Old-fashioned

I was an over-thinker and a worrier. I didn't miss the opportunity to think about all the things that could go wrong especially after being happy for a long time. I think it's a defence mechanism to prepare myself for bad things. You get hurt less if you already know what is going to happen.

This was also one of the reasons why I got acidity problems. The one-month treatment had been very tough on me. The nausea in the morning got me on my knees and I was very depressed at times. Once, I was feeling so bad, be it physically or emotionally that I even confessed my feelings about Dave to my mother. It was just after dusk, when it was getting quite dark. I had gone out to look at the stars and my mum came out with a sweater.'

'Mum, I need to tell you something.'

'What?'

'There is a boy in class. I like him a lot.'

'Oh...'

'Well, I hope you know what you're doing.'

'I hope.'

She then hugged me and that was the end of the conversation. When I would reach home late at times, she would just look at me with a knowing look, but didn't say anything. This is what made our mother-daughter relationship so great. She reared me and instilled all the values that she could and now she was sitting back in the relief that I would not do anything to harm the family's reputation. That I wouldn't play around and get serious only with someone who was going to be a definite part of my life.

I know that it's quite old-fashioned and conservative of me. When I looked at my friends and the way they got in and out of relationships so easily, I found myself the odd one out. I had a classmate, Sana, who fell in love at fist sight on the first day of the university. A senior student, Kevin, had been assigned to guide us around the campus. He was quite tall and had tied his hair back in a sleek ponytail. One of his ears was pierced and he was wearing a plain diamond stud. It was true that he was rather good looking and had a magnetic presence. As soon as Sana laid her eyes on him, she had claimed,

'I want him.'

Gaya and I had been very surprised by such an outright claim.

'Excuse me girls, I've got a prey to hunt.'

Flicking back her hair, she sashayed towards him. She put one of her manicured hands on his biceps and asked,

'Hi. Do you work out?'

Kevin raised one eyebrow and with a slow smile, said 'I do.'

'Wanna workout together one day?'

The innuendo was so clear that I felt flustered. Why did she not just go and lie in his bed directly? At this thought, I realised that If Sana had the chance, this is exactly what she would do.

So Sana managed to get her way, for the next two weeks I saw her hanging out with Kevin. But one week later she was back at our table for lunch and when Gaya asked her where Kevin was, she just grimcaced and lifting her nose in the air,

'He's not as good as I thought he would be.'

And that was the last time I heard about Kevin. I sometimes envied Sana her ability to just go after what she wanted directly and not beat around the bush, like I did. But then I thought that there was nothing wrong in waiting before jumping into bed with anyone who is remotely interesting.