“when are you coming back to college…call me back…”, the message read from Janani after 3 missed calls. Jeeva was still sleeping soundly after doing some art work with chart papers till 1am. It was their final semester and they had to conduct farewell for their Writer’s club in college where they serve as Chairperson and Co-Chairperson. His phone rang again. His friend and roommate Vivek, who was lying next to Jeeva, picked it up and saw Janani’s caller dial.

“You’re not letting me sleep till mid-night and she’s not allowing me to sleep in the morning…”, Vivek murmured sarcastically as he kicked Jeeva to wake him up. Opening his tired eyes partially, Jeeva woke up and said, “All these are only for a few days and then I’ll go with her to Bangalore”.

“So, you can hear me lamenting but not the phone ringing”, Vivek shouted with a smile on his face. “First, propose to her. It’s been 3 years since you’ve joined the Writer’s club for her and still she doesn’t even know you have a crush on her”, Vivek continued. Jeeva’s smile vanished gradually.

A quick flash back:

Jeeva was madly in love with Janani. They had many memorable moments as a part of the Club events they’ve conducted during their college days.
Many times he had told Janani that he was deeply in love with a girl studying in the same class. She knew that he had a crush on her, yet she always pretended to be innocent. She would ask Jeeva who was that girl. And every time he would describe her to herself. He knew that she was pretending and continued to go with her flow. Sometimes she even went to the extent of asking him when he was planning to propose her. And every time his answer would be – “When she is ready to say yes”. Then Janani would say, “Then, you can never propose her”, giving him a hint of not loving him back.
Janani liked Jeeva a lot but not sure about love. She was afraid of her family and never thought about falling in love with anyone. All the years with Janani, in their every discussion, Jeeva would always bring up the topic of the imaginary girl he loved. They would discuss on and on about his love with the imaginary girl even though both knew the girl was actually Janani. Whenever he tried to propose her,a thought of losing her friendship struck his mind and he would stay silent. And every time, Janani took a step to confront him, she felt that their conversation would not be the same after that. That’s how the imaginary girl survived in their conversation for 3 years and now either one had to reveal her.

It’s been 3 years since he joined the Writer’s Club for her and they had their farewell in another 10 days. One day, as they were preparing for the farewell event in the club room, Jeeva opened the talk about his imaginary lover (Janani).
“I don’t know how she’ll react if I propose to her”, he said in a serious tone.
“She may not be the right person for you. If she hasn’t taken a step towards you, it means she has a solid reason..”, Janani hints back to Jeeva. They both kept quiet for a minute.
Feeling the seriousness in their conversation, Janani tried changing the topic saying, “What’s your plan after college?”. Jeeva without any expression looked into her eye and said “Don’t know after college. But definitely will propose to her before leaving the college”. To discourage him from taking a step towards proposal, she wanted to destroy his confidence by saying, “What would you do if she rejects your proposal?”. Still looking at her eyes, he replied “Then at least she’ll know, there was a boy who loved her and made a step forward and proposed her”.

Janani had no choice and threatened, “What if she takes it up to the College Management? Your TC will be held up”. Understanding her intention of demotivating him, Jeeva stood up and shouted,

“If that’s the case, I’ll propose to her infront of the College Management and that too with the Principal’s approval” and left the club room throwing all the paper he had in his hand.

-To be Continued as Part 2