****

‘I eyed on a certain girl to accompany me to that event. I cannot show up alone and lonely, especially in an environment unfriendly to me. I was certain to not take Anushka there, because I was a sucker back then. I did not have the guts to ask her to come.

So I tried to strike a deal with Simi, another girl from the class. She could be definitely mistaken for a model. She was beautiful, and I think she is.’

****

‘Alright guys, line up according to your departments and we’ll take your auditions one-by-one. Alright?’ A guy yells to an audience of around 70.

He was a bulky man, his voice was high-pitched for some reason, but had a commanding voice. Paradoxical.

Simi was also there. And why shouldn't she be there?

Model-esque looks. High school dramatics champion. A perfect girl that’ll bring laurels to the university.

‘Dude, I’m very nervous.’ Simi said to Arun.

‘Don’t worry, I’m also giving this audition.’ Arun replied, while giving some hope, and holding her hands.

Obviously, Arun was also nervous. But, he tried to maintain the tough guy image, as inspired by Bollywood movies.

‘The next guys are Simi Chatterjee, Ali Hossain, Samay Raina, and Arun Chandrasekaran.’ The auditioning judge yelled out names.

‘It's showtime.’ Arun says, as he tries to impress Simi.

She laughs.

****

‘I wanted to make him realise, it's a big mistake, that will haunt him his whole life. But, you know even if I wanted to, I couldn't have, the laws of physics are so strange in this universe.’

Arun was just lost in that thought.

‘Anyways, we had auditions, and were just talking and I was finding a way to bring up the topic of that freshers party.’

‘Big mistake.’

****

 ‘What do you think about this event?’ Arun asked.

 ‘I'm really looking forward to this.’ Simi replied.

 ‘So, you're going alone, or with friends, or your boyfriend?’ A wry smile was evident on the face of Arun.

Obviously, he was like too much keen on wooing Simi, he doesn't care.

  ‘Aren't you going with Anushka?’

  ‘I don't know, she's very intimidating. I get scared sometimes of her.’

A visible weirdness was on his face, regarding her.

 ‘I know a guy, he's a cool man, known him for years. He wanted to go in with his girlfriend.’ Simi said.

  ‘Cool then, would I be having the honor of seeing your lovely face tomorrow?’

Total cringe. Deduct points from that man.

   ‘Haha, alright you will, silly boy.’

That smile was enough to make a man drool over her.

****

 ‘I totally thought that we would be having a future as a couple, how naive I was? That night I couldn't sleep. How could I? Anushka..., I don't know, she might've hooked up with someone in the night..

You know that feeling which comes up when you know something good is incoming...’

****