Because I am not a writer (Oh yes, I am not), I don’t know how to begin this, but to go with the flow, irrespective of whether this piece of writing would be worth reading, I would just start this interesting piece of work by introducing myself. I am Rishi. Rishi Lalwani, pursuing MBBS from BMC Medical College, Mumbai.

Being a medical student is a blessing as well as a curse in itself. It is a boon, as well as a bane, I would say. But then, everything has two sides, just like the two sides of a coin, and you need to have them both to have a balanced life. But what can you really say when you’re occupied with your books all the time, and the rest of it is spent in the hospital, inserting needles in the veins of the poor patients. The only thing that keeps you a little happy is the satisfaction you get when you see the patients recovering and being discharged.

So, I was far from love after my previous relationship, which did not work out as I could not spend enough time with Raghini, my ex-girlfriend. Raghini is a law student who is very keen about bringing a change in the Indian legal system, and the both of us met at a ‘Law and Medicine’ workshop. My anxiety for knowing more about law and her curiosity to know more about autopsy resulted in our acquaintance. Having a reason strong enough to proceed with our conversation later, we exchanged number. Soon, my anxiety for law had transformed into anxiety for love, and before we knew that we had no time for love, we were in love. As said, I was busy with my patients and exams most of the time. When I would manage to spare some time for her, she would often be busy with her moot court competitions and legal aid cell work. After 4 months, we realized that we were not meant to be, and gave a happy conclusion to our boring relationship. Yes, we broke up. Well, but why on earth am I talking about this, now? It’s over.

But if this had not happened, I wouldn’t be brooding over my break up, and if I wouldn’t have been brooding over my break up, I would have never met someone who is now the owner of my heart.

I had begun to waste a lot of my free time on facebook after the break up. Not immediately after it, rather when I learnt that Raghini had been dating some guy from her college, I became overly facebook friendly. My news feed was always flooded with her intimate pictures with her new boyfriend, who was certainly hotter than I was. Well, I was not hot or something. I was just an average looking person, who you might have considered dating if you were out of all the potential good looking guys. And to be frank, I did envy this guy, and want to kick my ass for breaking up with such a beautiful girl. They say, you always realize the value of something or someone only after you lose it or them. And now I realise how true the saying is. I missed her, but she was gone for good, I told myself every time I saw her picture with her new dog popping up in my news feed, if you know what I mean. I did want to unfriend her or perhaps block her, but then I did not want to mess up our already tainted relationship.

It took me quite some time to get over her, and that would not have been possible in the first place without developing a crush on one of her boyfriend’s friend. I did want to see what her boyfriend was like, so I had opened his profile only to find a cute girl who had commented on most of his pictures. Natasha Bhat was what her facebook profile said her name was. Her name was as cute as her, or so I felt. I began to stalk this girl who already had a huge number of followers. I cannot explain the pleasure I would get by just going through her pictures repeatedly. At one point of time, I got so desperate about Natasha that I ended up sending her a friend request on Facebook. I never usually sent requests to strangers, but then, I could not see any other way of getting in touch with her. I felt crushed when I got to know that she had rejected my friend request. I knew I wasn’t all that great, but I had never expected her to turn down my friend request. But then, I was a stranger. Had I got a request from a stranger, probably I would have done the same, unless it would have been some extraordinarily hot chick whose request my hand would resist to reject. But that does not happen to me and is not likely to happen, and then, when I was already in love with someone who did not know of my love, I did not see any reason to accept anyone else’s friend request.

But fate has its own plan. I was at the food court of Empire Mall with my friend, Amar, having a delicious Kheema Paratha, and then suddenly I began to have the pieces of onions from the dry salad with trembling hands.

‘What happened? You never eat onions?’ Amar asked me, wondering what was wrong with me.

‘Oh, nothing.’ I replied.

I felt he could see through me, so I told him that Natasha was sitting on the next table. I did not know what she would have been thinking about me. She would probably tell her friends about the friend request I had sent her. I felt so embarrassed and nervous at the same time, although she hadn’t even recognized me. Maybe, she did not even remember me. She probably hadn’t even seen my picture before rejecting my friend request. Amar probably felt the same, and asked me not to worry.

She was with a couple of other girls, and did look towards me at times, not with any specific intention, but just because she sat facing me, and she had no choice but to look at my constipated face whenever she had a spoonful of fried rice. Just then, a guy came up to their table and sat next to her. He was not good looking, just an average , or may be a little less than average, if I were to be called average looking. The next moment, she was feeding him fried rice from her plate, and he was feeding her. I understood why she had rejected my friend request. He was probably the love of her life. Their continuous gazes gave me a hint of what relationship they shared, and I felt crushed. I was shattered. Like Osama Bin Laden had planted a bomb in my heart and it had exploded resulting in scattered pieces of my heart.

Then, he got a call, presumably a work related call and he went near the washroom to receive it. I was done with my Paratha. I never liked to waste food, but after seeing them feeding each other right in front of me, I had no space left in my little tummy for the Paratha. I walked to the washroom to wash my hands. He was talking over the phone when I entered the washroom.

‘No baby, I am still at office. There’s a meeting going on, and I sneaked inside the washroom to talk to you. I’ll see you in the evening…yeah…okay…love you, baby.’ I heard him say.

I felt bad for Natasha. I did want to punch this guy down right there, but I could not. I got back to my table, wiped my hand, and sipped my juice. I told Amar about whatever I had witnessed in the washroom and he forced me into revealing it to her. At first, I wondered what she would think when a random guy would walk up to her and tell her about her boyfriend cheating on her. How would I even convince her, and then, I don’t know what happened to me, but I just walked up to their table.

‘Natasha, your loving boyfriend is cheating on you.’ I somehow told her.

‘Excuse me? What? Who are you?’ She asked me, and I knew that was coming.

He stood up to face me, and I asked her to check his phone if she did not believe me. I asked her to dial the last call he had received. Although I had expected her to insult me, I don’t know why but she asked him to give her the mobile.

‘Do you believe this random guy?’ He asked her, raged with anger.

‘Will you pass on the phone?’ She asked in an angry tone.

He was reluctant, but he had no choice. And just as she called the last person he had received a call from, he began to hit me, and I began to defend myself. Soon, there were people around us, and Amar had come to my rescue.

By the time Amar came, I was already bleeding. So was her guy. 
Then, she slapped him hard, and I guess I cannot compare that pleasure with anything else in this world. 
He tried grabbing her hand, and holding her wrist to stop her, but then, I slapped him again. And he tried slapping me again, but the manager of the mall was already there with the security to throw us out, or worse, give us to the cops.

‘Is there a problem here?’ The manager inquired.

He looked scary and I was already pissing in my pants. Kidding.

‘This guy had been harassing me.’ Natasha said, pointing towards her boyfriend.

Ex-boyfriend now. 

Things were sorted out, and I don’t really know what they did to him. Natasha walked up to me and said ‘Let’s go.’
I was baffled, but I left with her. Amar gestured me to go with her, so I left.

‘You’re bleeding.’ She said, looking at my lips.

‘Oh, not a big deal.’ I smiled, and when I smiled, my lips did hurt.

‘You did not have to do that for a stranger.’ She said, and that statement hurt more than my torn lips.

‘You aren’t a stranger.’ I smiled again.

‘Oh right, we are childhood friends!’ She mocked, laughing at me. 
I fished my mobile out of my pocket and gave it to her.

‘Why are you giving this to me?’ She asked, wondering if I had lost it.

‘Have a look.’ I said.

‘What the hell? My pictures are your phone’s screensaver and home screen picture.’ She looked at me.

‘I love you.’ I replied.

‘You are one insane lover, I must say.’ She said, smiling. 
I was glad she smiled.

‘This is not what I expected as a reply.’ I said, raising an eyebrow.

‘One should not expect too much from the first date.’ She replied, adding further, ‘If you expect everything to happen on the first date, would you have a reason to ask me out for a second one?’

We had reached the parking lot. Date, I thought to myself. I smiled at her.

‘Ouch.’ I blurt out by mistake.

‘Is it hurting that bad?’ She asked.

‘Just when I smile.’ I replied.

She touched my lips, and I could feel the jitters.

She then lurched forward and began to kiss my lips, and although I was baffled looking at and feeling the abrupt kissing session, I did kiss her back. How could I not? Not because that is something I am good at but because she was the love of my life and how could I not be her Emraan Hashmi when she was my Sonal Chauhan.

Our lips parted.

‘I would not let anything happen to your lips.’ She smiled naughtily.

‘To be continued?’ I asked her.

‘What?’ She asked, confused.

‘The kiss?’ I smiled.

‘Pervert.’ She said.