Who was that guy? Why was he so rude? Why was she begging of him?
A flurry of questions kept flooding my mind the whole day. Finally, I revealed my trump card. Kd! I narrated the incident to him. His childlike curiosity and detective-like suspicion had always been my savior in situations like these. He was a self proclaimed police officer by birth. Mission given to him was hardly left unaccomplished. I was expecting outcome of the operation within a week.
Nearly a week passed in anxiety. I had not seen her since we had that non-scripted chat. My nights had become sleepless. Days had become dizzy. I had no clue of what did I want to do next. My passiveness had worked as motivation for my detective. He used to stay missing during breaks, to work on the case, I guess. I was running out of patience.
The next morning, first up I asked kd for a status update; there was a manager-in-the-making in me.
He looked into my eyes and put his arms on my shoulders. "We are almost there Ranveer. Just give me a day, just today." He seemed confident. I approved.
For the whole day my vision kept panning to her class and returning depressed. I could not wait for the day to end.
The moment Mr. Sharma finished history lecture and put his foot outside class, kd said, "Let's Go!"
"Where?" I queried.
"Come on, take your bag. Make it quick. We got to move before teacher comes in." and he started packing his bag. He was stuffing it more than packing.
"Huhh!!?" I was puzzled. "We still have a lecture to go. Science!" I said in a sincere tone.
"Oh Hello, it is just science, not Rocket Science! So, we are bunking that." He simplified.
"What? No way! Are you crazy? I have never bunked any class. Why would I bunk? No." I questioned and answered myself.
"It is about Panchi." He played the Ace.
"Oh, you cracked it?" my tired eyes sparkled.
His proud and a notch egoistic smile answered me and in a moment I went, "Screw science! Let's go!"
We picked up our bags and hurried out. It was easier because of the usual out of order activities in between the lectures. We ran through the trees on the side of the playground till the backyard of the prayer hall. According to kd, it was a safe shelter when you bunk. It was my first official bunk ever. My heart was thumping for two reasons, A, for running so hard and B, for bunking the class and putting my hard earned and prestigious genius-sincere-topper-student impression at stake. Love makes you do things which you would not approve otherwise.
"Tell me, quickly!" I could not wait even to breathe.
"Calm down." My Karamchand Jasoos said. "Water?" he offered me a bottle from his bag.
I denied. "kd, Stop it. Come to the point."
He started laughing. He was enjoying my restlessness. He had this habit of exploiting my vulnerability. Eventually he pitied me.
"All right, here you go. Rahul! That's his name; popularly known as Romeo. He is Panchi's classmate and boyfriend and dance partner. Yes, she is a dancer, my boy. They are learning dance together at some academy. When you practice dance together, are good looking and single, it is difficult not to get in a relationship with each other. They have been in a relationship for about a year now."
I was listening more attentively than I would have attended any lecture. Mixed emotions were flooding into my blood. Kd's facts suggested that I should be sad. What I heard from behind the not-so-famous-till-now wall suggested that I have a few reasons to be hopeful.
She has a boyfriend!? But he just dumped her, didn't he? But she still wants to be with him. But he is not worth it. Why did he dump her? Why was she begging of him? Is it over between them? I hope it is, because he is so not worth her.
Remote thought of them breaking up, boosted my case big time, in my head though. With this ray of a faint hope, I asked, "Anything about the recent developments between them?"
"Not much but Panchi has not come to school for last week. Probably after the day you met her. She is not going to the dance class either."
"How do you know all this?" I was curious.
"Sources my friend, sources!" he winked to thrash all my doubts.
"Hmm."
"So, what next?" kd was curious to know the plan of action.
"I don't know." I really didn't know.
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