Note: I had to spend some time without internet and any work. I ended up writing this crazy drabble. Forgive me if it gives you headache 😆
Video calls about him
Day 5
Bulbul: Hi Di
Pragya: Hi Bulbul!
Bulbul: I am excited to know about your university. How is it there? You said you made a new friend named Sky there two days ago.
Pragya: Everything's good Bulbul. I am getting accustomed to the environment here. It's just that weird friend of Sky.
Bulbul: Weird. Why?
Pragya: Sky introduced me her friend Abhi yesterday. It seems he is also from Mumbai. I was happy to see someone else from our city. I told him 'Namaste' but he offered his hands. So I offered my hand but he tried to hug me. If I hadn't stared at him, he wouldn't have stopped.
Bulbul chuckles
Pragya: Wherever I and Sky go, he keeps on clinging to us.
Bulbul: Come-on Di. Don't be skeptical of all people. He might be an outgoing guy.
Day 10
Pragya: That Abhi.. I was passing by his classroom. It looked like he was sleeping with his eyes open. I wonder why would anyone come abroad to study if they are not at all interested in studying.
Bulbul: Everybody won't be studious like you Di.Pragya: No. I also observed that whenever I or Sky talked about studies, he gets bored.
Bulbul: Come-on. Are you under the impression that only nerdy first bench students are interested in studies?
Pragya: It's not like that. I don't find it convincing that he is into studying English Literature. I also wonder why he is always hanging out with me and Sky instead of the his classmates.
Bulbul: May be he likes you.
Pragya: What?
Bulbul: May be he likes to you and Sky. Di, friends are people who we like to be with not people who we are with.
Day 22
Pragya: You know what happened today?
Bulbul: How would I know if you don't tell?
Pragya: This Abhi is getting weirder day by day.
Bulbul: What did he do now?
Pragya: Sky invited us to her home so we went there. I was helping her make some salad and I accidentally cut my finger. Blood started rushing out. Abhi immediately took my finger in his mouth. He didn't even see that I was angrily staring at him. Later when Sky brought the first aid kit, he took the box from her and put band-aid over my finger. He was reacting like we were close friends.
Bulbul: Di, You should be happy that you have a friend who is caring. Leave it. First show me, how is your finger now?
Pragya shows the small band-aid on her finger proudly
Day 27
Bulbul: How was your presentation today?
Pragya: It was good. Actually everything went better than I expected.
Bulbul: You should be happy that your first presentation went good. Why are you dull?
Pragya: It's that...
Bulbul: Abhi *sighs*
Pragya: How do you know?
Bulbul: You are talking only about him these days.
Pragya is silent.
Bulbul: Tell na. What did he do today? Hug you? *shrugs off*
Pragya: *shocked* How did you know that he hugged me?
Bulbul: *surprised* So he really hugged you? Now, this is getting interesting.
Pragya: Bulbul, don't imagine things. I was telling enthusiastically him and Sky about how my Proffesor praised my presentation. He suddenly hugged me out of excitement. I didn't know what to do and stood there like a wall. Then Sky also hugged me so I didn't react.
Bulbul: That's it. I expected something more. *in a flirty tone*
Pragya: I am going to twist your ears when I come home. You are getting naughtier these days.
Day 30
Bulbul: Why did you want me to come online urgently, Di? Is there any problem?
Pragya: Sky told me something today.
Bulbul: What was that?
Pragya: She told that Abhi loves me. I am confused.
Bulbul: Did he tell you?
Pragya: No, he didn't tell me anything. Sky told me that she thinks Abhi loves me.
Bulbul: Do you love him?
Pragya: I don't know. He is caring, honest and keeps people around him always happy. I like him being with me. I don't know whether I love him. I love life more when he is around me. But he is acting all touchy around me these days like he holds my hand, put his arms around my shoulder, giving me side hugs etc. He isn't like that with Sky but when it comes to me, he behaves like as if we are really close.
Bulbul: Di.. Why don't you..?
Pragya: OK, Bulbul. I have lot of pending work this week. I couldn't concentrate on work with this thing on my mind. Feeling a bit better after talking to you. I will talk to you later.
Day 35
Bulbul: *wakes up from sleep* Hi Di! I was waiting for you since 10 pm.
Pragya: *dull voice* Sorry Bulbul.
Bulbul: Its OK Di. *rubs eyes and looks at clock* Its 6 am. Anway, I had to wake up. By the way, isn't it late for you now?
Pragya: Yes
Bulbul: What happened di? You said you would be spending the whole of yesterday at library. I thought you might be tired and that's why you didn't call. But you seem disturbed.
Pragya: I was at the library when I heard gunshots yesterday noon.
Bulbul: Gunshots? Are you alright? *gets concerned*
Pragya: I am fine.
Bulbul: Now stand up. I won't believe you until I see you with my eyes.
Pragya stands up and goes behind so that Bulbul could get to see Pragya from top to bottom.
Pragya: I am perfectly alright. Nothing happened to me.
Pragya: There was a fight between the cops and some criminals in the nearby building. I was too afraid to get out of the library. So I stayed there sitting in a corner until the place got absolutely silent.
Bulbul: Thank god.
Pragya: Since I was in library, I had put my mobile in silent mode. As soon as Sky and Abhi heard about the firing, they had tried to call me but I didn't pick up. When I reached my room, they were waiting for me in front of my room. Just after seeing me, Sky came and hugged me while Abhi was standing still. It seemed like he was worried to the core. I asked them to come inside and told them what happened. Sky left after telling me to take care of myself. Abhi was upset sitting on the chair. I somehow couldn't see him like that. It disturbed me a lot. I made a cup of coffee for both of us and gave him it. He still didn't look up. I apologized to him for not picking up calls and was telling him how scared was I. He suddenly stood up, hugged me and started crying. I hugged him back and told him that I was fine. I tried to ease the situation by telling him how I would leave him and go away. He broke the hug and kissed me. That's when I pushed him away.
Bulbul: You pushed him. This is not right, Di.
Pragya: What are you saying? How can he ..
Bulbul: Come-on, you told me how much worried he was. He might got carried away after seeing you fine. This is not at all done. You had hurt him.
Pragya: I know he was worried. But..
Bulbul: No 'but'. First, apologize him. Don't be in 1960s now.
Pragya: I won't apologize. Why should I?
Bulbul: Friends hugging and kissing each other is not a big deal. Why are you making it a big deal just because he is a guy?
Pragya: Don't treat me like a kid, Bulbul. I was also a youngster once.
Bulbul: What do you mean by once? You are still young.
Pragya: He didn't kiss me like a friend.
Bulbul: What do you mean by that?
Pragya: Why don't you try to understand?
Bulbul: Why don't you talk in a way that I could understand?
Pragya: Fine. *rushes with words without looking at the laptop screen* He kissed me on my lips.
Bulbul: What? *starts laughing*
Bulbul starts laughing so much forgetting she should hold her phone straight as she is on a video call.
Pragya: What is there to laugh at this? *realizes something* Stop laughing now. You are not taking that topic now, right?
Bulbul: *still laughing* How could I not? God must be your friend.
Pragya: Stop it now.
Bulbul: God granted your wish so soon.
Pragya: It was not a wish, Bulbul. It's just a bad dream.
Bulbul: *trying to control laughter* Yeah yeah just a dream. See, you dreamed like you were getting kissed just two days ago and it happened.
Pragya: If you don't stop now, I will end the call.
Bulbul: OK OK. Where is my Jiju?
Pragya: Jiju? Who is that?
Bulbul: My sister's husband is my Jiju.
Pragya: Don't make it a joke, Bulbul. Only sky told me he loves me. He didn't propose me yet and I didn't share my feelings to him. I don't like to be in this confused state about him.
Bulbul: *surprised* Di, you love him?
Pragya: I think so. *smiles*
Bulbul: *excited* Wow!! Is this my Di? I couldn't believe it.
Pragya: Now, stop over reacting.
Day 36
Bulbul: I have been waiting for you to come online since morning.
Pragya: For what?
Bulbul: Did you talk to him?
Pragya: Who?
Bulbul: Don't talk like you know nothing. You know who I am asking about.
Pragya: No need for that.
Bulbul: Why? Wait, are you crying?
Pragya: He doesn't love me.
Bulbul: What? How is that possible?
Pragya: *keeps looking down* That is the fact
Bulbul: How do you know?
Pragya: I was waiting for him outside his classroom. He came to me and gave me a notebook. He told me that he had written an essay for an assignment and asked me whether I could check it for me. Before I could reply anything, he gave me the notebook and went away saying he had to go soon.
Bulbul: But you could have just told him na. Why did you allow him to leave?
Pragya: I came to my room and opened the notebook. It had a 'love you' greeting card. I had butterflies in my stomach as I took the card. I opened it and then I... *pauses* saw that
Bulbul: Saw what?
Pragya: He had written some other girl's name.
Bulbul: What was it? There must be misunderstanding Di.
Pragya wipes her tears.
Pragya: I don't want to talk about this anymore, Bulbul. Sorry. Bye. *ends the call*
Day 37
Pragya: Bulbul *wreathed in smiles*
Bulbul: Hi Di! Seems you are so happy. What happened? Did you meet Abhi?
Bulbul: Di, what happened that you changed from Devdas mode to Happy mode?
Pragya: He came to meet me today. I gave him the notebook. He asked me my reply. I was puzzled. I wished him all the best. He asked me whether I didn't like him. I replied that he was a good friend of me. He went away. Just when he had walked few steps away from, I called him and asked whether he wouldn't introduce his Fuggy to me. He gave me a perplexed look and walked towards me. He asked me whether I was teasing him and then
Abhi comes before the laptop camera.
Abhi: I told her that she is my fuggy.
Pragya: Fuggy.. I don't like that name.
Bulbul: Hello people. Do you remember that I am here?
Pragya: Sorry Bulbul. This is Abhi. *pulls Abhi closer to her and camera*
Abhi: Hi! You are Bulbul?
Bulbul: and You are Abhi?
Abhi: No, Abhi Jiju
Pragya: So you two got introduced. Is that fine now?
Someone knocks the room door and Pragya goes to attend. Abhi winks and gives thumbs up signal to Bulbul and Bulbul also replies with a thumbs up sign.
Prologue:
This drabble is supposed to take place after Pragya's accident when she overhears the truth. I assumed Pragya to have had a memory loss. Since the doctor has told them to not stress Pragya about her past, they decide to let her pursue her dreams of pursuing a PhD degree and send her abroad. Abhi sponsors her educational expenses but they tell Pragya that they got the amount from some organaization which helps woman to pursue higher education abroad. Abhi joins the same university as Pragya with much difficulty. This is the mission of making Pragya fall in love without reminding her past.
P.S. Don't ask me if she had memory loss, how would the baby truth come out? I assumed Abhi to have found it on his own. 😉
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