Chapter 3. Confession

Published on 17.04.2022

| AUTHOR'S POV |

"I won't be able to do it. I- I really can't."

"You'll be. Just go for it. Trust me. Trust yourself."

"Exactly. I trust myself that I won't be able to do it. Let's drop this idea."

"You've got good looks. Be a little confident and everything will be set."

"And I can't be confident. I've always struggled with that and what makes you think that I'll be able to pull this off!? I'm telling you this will be a disaster."

"Ayansh! Stop being paranoid. There's nothing to lose anyways. Show a little faith on yourself." He pleaded.

Ayansh resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "This is insane."

"You've to do it."

"Fine."

~

"So our hopeless guy actually fell in love at first sight!?" Neha asked completely amused.

Dhruv playfully wrapped an arm around Neha's shoulders and said, "Shocking but true. He told us two days back although it's been a week since he saw her for the first time and was clean bowled by her beauty."

"Will you guys stop teasing?" Ayansh gritted out, not removing his eyes from the packet of chips in his hands, his face flushed.

Kabir swatted away Dhruv's arm and warned, "Stop being touchy with my girlfriend."

Dhruv pointed a finger towards him. "She has been my best friend long before she became your girlfriend." He snarled.

Ayansh tuned himself out of the conversation. He was sitting on a chair with his legs crossed and lying on another chair in front. He was munching on the chips and a frustrated groan escaped his mouth when he realised that he had emptied the contents of the packet. The sound attracted the audience's attention who had deviated from the main topic of discussion.

"Sorry. We got distracted." Neha mumbled sheepishly.

"Should I bring you another packet of chips?" Dhruv asked carefully earning a glare from both Neha and Kabir.

Ayansh whipped his head towards him and stared blankly before his shoulders slumped defeatedly. "Nevermind. It's not reducing my stress anyways."

Kabir went near him and pulled the chair which made Ayansh's legs to drop on the ground and his body to jerk forward slightly although Kabir neither noticed nor was apologetic about it. Ayansh sighed.

"Why are you being so nervous? Just go and tell her that you like her. That's it. It's not like you're asking her hand for marriage. It's normal. People confessing their feelings and all." Kabir said casually.

"There's nothing normal about it." Ayansh opposed sternly. "Randomly approaching someone and telling that you like her? What's normal about it? What if I get slapped or something?"

"Chill out, will you?" Kabir gave him a weird look. "I confessed my feelings to Neha directly and look where we're now." He looked at his girlfriend and winked while she shook her head.

Ayansh squeezed his eyes shut before opening them and exhaling sharply. He got up to throw the empty packet in his hand in the dustbin. "You and Neha knew each other. Atleast little bit. Both used to steal glances and somewhat liked each other. So when you proposed, Neha was happy. But here - " he balled the packet and threw it harshly in the bin " - we don't even know each other. She doesn't even know my name. And the only words she has said to me were 'thank you', that too twice. We both have seen each other just once. Just once!" He exclaimed turning around.

"You mean to say she has just seen you once." Dhruv corrected and Ayansh almost whined at that. "You did wait for her outside her college to see at what time she leaves for three consecutive days." He raised his hands in surrender.

"And on one of these days you were alone without us because you didn't inform us obviously." Kabir accused.

"And on all three days y'all were without me because obviously." Neha threw the shade at them and shrugged.

"That's because you were out of town and just came back yesterday evening." Kabir reminded her.

"Guys- guys I'm sorry." Ayansh looked at them wearily. "Can we move forward now? Please?"

"Maybe if you say some good poetic lines, she might get impressed." Dhruv suggested.

Ayansh narrowed his eyes in confusion. "Like what?"

"Like you can, I don't know, compliment her eyes or something?" He raised an eyebrow.

This idea got Kabir excited. "We can think of it, can't we?" He said with a broad smile. "You can say something like 'I got drowned in your ocean blue eyes since the first time I saw you' or 'Your hazel brown eyes radiate warmth like the sun." He said with all the feels he could muster up.

"But her eyes are black." Ayansh frowned and gave him a confused look.

"So think something of black eyes." He said in a duh tone.

"Eyes as black...... as coal?" He said uncertainly earning a "you're hopeless" look from the rest three.

"Coal!? Fucking coal!?" Kabir clenched his jaw.

"Like the coal which is used for the generation of electricity?" Dhruv stared at him horrified.

"I can say something like you spark electricity within me when I look into your eyes?" Ayansh said naively, looking at his friends for approval.

"You're so fucking unromantic." Neha huffed, feeling extremely agitated.

"I give up." Kabir said tiredly, all his excitement dying down seeing how his friend was indeed a hopeless and a helpless case.

"You know what," Dhruv kept a hand on Ayansh's shoulders, "Just go and confess. We'll see what happens next. You've already wasted enough time and if you keep waiting, your love life is never going to start."

Everyone was looking at Ayansh solemnly and he knew he couldn't deny. He had to do as told so he agreed.

"Okay then. I'll do it."

~

It was 5 pm in the evening and Ayansh with his friends were waiting outside Inaaya's college.

"By the way, she's really pretty. What if she already has a boyfriend?" Dhruv voiced out his concern.

"Shh. This is not the time to demotivate Ayansh." Neha gritted.

"But what if it's true? I don't want to make a fool out of myself. I think we must leave." Ayansh said anxiously.

"Ayansh!" Kabir yanked his hand when he was about to turn. "You can't back out now. Just get done with this."

"I stalked her instagram." Neha said. "She has a private account and she didn't even accept my request. Just 100 followers and 150 following. My instincts say she doesn't have a boyfriend."

"She seems to have a very limited circle." Ayansh wondered.

"As if you roam around with 1000 folks." Dhruv commented making Neha and Kabir chuckle. "Oh! Look. The girl of your dreams is coming." He chirped.

"Shut up." Ayansh snapped and followed Dhruv's line of sight.

"Go. She's near." Kabir muttered and pushed him.

Ayansh stumbled and stopped in front of Inaaya. His face drained of all colour.

"Hello, I'm Ayansh Mehra." He straightened up and said as a reflex.

Inaaya gave him a confused look. She waited for him to speak more but he didn't. "Okay. None of my business." She started to walk away pulling Alisha along with her.

"I wanted to talk to you." Ayansh said as she took a couple of steps away making her halt. He came up to her. "We met a week ago." He looked at her hopefully.

Inaaya looked at Alisha and then back at Ayansh. "No, we haven't."

The small hopeful smile that had stretched on his lips disappeared at that reply. The realisation that she doesn't remember their first meet where they accidentally bumped into each other literally whereas time and again he kept recalling it upset him a little, made his heart sunk. Masking his emotions, he said, "We ran into each other and you dropped your handkerchief. I gave it back to you. Remember?" He pushed her, praying desperately that this lights the bulb in her head.

Inaaya pondered upon it. Then it striked her. The voice. The voice that had disturbed her, distracted her. A weird feeling made its way in her heart making her feel troubled. Alisha snapped her fingers in front of her face when she caught her staring at nothing in particular and not speaking anything. Inaaya blinked. "Yeah," she looked at Alisha and then back at Ayansh, "yeah, I remember." She gulped.

A relieved smile broke on his face. "If you don't mind can I speak to you for two minutes?" He asked politely.

"Go on." Inaaya ushered and he looked at her uncomfortably.

"Alone I meant." He explained and gave a guilty look to Alisha.

Before Inaaya could say and stop Alisha, she shrugged, rolled her eyes at Ayansh and walked away and stood at a distance.

Inaaya crossed her arms over her chest and shot him a bored look. "It better be important."

Ayansh could clearly see that this wasn't a good idea. It was horrific. His doom was at his feet and instead of backing away, he was going to step on it. "Can we stand in that corner since people are walking past us."

Inaaya resisted the urge to snap at him, call him out on his stupid terms and conditions and walk out on him. Instead, she gave a small nod and both walked to the side.

Ayansh gazed at her. She stared at him. Taking a deep breath, he finally said in one stretch. "I like you. Would you like to go on a date with me?"

His heart thudded in his chest as he tried to comprehend her expression which went from blank to puzzled to practically screaming "are you high on weed" to finally bursting out into a full blown laughter making him want to hide his face.

"Did- did someone give you a dare? She asked between her fits of laughter, brushing away the strands of hair behind her ear. "If yes, then thanks to that person. I wasn't having a very good day and now I can't stop laughing." A wide grin was etched on her face and her eyes twinkled.

Ayansh didn't know how to respond. There were two things he feared when he thought about the consequences of saying "I like you" to Inaaya Rai. One, the embarassment of making a fool of himself and two, the fear of getting slapped. The first had already happened.

He glanced across him where his friends were standing looking utterly confused at what joke did their hopeless friend cracked that had the girl laughing so hard.

"It- it wasn't a dare." He croaked out and Inaaya's grin was now converted to a frown. "I wasn't kidding." He told truthfully.

"What do you mean?" She questioned, giving him a benefit of doubt.

Ayansh turned his gaze at the floor, his hands wrung together. "I think," he looked up to meet her eyes, "it's love at first sight. I fell for you when I saw you for the first time and since then I can't stop thinking about you. I like you, Inaaya Rai." He confessed, pouring in the little confidence that had left within him. It was done, he said to himself mentally. For better or worse, it was done.

Inaaya's hands balled into fists. Her nose flared due to the anger that was rising within her. "What are you studying?" She asked calmly.

Ayansh was expecting a slap to be honest so the question took him aback. "I completed my MBA few months back and now I'm helping in my Dad's company as a project manager."

"Then focus on it and stop hitting on college students before I file a complaint and get you arrested for being a creep and also a stalker." She spat out, glaring at him with distaste.

"Look, I'm- I'm sorry." He fumbled as he tried to explain himself. "I'm not a creep or a stalker." He brought his hands forward as he was talking and she cocked a brow at him. "Okay maybe a little since I tried to find out your name but I swear I don't have any wrong intentions. I didn't want to make you uncomfortable. I- I just wanted to confess my feelings." He sighed and looked down feeling guilty and ashamed. To think that someone felt disturbed, uneasy due to him made him queasy.

"I don't care what were your intentions!" Her voice went a notch higher and he looked around to see if someone heard them. The last thing he wanted was a commotion. Inaaya took a step towards him. "If you ever try to talk to me again then I won't hesitate to slap you across your beautiful face." Throwing a last warning glare at him, she walked past him intentionally bumping her shoulder with his and pushing him slightly.

Ayansh felt mixed emotions at that. A part of him was relieved that he was rejected but a part of him was disappointed that he was rejected. Yet the most prominent question that swirled in his mind were was it a good thing that his second fear of getting slapped didn't come true or was it bad that the girl threatened to slap him?

***

The above quote might be relatable or not but who cares!? It was funny so I wanted to put it 🤭 Anyways, hope everyone is doing good and hope y'all liked the chapter. Do give in your reviews :) lots of love.

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