Raat ke Dhaai baje!

It was the time when college students were preparing for their final exams, working really hard day and night to score good marks, sacrificing sleep and forgetting play. And on the other hand were these two young people, not aware of the rest of the world and completely lost in their own.

Note: This isn’t a love story.

They had a lot to talk about and time was just not enough for them. Kanika always had felt attracted to Mayank since the time they had started talking. They talked daily for quite long number of hours, shared a lot of things, general-personal-relationships-everything. Almost. For her, talking to him was the best time spent in the whole day. Something she eagerly awaited, every day. Talking to was for kind of an addiction of her, something without which her day wouldn’t be complete. She definitely liked Mayank; but she didn’t know it yet, until this day.
It had been late and they both were already talking, and just like every day, Kanika was excited to share things with Mayank, telling him something new and getting to know from his side. Conversations after 3 am are the best. The heavier the eyelids, the sincerer the words and silence is not awkward, it’s shared. They both had a common liking for each other, to talk, to share things. They could just sit quiet for hours and still feel as if they had the best conversation (although, they never chose to shut up!). waking till late and not giving up to sleep was normal for them. The words were not just words, they were emotions, expressed quite wonderfully.
He always had something new to tell, his experiences, his nature, his habits, in some way were similar to Kanika and in another way completely different.

“What kinda girl do you like, Mayank?” Kanika asked in a teasing manner
They both generally would call out the other ones names while talking, which was normal and happened quite regularly.

“You know Kanika, I only want one thing, someone who would understand me, that’s all”
But no, Kanika didn’t listen to any of it. Read the sentence once again.
“You know Kanika, I only want one thing, someone who would understand me, that’s all”

That’s right. Kanika was stuck at “Kanika” that he said, the way he said it. Time had stopped for her there and then. She didn’t reach to the end of the sentence and kept quiet. She kept staring at the blank wall in front of her with the phone in her hands. The sound of his voice saying “Kanika” just kept echoing in her ears. Mayank’s voice was touching her ear but wasn’t reaching to her brain. She just kept on hearing what he said but deep inside she was all blank, all clueless and somehow confused. It was a different kind of feeling, that she hadn’t known all these years, neither in her previous relationships, nor with anyone else. It was like, Mayank just whispered her name in her ear, giving her goose bumps, obviously, she had nothing to say. A girl, who once made fun of romance and couples and love and those feelings and love-sickness was herself experiencing all of it.

“Hello? Are you there? Kanika?”
After 2 minutes of complete silence, she answered “Yes. Yes. I’m here”
“Why aren’t you saying anything? I was waiting for your reply”
“Oh I’m sorry. Network problem”
“Oh, Okay. Everything fine na?”

What would she have said in return? She herself didn’t know what was happening to her. She was experiencing butterflies in her stomach, her heart beating unusually faster on hearing that one voice, and her brain, her brain was completely non-functional, probably for the first time in her life!