't like to express all these. I wanted to keep it close to my heart.

In case of Mike, we had been into fights before but this one looked complicated. For a moment, I felt like running back to him and apologizing to him for my behavior and explaining to him what I loved about Adah, but my ego held me from doing it. My ego told me that he is the one to apologize, not me .

All my previous fights with Mike had only lasted for a day or two, but this one looked different. Something in me told that this was going to be very bad. Very very bad.