{ IT WAS... AASHRITHA!!!
The name itself is a morale booster for Arjun. He was elated to find those many messages in the inbox and all in the same day. He was certain that there was something wrong and wanted to know what it was.
Arjun phoned her quickly but to his dismay , his call couldn't find any response from the other end.
He went home and was still in a great amount of confusion which again led him to call Aashritha. The result was the same. He was becoming adamant and he couldn't do anything about it.
He tried calling her many dozens of times the whole night but in despair, there was no response nor a message from her. He was disappointed, he read all the messages sent to him and was trying to figure out if there was something wrong in her words. But the messages were pretty normal and he couldn't deduct anything from them. He kept the matter to himself and slept for the day.
The same thing continued for 2 weeks. He even tried talking to Neeraja but could not get the answer he needed. He was told that she would talk to him when the time comes.
Arjun's hunger to meet Aashritha grew even the more. He wanted to meet her directly and ask her reason for avoiding him, he wanted to question whether it was his mistake that made her do this suddenly.
One not a fine morning, as if it was his daily routine he dialled her number kept it on the loud speaker , took out a water bottle and was having gulps of water. Just then his sister entered the room with his bed-tea in her hands.
To his huge amusement and his sister's great shock, he spat the whole gulp onto his sister's face when the call was attended by Aashritha. He was overwhelmed and without even a sorry to his sister, he jumped out of the bed with the phone in his hand ran to the balcony and was panting with immense happiness.
"H...Hello!!", he called out
"yes, Arjun. Long time right?", said Aashritha.
" It's only 2 weeks but i felt like 2 months of human life without electricity. I would have become a patient in the Mental Hospital have you not attended the call today. Thank you Aashritha. Did I commit any mistake?", asked Arjun.
" Relax, Arjun. You haven't done anything wrong. I was a bit too much busy with my work for the fest that is going to be conducted in the college two weeks from now", replied Aashritha.
"That's not a reason, seriously. You could have told me about that if it were the reason. Please tell me frankly about any mistake done by me.", Arjun was pleading for the reason.
"No, Arjun you're misunderstanding me. It's not anything related to you. It's just that whenever I talk to you I get lost in my thoughts and forget about the whole world around me, I don't know why this happens. So yeah, this was the reason. I thought if I'd told you about this two weeks break from talking to you, you would have left me forever and fall into some other girl's trap which happened with the guy I previously
talked to. I did not want to lose you, so I made you to believe that I was avoiding you and it worked thankfully for me. Sorry for this meaningless, purposeless idea but I had to do it", was Aashritha's reply.
Arjun replied shockingly, "Oh my god. This was way too far from funny. I was seriously disappointed with the incident. Anyways dude, you atleast dont want to lose me. That's a Ten Trillion Prize for me and I thank you for that.
"Coffee? today in the evening?? somewhere?", Aashritha questioned.
"You need not ask me dude, I'm always GAME to whatever you plan with me. Just let me know about the place and I'll be there", saying this he headed back to his room and was surprised to find his sister still waiting for him to come.
She asked Arjun to have a seat on the nearby chair and asked him about the person on the phone. He replied that it was Aashritha.
She stood up in a flash, threw the cup of tea on his face and vanished into the kitchen. Arjun was still not in his senses, he was very happy for the conversation and was delighted upon the idea of coffee.
{TO BE CONTINUED...}
