Success in Love is... Part 3

Part 1, Part 2

She came to college the next day, after all her father wasn’t completely bad. I was watching her walk to the Fashion block from the second floor of my block. She never lifted her head and her walk suggested that she is not going to be the same girl I met yesterday. Her loose hair has been tied up into the old fashioned knots and a strand of jasmine hung there. She had a new shoulder bag which wasn’t necessary all these days as she used to carry a single 5 Subject notebook. The inch high heels that she bought to be higher than my shoulders were replaced. The wrist band we got during the last RHYTHM function has been replaced by bangles. 

The most obvious of all changes was her spectacles, which never saw light in this year. She started wearing contact lens after I told her that the spectacles are hiding her beauty. It happened in one of the many treats we attended together when she had to wash her face in the canteen and asked me to hold the specs. I saw her in the old tainted mirror with wet face and the captivating eyes and blurted out “Wow! You look so good without these.” She didn’t say anything but smiled, came near and whispered, “If you really feel so, take me to Lotus eye hospital and I will get contact lens.” She didn’t wait for my reply but I could see her walk all the way to our table smiling.

The next day I got an appointment for her check up by 11AM and we started from our college by 10. The buses were awfully crowded and our bus came after 15 minutes. I looked at the crowded bus and thought how is she going to travel in this? But she patted my shoulder and asked me to get on the bus. I got to the back door and got a foot’s place on the last foot-board. She stood in the second foot-board in the front door. Through the 20-30 people sitting in between us, her eyes reached mine and she was a bit worried about my foot-board travel. Every stop meant that I had to get down giving way for the people coming out and getting in again. Every time the bus moved after a stop, a pair of eyes searched for a glimpse of me. The pair showed panic when I regained my position and locked eyes after a little struggle with fellow foot-boarders in the ‘Hopes’ stop. The panic turned to a stern look and asked me to get inside the bus which I did. But once I got in, I lost the view. I couldn’t find her and I was searching through hundreds of hands to find her hand. Through the numerous hands I found her hand after a while, thanks to my height and the RHYTHM wrist band.

We reached the hospital after 30 minutes and were exhausted. We sat in the reception and the receptionist welcomed us with the widest smile I have ever seen. She showed us the waiting hall where discovery channel was showing the African lion with so many wives and a few kids. We sat on the chairs design for hospitals; three chairs joined together and made into one sofa kinda appearance. I turned to look at the entrance and the receptionist smiled.
“Stop drooling”
“Hey! I am not drooling. It’s just that I happen to turn and she smiled.”
“Yep she noticed that you are ogling at her and she too was noticing you.”
“Hmmm. You have made up your mind. Think whatever you want.” 
She stared at me, turned back and blood flowed to her cheeks changing its color. I stretched my arms and put one around her and another on the chair to my right. She turned, stared, said something inside her mouth and turned back to see the lion and his wives. I closed my eyes, stretched my legs and went in position for tiny nap.
Just then I heard someone and I found the receptionist standing near us. She sat on the chair to my right, asked a few details and started filling a form, which was for a few minutes and left.
“What were you doing?”
“Why? What happened?”
She stood up, folded her hands and stared for few minutes.
“I am going to kill you. How dare you put your arm around her shoulder?”
I stood up held her hand, bent a bit to see the angry pair of eyes, smiled, made her sit next to me, put my arm around her shoulder and whispered
“Jealous! She is just a passerby, so let’s not make a fuss out of it”
She didn’t say anything, but the next moment I received the softest slap in my life.
Soon she was called by the nurse for eye drops and I went along to bring her back to the chair. She was holding my hand so tight.
“You are going to break my hand”
She smiled, left my hand and gave a blow in my chest.
“Don’t think this is the right time to run away with the receptionist”
“Don’t worry. If I run away, I will take you along.”
Both of us smiled and I continued doing what I do best, admiring her.

“What happened?”
I came back from memory lanes and my friend was standing next to me who is also the hostel chairman for the girls and my batch mate.
“Why?”
She looked down at the Fashion block and said, “She has applied to quit hostel and said her family is moving here from Erode”
“Oh! It should be the hostel food. She was complaining about it for long” I replied the most acceptable reason, so that she stops asking any more questions.
“I don’t think so. Anyway it’s your problem. Now get back to lab and continue with the experiment” 
She smiled and left. I turned back in hopes to see her before she reaches Fashion block but the pathway was empty except for two squirrels happily playing with each other. I stood there for 5 more minutes looking at rodents playing and the single tear that I had managed to hold, rolled to reach the chin, hung there and fell on my hand. I wiped that and walked back to lab to prepare ethanol.

Days passed and I never saw her anywhere. Her family had moved to Coimbatore, brought lunch and ate it in her classroom, came to college in a car and left college at 4.30 sharp. She never spoke to anyone and absolutely no outings.
One day my HOD saw me staring at the Fashion block and took me to his cabin.
“Have you decided about your final semester project?”
“I have applied in NCBS and will most probably finalize it by this week”
“Good. I have a small project which should not be taking more than 1month. Can you do it?”
“Sure sir.”
“It deals with Immobilization of enzymes and it will require Polyvinyl alcohol. It should be present in Textile department. I guess you can easily figure out whom to ask for it.”
I was stunned by his remark, which was followed by a smile. He obviously meant her; Textile and Fashion departments were on the same block.
“That’s fine Sir. I will start the project tomorrow.”
“Why? Do you want someone in the next block to cut the ribbon and do a opening ceremony. Go get the chemical now and start work immediately”
“Yes Sir” I said with a smile.
I went to the textile department and gave the requisition letter to Textile HOD who summoned the peon to give the chemical and we went upstairs. He asked me to wait in the lab which was mostly empty due to the renovation works and went to the store room. I sat on one table and started playing snake in my mobile.
I was about to beat my previous High Score when I heard someone coming. The peon came to me and said the chemical is not in the store room. He called a student and asked for someone who had last used it and asked me to go with him as he had some work in the office. The guy pointed a girl who in turn asked me to see near the Sizing unit. I went to that lab and was clueless where to see. I was looking every bottle most of which had horrible smells. I stood on a stool and looked for the chemical in over head shelves when I heard someone coming.

She came into the room and had a small plastic bottle containing a white powder. I got down and went near. She gave the bottle and I was wondering how on earth is alcohol not liquid? If too many chemical bonds can change the state of alcohol, can’t the same happen for humans. She took a step close to me, raised herself, took a strand of spider web from my hair and left the lab. I stood there watching her go and the air was filled with the familiar fragrance and I was lost in thoughts for few minutes.

The Project kept me busy for the whole month and I left to NCBS Bangalore soon after that. I heard that she was doing her project for a leading garments manufacturer in Tirupur. We never spoke to each other for next 3months and the projects meant I spent most of my waking hours inside the lab. A new life has started in Bangalore as everyone, everything was new and I had very less of personal time. Before I can realize, the project review date came and it also means the last day in college. I had planned to move to Bangalore, join as a Junior Research Fellow and continue with research.

So on the last day in college, the whole class was seated in the canteen and we were discussing various things in life, signing slam books, hugs, comments and sentiments. Soon I saw someone heading towards me. The only other person who could share her tears and smiles was there. Her mother asked me to come out. We stood outside the canteen and I could see her in her car along with her dad in the parking.
“She loved you very much”
“I know”
“This one year was hell for her. But some things don’t change easily”
“Yes. They don’t, unless we want them to change.”
“You are good boy. All the best for your life.”
She started to walk and I stood there looking at the car. After walking half way, she stopped and came back.
“Hey. What caste are you? I’ll try to talk to her dad one last time.”
I smiled, “We are opposites. I denounce the whole caste system and you glorify it. Your choice is simple, either your caste or you daughter’s happiness”
She looked at me for some time, kept her hand on my shoulder and nodded her headed as a sign of goodbye and left.