Chapter 3

QAS -2

She turned back gradually and smiled nervously, “ do you want me to complete your practical ppts or DBMS Sheets?”

“you are a smart girl,” he smiled smugly and turned the wheels of the chair to face her. “ just keep it in mind, someday I’ll ask you… and from tomorrow be ready, ok.”

He told her and turned to his system, the brief words after nearly giving her a heart attack surprised her and she cleared her throat to say a thank you but he bet her.

“I’ll text you some software packages, get them installed if you don’t have them.” he ordered without looking back.

“Veda manush, ise lagta hai mere pas software bhi nahi hain…” she muttered under her breath but she has to get her work done so she softened her voice and said.

“Alright.” and walked to the door when heard his voice.

“ye inaudible kich pich se allergy hai mere ko kal se ye nahi hone ka…”

Her beats stopped for a moment and she clicked her tongue in embarrassment and without replying to him anything, left for her room.

“Boss, pahli bar koi ladki tuition classes lene aayi hai aapse… ye to bahut different hai.” Farhad took a jibe on the scenerio.

“Fail hote hote bacha hai ye is bar, vaise ye theek hai baki cheejon me…” fully focused on the dark-themed console which changed colors with equations , Raghav answered him.

“to kal se aap sach me ise tuition doge?” Farhad asked him.

“tu apna kaam karega ya tera tution lun mai abhi?” Raghav eyed him.

“Sorry Anna.” Farhad apologized and continued his work on another system.

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“you asked him and he agreed! Wow, that's great,” Apoorva exclaimed and jumped from her chair as soon as Pallavi told her about the impromptu deal with Raghav.

“What so special about it… there are just 6 girls in our batch and most of them are busy in I don’t know what kind of things and then he helped me this morning… he is not that bad he portrays himself.” Pallavi said thoughtfully taking the plate of evening snacks Apoorva has kept for her.

“oh Hello, I don’t know how did you go to him and asked him for the tuition, and then he agreed too otherwise he doesn't even look at a lot of the class fellows.” Apoorva scrunched her nose.

“Deva, Apoorva, he is not God and he has never been disgraceful to anyone without no reasons.” Pallavi defended her would-be teacher who didn’t mingle with a lot of people yet everyone wanted to be around him especially the group of other three girls of their batch.

“who is this?” she frowned seeing a new number in her WhatsApp notifications and the message read -

“ Hello Coding.com.” her frown deepened seeing the message and she reached forward to grab her cup of tea from the table.

“ye kaun hai aur ye coding.com kya hai?” she asked herself and opened the chat.

She was going to click on the DP when another message blinked on the screen.

‘ I have to leave for something so let's put the class in the evening.”

Now she got it, it was him only.

“vaah, class ke pahle hi din late…I think I made a mistake to ask him about…

another message blinked and it was a voice note which she played with her small finger as her hands were full.

“is se pahle ki tum kuchh bhi socho, main ye list bhej raha hai ye sab leke kal ready hona…ardham ainda !”

The voice note ended and she looked at Apoorva’s face and Apoorva looked at her.

“Pallu… kya leke ready hona?” there was a warning in Apoorva’s voice.

“jara tone to dekho nawabjaade ke , maine help mangi hai aur ye to poora attitude dikha rha hai… batati hu ise kal ki iske orders nahi chalne vale mujh pe, Ghamandi kahi ka.” she muttered without paying attention to Apoorva and it was only when Apoorva asked again she explained her about the software packages he had asked her to be ready with.

“his DP is not visible to me…” Apoorva made a face when she saw a glimpse of the open chat in Pallavi’s phone.

“arey ye pagal ladka, privacy hogi iski , aur ye hamare numbers kyu save karega..” Pallavi told her keeping away her cup and typing him a reply.

“he has saved your number and let me see his DP.” Apoorva told her and snatched her phone.

“are pagal hai kya, reply to karne de…” Pallavi called her but Apoorva didn’t hear her.

“oh, he looks good in this dark shirt..look at him, Pallavi.” her roommate was overjoyed and very much focused on checking him out.

“oh ho, give me the phone… let me reply to him and then continue checking him out, actually, I’ll send you the screenshot of his photograph.” she could not help but frown on her friend before typing him an ok.

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“Amma, this can not happen…I can not come back and handle all this.” it was the umpteenth time he had denied and made his mother understand that his goal didn’t lie in the city but she kept persuading him to come back.

The city was a dark patch in his life and he didn’t want to come back here once he left it for good.

“achha teek hai, I am not telling you anything before your studies are done but remember my words, you’ll return to your roots soon, everybody does.” his mother’s stern words bruised his heart one more time.

No one would understand the pain he had gone through a few years back and which made him die every day, those were some strong men who suffered loss and grief and then got accustomed to it but he was not one of those and he had accepted the truth.

For him, this city will always be a grey graveyard that was colored in so many people’s blood.

As soon as the past danced on his retina he felt his breath getting caught in his throat, he felt sweaty all of a sudden and his head started spinning… the panic attacks were always harsh whenever he visited the hometown.

No amount of good memories that were part of his life in the city calmed him or stopped the bizarre memories and he reached for the glass of water but the trembling in his hands caused it to fall and a sharp sound of glass being crushed on the floor filled the hall.

Keerti, his sister dashed down the stairs, “Raghav, you okay? What happened? Amma, jaldi aao… she called her mother.

“Raghav, come to your senses… please don’t think about it… nothing is going to happen…” she kept whispering to him till their mother came, and together both ladies helped him to his room.

“what was the need to instigate him Amma… you can't force him to come back if he is scared of this place,” Keerthi told her mother angrily and in response Jaya kept quiet.

Her kids didn’t understand her agony so she didn’t try to make them, it was her battle and she had to win it… she was very well aware that if she stopped trying she would lose her son and he would never be able to come out the trauma he went years ago.

The son who was bright and brilliant would fall someday in his own pit of repentance and past incidents so she had to close those pits.

“Keerti,mai iske liye kuchh khane peene ki cheejen rakha hai, iske bag ke pas rakh de.” Jaya told her daughter as she caressed the lush black hairs of her son who had distanced himself from everyone even from her.

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“how do you know that you have to use which loop, I mean I don’t understand should I use FOR or DO, and then there are DIFFERENT CASES.,” she told him as they sat side by side on the backbenches of the nearly empty lab.

“arey Coding.com… tum bola Basics seekhega kar ke to pahle basics clear karega main.” he said without looking up but writing a few things on the notepaper.

“Sorry.” she apologized and tried to see what was he scribbling in bold letters.

“aur ye coding.com kya hai…” she asked him in a low voice ensuring no one was listening to them.

“tumhara naam.” he said with not an ounce of care.

“ye lo, aur bolo samjh aa rha tumhe kuchh?” he asked her keeping the notebook in front of her.

“theory me koi problem nahi mujhe…” she rolled her eyes on his earlier nonchalance and stared at him as if she didn’t need any help.

He stared back and a smirk was forming on his lips which made her uncomfortable and she looked down and saw the words.

He had made a list of some possible conditions where she could use the loops and also a briefing on how to initiate a loop.

Sometimes she hated her habit of saying things without even noticing but it also happened when she was nervous and no matter how confident she was trying to look she wanted him to know she was not that dumb she already had declared herself.

“kitna bolta hai tum,” he paused for a second and his next words confirmed she indeed was behaving like a dumb.

“aur sirf theory padhke ban chuka tum programmer.” with a small smile he opened the console and worked on the easiest problem from the last test they had written.

“Now don’t think anything, I know it's the only thing where you lack… let's work on this one…” he told her and she looked up to him for a split second and then focused her brain on the screen.

He taunted her but in the next moment he made her feel good, the knowledge that he knew that she was not dumb boosted her spirits and coding seemed the best subject for the next one and half hours.

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College is the best part of life, you have to think about the future, about your career but a new atmosphere is also surrounding you, the one with so many emotions unknown to you before...

Hey everyone!

hope you enjoyed the second chapter.

shall be waiting for your response.

and please stay safe.

with love 

Morusya.