Happy Teachers Day: An ARSH FF Updt Pg 14 - Page 9

Shilpa lay on her bed smiling. She kept on thinking about her walk to the station, he talk with Armaan, and most of all it was that smile Armaan had on his face just before he said "My Shirt" and walked off that she couldn't get out of her head. She couldn't help but smile to herself. Every time these thoughts ran through her mind she wanted nothing more than to pick up the phone and tell Muskaan. But there was something inside of her that stopped her, she didn't know why but she wanted this feeling to herself. She felt that by telling someone she wouldn't lessen the sweetness so it was better to savour the moment on her own. Finally after hours of twisting and turning Shilpa finally fell asleep, but she wasn't the only who was having a hard time forgetting the night gone by, there was someone else on the other end of town who was having the same problem.

Armaan sat on his couch and pondered on what this student of his had said, "the love of love...what a noble thought" he said. As he sat there repeating Shilpa's words in his head he was disturbed once again by his friend, who had no qualms about showing up where ever and whenever he liked.

"Hello!" said Atul.

"Hi" replied Armaan.

"Kya chal raha hai itna kyon soch raha hai?" asked Atul.

"Kuch nahin bas woh ek student...."

"Oh ho kahin yeh wohi shirt wali student toh nahin?" asked Atul with a naughty smile on his face.

"Shut up Atul.....it's not like that, she actually made a good point and I was just thinking about that" finished Armaan.

"Oh stop thinking about class Armaan"

"It wasn't in class it was during the walk to..."

"WOH! You walked with her?" asked Atul.

"I mean like her station and the parking lot where my car is are in the same direction so..." Armaan made an attempt to explain why he was walking with his student.

"Armaan I know you, you are the BIGGEST BADDEST FLIRT out there, zaroor tumne kuch na kuch kaha hoga" said Atul.

"I did not flirt Atul!" asserted Armaan.

"Sure? Because I know you, you flirt even when you don't know you're doing it"

"No Atul NOTHING like that, student hai woh yaar, just a good student" said Armaan.

"Whatever...I'm sleeping" said Atul.

"Where?" Armaan asked with a confused look on his face.

"Here on your couch!" explained Atul.

"What....why?" Armaan tried to ask but Atul simply said "Good Night Armaan!" and went off to sleep.

Armaan walked over to his room and tried to sleep, just before he dozed off, he recalled what Atul had said and wondered whether he had done or said anything that would imply flirting? He decided he had done no such thing and peacefully went off to sleep.

The next few days passed by rather quickly and Armaan was so busy almost every night preparing lectures for his classes and replying to the thousands of e-mails he had received from his students about the paper he had just assigned. He would reply rather monotonously to all the e-mails until of course he read the name "Shilpa M." in his inbox. For some odd reason he wasn't as bothered by this email as he was when other students e-mailed. He opened and read.

Hi Armaan,

I was wondering if I could write my paper on Romeo and Juliet. I know you said to try and stay away from Shakespeare just yet but I really want to write this paper so hopefully this won't be a problem.

Thanks

Shilpa

p.s.

He finished reading and was a bit puzzled as to why there was a "p.s." but nothing after it? Was this some cool new lingo that he didn't understand, had Shilpa forgotten to write something, and was p.s part of her name? He stared at that p.s for what seemed like 10 minutes and then decided there was no point in wondering when he could just ask, so he pressed reply and began to write.

Hi Shilpa,

That would no problem at all. Anyways I know how much you love Romeo and Juliet and going by what you told me the other night I am sure it will be an amazing paper. Please don't mind me asking but I was wondering what that "p.s." meant. Good luck on the paper.

AM.

"That sounds about right" he said to himself and pressed Send. Now the wait was on for a reply.

It was only Saturday night, which meant that there was still time before Shilpa would see her favourite Professor Armaan. She still hadn't told Muskaan about her walk with Armaan the week before nor had she forgotten it. Sometimes she felt a little stupid for being so smitten by her teacher and other times she felt absolutely childish for dreaming about Armaan and her together but despite all these other feelings she still believed deep down inside that he thought of her sometimes too. She knew she was being crazy and foolish but even then she couldn't let go of that belief.

She placed herself on her desk, opened her laptop, took a deep breath, and began writing her paper. "Oh crap, e-mail toh check karloon" she said, remembering that she had asked Armaan a question. She opened her e-mail and there it was "Armaan Malik" in her inbox. Her heart skipped a beat. She was so infatuated with Armaan that even reading his name gave her goose bumps. She took a deep breath opened the e-mail and read. "Crap!" she yelled. "I knew I would mess something up" she said. "How could I forget to delete that, stupid Shilpa, you are so stupid!" she said to herself.

A few days back when she had actually written that email she had mustered all courage and wrote "P.S: I liked the white one better" in reference to his "You know...my shirt". But of course she had chickened out and deleted that. Somehow though she didn't delete the "ps", how fortunate! She was utterly embarrassed at that moment but also a little bit happy. "He read it so carefully" she thought to herself, "this has to mean something...right?" She didn't know that answer to that question and the only person who did was her teacher and there was no way she could ask him that. So she decided that in time she would probably find out if it did or did not mean anything and didn't write back.

Slowly, excruciatingly, and extremely painfully the night had finally arrived. Shilpa and Muskaan walked into class, sat down and began the wait for Professor Armaan to walk in. Two minutes into the wait Muskaan spoke, "What's up, you aren't obsessing over Armaan today?" Shilpa smiled. "Of course I am! But I'm doing it quietly" she said. Muskaan responded with her usual "You're crazy."

As always Shilpa's insides froze when the door knob turned and the door opened and he walked in. But unlike all other days, Armaan didn't walk straight to his desk, he entered, looked at Shilpa, gave her a smile and then walked to his desk. Shilpa noticed and grabbed Muskaan's hand in joy! "Ouch" Muskaan whispered. "He smiled" said Shilpa as quietly as he she could. "Good for him" was the response.

Armaan started to lecture almost instantly after taking attendance and this time didn't stop until the very last minute of class. Muskaan rushed off to her next class and Shilpa slowly started making her way to the door hoping that like last time she would hear a "Hey" from behind. But no such luck this time. She walked outside and kept on looking back hoping that Armaan would be there but before she knew it she was at the station and still no sign of him. Was last time just an accident? With a solemn sigh she made her way into the station and went off home. She was so sure that after her walk with Armaan, he would definitely talk to her a little more, she was almost certain that they would have walked together after every class now but that didn't happen. He didn't even ask her why she didn't email him back. This depression on top of the misery of school work had completely engulfed Shilpa and it seemed as if all would go downhill from here.

A few days later she was running late the night of her next class with Armaan Malik, and Msukaan had been texting her continuously, she was so busy trying to run to class that she didn't even bother checking the texts. She stepped out of her station and began to run towards her class as if her life depended on it, even though there was nothing happening she still couldn't miss her chance to see Armaan. As she was running and getting closer, a man with a black coat came out of from a building that she hadn't seen, right in front of her and of course she ran right into him!

"OUCH!" she yelled.

"Sorry....Shilpa?" said Armaan.

"Oh" Shilpa couldn't believe it she had just crashed into Armaan!

"You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah just..."

"Why are you running so fast?" he asked.

"Ummm....class?" she said, looking rather confused.

"You mean our class?"

She responded with a nod.

"Did you check your email?" he asked.

"OH MY GOD he was thinking about me!" she thought to herself. She couldn't believe that he wanted to skip class to talk to her about that mysterious "ps". This meant that it wasn't just an accident Armaan did actually want to her. So she gathered her strength and spoke. "Oh....I did....ummm.....that.....see I was too embarrassed to write it then but I wanted to say...ps I like the white one better"

Armaan smiled, and then chuckled a little.

"I meant the one I sent this morning?" he said with a smile on his face.

"This morning?"

"Yeah this morning, to tell you that class is cancelled today."

"Oh" said Shilpa feeling like a complete and utter idiot. Why was she so stupid, she thought, she never had the courage to talk before then why did she have the courage to talk today and make a complete fool of herself. Armaan saw this and just shook his head. Shilpa pulled out her phone and saw that all of Muskaan's 11 texts had the same "Class cancelled" message.

Armaan finally broke the silence. "It's okay, I was kind of wondering why you hadn't replied myself!" he said and immediately she was happier.

"Oh...well yeah...How come class is cancelled?" she asked.

"You see our usual classroom has lost heating and I couldn't find another room, so I cancelled class. Anyways it's freezing! " he responded.

"Yeah it is" she said.

"Headed to station then?" he asked.

She nodded and he gestured her to lead the way. And just like that they started walking the same walk they had walked just a few nights ago. It seemed oh too familiar for Shilpa.

"So how's that paper?" he asked.

"It's actually going well" she answered.

"Good...you know I'm excited to read to your paper" he said.

"I hope I don't disappoint" she said.

"I don't think you will" he said with a smile on his face.

Then suddenly there was a chilly wind that passed by.

"Oh that's cold!" said Shilpa.

"Yes it is....especially without a hat or scarf" he answered.

"Yeah...I was just running late so...." before she could finish she saw Armaan looking through his bag.

"Here!" he said pulling out a pink hat!

"Oh...its...pink" she said.

Armaan laughed and said, "Yes it is, but it's also warm"

He handed her the hat and she gladly took it from him and put it on.

"You know pink seems to be your colour" he said with a smile on his face.

"Maybe" she added.

Then again silence fell. They were so quiet that they could actually hear the wind. Shilpa was enjoying this walk so much that she didn't even want to bother thinking about talking. Armaan was just way too cold. So in silence they reached the station.

"Well, thanks for the hat, Armaan" Shilpa said while handing it back to him.

"Oh...no problem, you can keep it, if you like?" he said.

Shilpa smiled.

"How about you keep it for next time!" she said.

"OH MY GOD" she said to herself in her head, "What the hell did I just say" was the voice in her head.

Armaan too was a little shocked with this bold statement from a rather quiet and timid Shilpa, he replied nonetheless.

"Sure" he said.

"Alright then, have a good night" she said, making her way to the station.

He nodded.

Just as she was to walk towards the station a group of girls walked out looking rather angry. One of them looked at Shilpa and said, "Taking a train?", Shilpa nodded. "Don't bother there's some technical difficulty, it could take a while" said the girl, "Good luck!" said another one and they walked off. Shilpa just yelled, "CRAP!"

"Need help?" came a voice.

Shilpa turned around only to realize that Armaan was still there.

"Ummm....." she didn't know what to say.

"It's okay, you can ask for help you know?" he said.

"Oh no its okay, there's a coffee shop nearby I'll just sit there and study" she said.

"Are you sure?" he asked.

Shilpa nodded and said "Thank you though for offering."

"No problem. I guess I'll have a cup of coffee as well" he said

"Pardon?" Shilpa asked in shock.

"You said it was nearby right?" he said.

"Yeah, right there actually" Shilpa responded.

"Cool" he said and began to walk to the coffee shop.