“Riya, come fast; dinner is ready,” Mom said in a louder voice, calling me for dinner. “I am not eating, Mom. I have to study for tomorrow’s test,” I said from inside my room, scrolling at the mobile screen in front of me. I opened my Instagram page and started searching for someone special. “Come fast, I have made panipuri”, mom said with somewhat excitement.
” I am not hungry.” I shouted.
She came to my room and said in an angry tone, “What? You don’t want to eat pani puri? I quickly hid my mobile.” Do you know how much effort I had to put in to make it? I had to walk to Rajiv Chowk to buy these puris.” she continued.
“You walked 3 km in this scorching weather for pani puri? Seriously? But Mom, not now. I’ll eat tomorrow. Promise!” I said holding her hand.
“I could sense she was not happy with my answer. She nagged for a bit and then left.”
Meanwhile, I resumed searching.
“Rohit Sharma, class 12th, Springdale’s School, Delhi” I typed.
The list appeared, and I began searching for him impatiently.
“There he is. Yes! I found him!” I jumped with joy in my seat.
I was about to tap the follow button, but then I hesitated.
“Control, Riya, control,” my inner voice popped up. “Don’t be crazy. He shouldn’t feel like you’re desperate to see him.”
Then another thought crossed my mind, “The guy seems to be nice.”
My phone rang. It was Swati, my childhood friend, checking to see if I was okay after today’s incident.
“Hey, are you okay?” she asked in a worried tone.
“Yes, trying to be,” I replied, glancing at Rohit’s profile picture.
She then started telling me something about her family members, but I didn’t pay any heed. I was lost in my own thoughts.
A question popped into my mind, “Is he single? What if he has a girlfriend?” I’m glad I stopped myself from following him. I gave myself a pat on the back.
Swati interrupted my thoughts. “What happened, miss? Where are you? In dreams?” She continued in her excited tone. “Okay, we are meeting tomorrow, right? At the same place?”
“No, Swati. Not there. I don’t want to eat pani puri now,” I said.
“What? Don’t tell me. You’re saying no to pani puri,” Swati said, surprised.
“But why? It’s our daily ritual, and you know we never break it, right from our childhood days.” she tried to convince me.
“You know, I don’t want to face him. It’s so awkward,” I said.
“Who? Rohit?” Come on, Riya. He’s a really nice guy. You saw that today. I know him well,” she reassured me.
“And you know what? He loves pani puri too,” she teased.
“I know. I’ve seen him many times at our stall,” I replied.
“Alright, dear. I’ll give you a call tomorrow morning. Take care and try not to overthink too much.” Swati ended the call.
Notification: Mobile beeps
“ Oh, I got a notification.” I got so excited.
Notification: “Rohit Sharma has sent a request to follow you.”
“Oh wow, Rohit Sharma wants to follow me!” I was jumping from inside.
“What should I do? Accept or not?” I was confused.
“Definitely accept! ” I felt.
“Okay, I did it! Now what? Should I send him a message? No, no. Let’s wait. God! What will I chat with him? But first, let him write something. What if he proposes to meet? I am so silly. How can he propose in the first chat? We don’t even know each other.” I was blushing thinking about it.
Message from Rohit: “Hey, Riya! Rohit here. how are you?”
“Hi Rohit, I am doing good. glad to connect with you on insta.” “And thank you” I tried to be as cool as possible controlling my excitement.
“Most welcome. Riya, don’t be scared to ask for help, from anyone. Thank God I noticed at the chat stall, how you suddenly took out your bike and started at full speed. You could have met with an accident, and you forgot Swati was sitting behind you,” Rohit said in a serious tone. “I realized something was fishy. I rushed. Since how long that Suraj was stalking you.? “He asked.
“since many days.” I answered
” You could have informed someone, your parents, or Swati about it. Please, let someone know if anything like this happens next time,” Rohit expressed concern.
“Okay, leave it. I gave a nice thrashing to that scoundrel. He won’t dare to come in your way now.” He said.
I realized, “How can two boys be so different in nature? Suraj, who was troubling me for so long, and here is Rohit, so polite and chivalrous.”
“I like him” my inner voice whispered.
Message from Rohit: “Shall we meet tomorrow?”
“where?” I asked without hesitation.
“At the same pani puri stall? ” 😊
“Yess” my face was covered with lots of smileys. 😊😁
“Could this be the beginning of something beautiful?” 😊💖🌅
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