III. Suspicion

A HAPPY BEGINNING

With time, everything flourishes.

Story so far:
Suhas inquired Siri about where he and she stood in terms of a relationship. The response from Siri wasn’t quite assuring for him. He was still very confused where he stood with Siri. She hasn’t completely admitted, though she did say that if her parents are okay with their union, she has no problem. But there were a lot of questions floating around in his mind. He had visited her to help her with the counselling and they did talk a lot when they went for walk.

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Ashish always got those butterflies whenever he saw her. He did have a huge crush on her, but he didn’t feel the right time to tell her until that day when he was motivated by a good friend of his. Maybe it was the best idea his friend ever gave, or maybe it was the wort.

The summer had started a few months ago when most were busy cramming for their exams, while a few were just roaming around until the last day of the exam. It was the crucial time in their life as it decided what they will be doing for the rest of their life. The entrance exams were no joke. The competition to the best college was always in huge numbers. With a 2nd largest population in the world and with a society’s most accepted stream being Engineering, there always was a tough competition. Not to mention the pressure that the parents gave along with one’s own was sometimes too much to handle. The evergreen quote that never seems to get old “This the crucial year and a very crucial exam and if you do it well, you don’t have to worry for the rest of your life”. The very statement which gets repeated almost every other year. But there never seems to be an end for it. But then again, in life one is always learning and there is never an end to it.

The entrance exams were over and the scores were out. The next step in the process was to get into a college. A community counseling was taking place where the member of the community could avail and see different college prospectus and come to a conclusion to which college to get into for graduation which suits their area of interests. Siri and Suhas were going to the counseling. Ashish, a good friend of Suhas since school and one of his distant relative also came along with him, a girl whom Ashish had a huge crush on. Siri was accompanied by her cousin Deeksha. Suhas introduced Siri to Ashish as his girlfriend. Siri liked Suhas the way he did, maybe a little more even, but she has been acting reserved about it. It was all new to her, the feeling, that feeling of being in love and especially being in love and uncertain of the future and parent’s approval. But most of all, she was happy to have found someone who loves her dearly. The ball was now in Suhas’s court. He had to ask her parents for her hand and convince if need be.

Ashish was glad to know that Siri had accepted Suhas’s proposal and then he showed his relative on whom he had a crush on to him. Suhas, newly in love and having successfully proposed and getting accepted, was high on the feeling. He was impressed by his choice and to be fair, the girl was indeed quite beautiful. Without a second thought he advised Ashish to do the honours immediately, otherwise, someone else will propose and take her away. Ashish wasn’t a shy person, but he did want to weigh in his options and not be hasty about proposing. But after Suhas encouraged him, he felt like he needed to do it right away and any delay would just mean that he lost a good opportunity that he might have had if he had done it sooner. He planned to propose the very next day.

The counseling was going on high spirits and people were getting the much-needed guidance that would narrow down their college and location preferences. Everything was going fine, Siri and Suhas were giggling like how the people new in a relationship do and it was going to be a good day, maybe not so much for Ashish. He had decided a day earlier that he would do the honours that day. He got the backing from Suhas and with a new fresh look, he approached her and made his heartfelt proposal. Unlucky for Ashish, she rejected the proposal right then and there. There was no thinking over and that sort of upset Ashish a bit, maybe perhaps because he wasn’t quite prepared for that backfire. He really liked her and he had hoped that she might have accepted. Maybe it was too soon, or maybe it was some other reason, he sure was left a little heartbroken that day. And the person who had encouraged him to propose as soon as possible back to him saying that perhaps you did it too soon. Someone had a good whooping that night.

The college admissions were going on full-fledged. Siri’s mom had Suhas for his opinion on which colleges would be good for her daughter as she knew that he would provide with the best options. Suhas, upon getting a great opportunity did give some valuable suggestions, the ones which were close to his choice of college. He had already made plans to meet her every opportunity he got and them being close to each other’s college made it a lot easier. For some reason, Siri’s mom started to suspect that Suhas might have a liking towards Siri and his suggestions of colleges just solidified the little suspicion that she had had. The tables had turned then. Siri’s parents decided to join her in a college which was on the other part of the city, and it was quite a big city. Their college started shortly after the counselling and they were now on the opposite end of the city.

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It is indeed quite hard for Suhas to stay too far from her. What does he do to bridge the gap?
(To be continued …)

Read about the characters and the story from the start here:
A Happy Beginning