Who knew that a single dance performance with the most hated person of her life could be so much so impactful that the whole college would start calling and associating her to the College's President, none other than the Dev Kapoor ─ the twenty-one year young diplomatic and dynamic engineer whom everyone honoured and adored for his intelligence and of course, his charming personality.

Gossips and babble started whirling in the air the moment the duo - Arvika & Dev had disembarked down the stage that freshers' night. Sighs, whispers, aww(s), envious remarks and whatnot; they experienced everything a couple receives when they walk down in front of an exuberant crowd of blended opinions of diverse people.

The claret hue on Arvika's chubby chops and the mischievous glimmer in Dev's orbs: these two ingredients were enough for the masses to start baking the romantic stories of their own inside their humid and lascivious oven-like brain.

Arvika sighed and closed her eyes at the ancient memory. A week had already passed since that momentous episode yet the reminiscences of the week-old events seemed so surreal that it felt like it was occurring again in front of her kernels. Kavya was already snoring and here she was, yearning to get a normal sleep which had faded into transparent air since that night.

After that night, everyone was suddenly too interested in her personal life as if she was the step-stool through which they could reach Dev. Boys of her class suddenly turned too gentle towards her as if she was not their classmate but some haughty senior whom everyone fretted. Some girls were too friendly to her with honey dribbling from their muzzles and some were too resentful to splutter out some lousy words at her. But, she cared less. She tried her best to not to bother about such things which would just pass away after a month or so. It was just a dance performance she did with her senior-cum-president, what was such a big deal about it?

This attention wasn't something she sought. In reality, she despised attention. But what more could she do other than just ignoring all these things and rather spending most of her time in the library as even the mid-semester exams were approaching soon and she wanted to perform excellently in it at any cost.

But, on the other hand, her best friend Kavya was very enthusiastic about all the events that were happening with Arvika, calling it some adventure sport and other terms. And who could forget the new friendship of Kavya with Rohan ─ the mechanical department geek? Most of the time, Kavya was found beside him despite Arvika's warnings against her friendship with a total stranger. But would Kavya understand? No! For she had already proclaimed that Rohan was Dev's friend and a very charming guy. Arvika had just groaned and let it go. She couldn't bicker with her adamant best friend who was quite childish but smart.

Arvika shifted again and switched on the lamp placed on her adjacent side table. No sleep was going to drown her today; she lamented and took out her diary which was securely and secretly burrowed inside her laptop bag's secret zip corner. Pursing her lips, she rustled out a whiff of air and took out the pen from the pen stand and started reading the entry she had inscribed a week back - the next day of the freshers' day.

~

"21st September 2020,

11:45 pm,

Do you know the feeling of being that girl of the class on whom everyone's eyes are always fixed at?

No? Right?

Well, this is happening to me nowadays. Everyone is giving me the attention, the eyes for which I hadn't even craved for. I wanted anything but attention. Even now, I can feel people gaping at me or just making holes inside my whole body as if I am some exotic material. I didn't know that the freshers' party would result in this bizarre situation I'm going through right now. And that Dev!

Do you know what thing he gave me today during lunch break?

Tickets!

Yes, two damn tickets to an amusement park; so that we both could go together and enjoy ourselves on the Ferris wheel while eating Ice-creams. Can you believe it?

He surely has seeds, stones and acnes inside his brain. Who eats ice-cream on a Ferris wheel? People cannot even breath and fart properly and here, he was talking about eating ice-creams.

Leave that, diary! What was the need to come inside my classroom?

As if all the attention I was getting wasn't enough for him to put me in extemporaneous limelight. The moment he had entered inside our classroom everyone was staring right at us with their jaws excavating the ground as if he was my so-called boyfriend who had come to meet and greet me!

Jealousy was rising within the closed walls along with my blood pressure because of his highness' stunts that he was trying to pull to appear the coolest PRESIDENT of IIET, Delhi.

Yes, I know that we had triumphed yesterday's dance competition but was it really necessary to utilise those tickets that the hosts had given to his highness especially? He could go out with anyone he liked, but why me? He had a bunch of friends, but why me? I was least interested to go out with him to an amusement park and more than that, it'd be an irony; we would be going to an amusement park but would I be even a bit amused? No, right? Then why?

That time, I couldn't tell him a no because of the euphoria and the excited uproars of my classmates. I said yes and voila! I was subjected to go out with him to an amusement park; our so-called date.

But I had my ways to take care of that.

Just after our classes were over for the day, I retracted to his classroom after asking the directions for the fourth-year classroom from a few students. And I found him prattling with a girl animatedly like they were oh-so friendly friends; I cared least about it. I had returned the ticket to him, no, no, sorry for lying. Yes, I had placed the tickets on the desk he was seating on and sprinted away as if my train, numbered 342562 was going to be missed. I didn't hear anything and finally landed myself inside the dorm, panting like a thirsty dog.

Phew!

And the rest is the conventional thing.

I know I dumped him like a chicken but I solemnly am not prepared to face him yet after what all has happened with us. I cannot make myself forget all those things that had happened in the past. I cannot disregard the sensuous dance we shared and I don't dare to face him again and that too all alone inside an amusement park where I won't be delighted but accentuated and panicked.

Kavya reprimanded me just an hour ago for being a mouse but she doesn't know how many tornadoes of feelings erupt within me every second and how many volcano of panic attacks I have to undergo whenever he is near me. She doesn't know anything about it.

The dance we performed yesterday was maybe an eye bonbon for others but me; it was no less than cruising on fire with the trepidation of burning; it was as if my whole body was put on the kindling but yet I could feel as if I was sinking under the deep waters. Whatever I have gone through yesterday was appalling for me and I seriously didn't covet another similar episode to recur.

He was dangerous!

A big, bold, ballistic DANGER!

And I needed to keep myself away from him as far away as possible if I don't want to lose my rationality.

I should keep myself away from him at all cost! I couldn't let the past resurface again.

Bye Diary,

Yours Arvika!"

~

Arvika retreated to the present day and deliberated over the events which had followed after that. She could still perceive the hopelessness and storm she had seen in Dev's sights the very next day but did she care? A big no. She was here to study and make a career out of engineering. And no one could distract her from her dreams and aspirations; not even that Dev ─ she had stirred and gone past him, leaving him all alone on the suddenly depressing and silent corridor with those soundless screams.

****

According to Greek mythology, humans were originally created with four arms, four legs and a head with two faces. Fearing their power, Zeus split them into two separate parts, condemning them to spend their lives in search of their other halves.

Dev had already found his better half but did his other half reciprocate the same feelings for him? He swayed his head in no out of the obtuse thought he had gotten in the aurora in the Whatsapp 'Good morning' forwards of his 'Romeo and Juliet's corner' group and sought for his roll number in the seating arrangement that was clasped on the notice boards for the respective departments. He had an exam today for Mr Ramnatha Kulshrehtha's sake ─ his Wireless and Mobile Communications professor who was no less than the living example of Dronacharya ─ the best Guru the world has ever produced.

Taking a note of the room number, floor number as well as his seat number, he rustled past the crowd of agitated and panicked students contrasted to his confident and striking demeanour. On the way, he found his other classmates and started describing the concept of GSM for one more time for his weak classmates who idolised him as their beloved Guru, apparently their last moment Guru.

Dev never mugged up facts; he explained the whys, whens and hows of those facts that the students used to find stressful, that's why professors adored him and his classmates and juniors besieged him. The troupe around him now was the testimonial of the aforementioned actuality.

In between explaining the Mobile Towers and Base station to his classmates, he didn't miss the chance to catch the frequency band of one particular voice which he could trace even in the presence of a massive mob.

His love!

His one and only, love.

Who was standing at a ten feet distance from him, hyperventilating and panicking over god knows what problem. His lips twitched at that and he couldn't miss the way she was nibbling the tip of her pen and then the scene shifted to her drawing something roughly with the same pen on the notebook that was probably hers. Not wanting to explain any more Mobile networks to his suddenly inquisitive classmates, he was just going towards Arvika when suddenly out of the blue Risha appeared in front of him and pounced on him like a lion to give him a brownie hug. Could this day get any better?

Dev jarred his head and cemented a bogus smile on his face and glanced at his friend, Risha, his so-called friend who used to stick to him the same way travel-guides of any tourist place stick with the new, jubilant and innocent souls.

"My, my. Whom did I meet today? Woah! You realise Dev that we're meeting after a period of a whole one week or so. I missed you so much. By the way, can you explain this thing? I tried to mug up this topic but later realised that I've one intelligent friend by my side, so here I am, to ask you this particular thing. Please explain na," Risha coaxed and nearly was seizing Dev; the way she was adhering to him, even Fevicol would've felt humiliated at her adhesiveness.

Groaning mentally and sustaining his patience, Dev smiled again, forcibly though. Before he could've unclasped Risha's clutch on his, someone special already saw their contiguity and a laborious whiff of carbon dioxide couldn't stop itself from flowing out from that particular someone's nostrils resulting in a 0.00000001 % of the increase in Carbon footprints.

'He has a girlfriend already yet he couldn't quit his wicked and wild ways' Arvika pondered wistfully when her eyes landed on the duo inadvertently. She couldn't even glance at them the second time the way they were standing so close to each other just like the last time she had seen them together. She keened inwardly and focussed her retina on the Ray Optics problems which was always a nightmare for her to understand. She prayed and entreated for the paper to consist of anything but the questions from Ray Optics which unluckily had a truckload of formulas and derivations to learn: the only topic which she had skipped, intentionally.

Dev lamented and after nursing a safe distance from Risha, he taught her the topic in which she had a problem but he knew better. This was just a way to get closer to him. Like many girls. Being an intelligent as well as an attractive President had many perks but it couldn't come without a cost. It comes at the cost of abounding but undesired attention from the crowd especially the girls.

Dev was like the trophy of the World cup which everyone wanted to touch for once, feel for once or even groped for once. Many times, few nincompoops and ostentatious girls had even tried to touch him in a way no person should ever be encountered and that was the reason why he had turned a bit antagonistic towards the opposite gender but yet, it didn't decrease his fandom instead they took this behaviour of his as some typical handsome boy's domineering attitude that they might have reaped from some CEO or billionaire story.

Males could be molested too, he had realised that. But in India this couldn't happen, could it? Because a man is always the culprit and a woman ─ the victim. He couldn't even share this incident with his best friend: Rohan, as it was an extremely private experience that he couldn't even share with his own cognisance. A sharp blow on the conventional sexual assault. But it was Dev with whom this incident had taken place, could he let it go? Never!

Fortunately, Risha had never gone too far otherwise Dev would have thrown her away from his life, too far from him. She might've heard the experiences of those girls who had dared to do something like this to him. What happened to those few girls was still a chronicle to ponder later on!

Dev terminated his lectures at the last moment to his classmates-cum-pupils and scurried inside his allotted classroom in his usual positive and confident demeanour. He smiled at the known faces and sat comfortably on his seat. Taking his bottle in his grasp, he started dampening his dry and humid throat because of all the lectures he had projected at his classmates when a person sat beside him whom he noticed from his peripheral view.

Arvika couldn't believe what was happening. She was going to share a seat with Dev? The President? Dread marred her features and she plopped down meekly like a deer caught in headlights and closed her eyes, wishing for the day to go methodically without any daredevil-ness of Dev and any scandal that followed every time automatically whenever she was with him ─ much like a custom that was occurring with her for five years.

Could this day get any better?

Dev was astonished and flabbergasted would be just an understatement of the Millenium when he noticed who was sitting beside him on his left side. He discerned how Arvika's hands were folded and her eyes closed as if she was sending loads of prayers to the almighty. One time he was looking at her and the other, he started investigating his water bottle; was the h2O inside his bottle anyhow magical? He again looked at her to recheck and reassure himself if it was just a dream or a freaking reality! The tasteless water he just tasted was normal then how did this magic happen?

He mirrored Arvika's actions and sent a short prayer to the almighty with a constant smile adorning his lips.

"Hmm, I see. A lot of prayers are being sent to the almighty. All the best, Arvika. Please help me whenever I'd pull your hair." A boy named Aryan rustled in a jiffy and sat just behind Arvika's seat. He was the next roll number to that of her. Arvika could just reel her eyes at his stupid signal for cheating in the exams!

"You touch my hair, I'll make sure not even one strand of your hair stands," she craned her neck towards Aryan and whisper-yelled at his absolutely bizarre idea to cheat in the exam. Dev chortled at her remark and noticed how cutesy and adorable she looked in anger like a red-eyed bunny. He would've loved to touch that warm nose of hers which was resembling like a small red tomato. He loved tomatoes; sighing, Dev chuckled more. 

"Sorry, sorry...it was just a slip of tongue. I'd call your name like this...Vika...Vika," Aryan rehearsed the way he would call Arvika in between the exam whenever he'd have any doubt and Arvika could just nod her head nonchalantly. "It's okay," she nodded her head and took out the blue ball pen that she had purchased last night from their campus stationery shop.

The invigilator still had not arrived yet, giving plenty of time to the students to discuss more of their last moment facts to just mug up and vomit in case the same question is asked.

"Which paper?" Arvika had to double-check that it was the same voice which reverberated beside her. She glanced towards Dev and answered in a stiff tone, "Oscillations and Optics," and again started fumbling with her own cognisance.

"All the best," with a charming smile and a positive aura, Dev wished her good luck and focused at his right side where a meek boy was sitting with googly-eyes spectacles. It was their first paper in IIET, for sure; they all were getting panicky and dreadful the way their faces were shining like a corpse.

And conclusively, the dreadful moment came. Question papers and answer sheets were distributed and all the students started jotting down the answers they had learnt by their hearts with utmost dedication and passion as if it was their final life-deciding paper. 

Arvika started with the last question as it was worth the maximum marks and she had only 90 minutes to finish the 40 marks question paper. Writing down at a breakneck velocity she didn't notice the constant 'Vika Vika' vibration generated by Aryan who didn't know a single thing about the paper, undoubtedly.

Even Dev got vexed the way this particular guy was troubling Arvika. He huffed and elevated his neck towards that guy and a death glower was enough to shut him up. Aryan muted down and started re-reading the question paper and a lot of questions seemed quite easy to him which were frightful in his first glance. He thanked Dev psychologically and started doing his work, unabatingly.

On the other hand, Dev was busy making the same GSM architecture he had made a dozen times. Starting with the easiest question has two major benefits: one, it motivates a lot; two, it reduces the burden of the plethora of questions that are asked to solve in just 90 minutes.

Cracking his knuckles, Dev moved towards the last typical problem and after a minute of serious thinking, he triumphantly was on it. But on the other hand, Arvika adhered on a particular question. Her fright was in front of her. From the same chapter which she had so wistfully skipped. She wiped off the perspiration from her forehead and again tried to solve the only left out question.

Even after the invigilator's warning to not scribble anything on the question paper, her question paper was drenched with the graphite lead. She could care less. Only ten minutes were left and her 8 marks question was still left. Her state was petrifying. She could cry at any time. She looked for her friend Kavya who was staring back at her in horror. Coincidentally, they both were in the same classroom. Kavya knew the answer and her paper was done but she was concerned about Arvika ─ her meticulous friend whose only scholastic weakness was this particular subject.