5. How Did She Know??

Tuesday,29th November 2023

A Heart attack

I received more than 50 wishes on my birthday for the first time. Thanks to Instagram, my juniors, schoolmates, and all the AOSites.

The first one was from Hritika, whose texts I saw when I woke up at 4 a.m. as usual.

"Happy Birthday (celebration emojis)

God bless you"

Hritika's message was a pleasant surprise. It was generous of her—the sweetest member of F.R.I.E.N.D.S, as I always called her.

At 8 a.m., I installed Instagram and got around two mentions, from Ramesh and a school friend. On Snapchat, I got wishes from Team Snapchat, of course, and from my juniors.

 While on the bus, I received another wish, this time from Lea:

 Happy bday! (a red heart)

I didn't see that coming, but it was a kind gesture. Opening the door of our classroom, they all got up to wish me, which made my smile grow even wider. Meanwhile, the spectacled girl had seen the photo of her favorite chocolate that I sent her:

"Happy b'day! (a single birthday-capped emoji)"

That was all I got in return for the chocolate.

"I remember your choice", I replied, tagging the photo of the chocolate.

"Good, good. But it's your birthday," she never understood why I sent her a photo of her chocolate on my own birthday. She also failed to understand that it's the birthday boy who always gives chocolate to everyone.

"So what, Miss?", I quickly retorted.

"Why are you calling me Miss?", she asked with a laughing emoji.

"So should I call you Mrs?" I was slowly reverting back to my school form.

"No, don't say anything", she always spoke like that. 'Straight to the point.'

Unbeknownst to me, Sajit sir, our faculty member, had arrived in the classroom and caught me using WhatsApp. He might have even seen who I was chatting with. I quickly switched off my phone and stowed it in my bag. I was embarrassed, but he always had a way of making everyone feel comfortable in class.

"Bhai, who uses WhatsApp these days?" he joked, pointing out that it's the era of Instagram and Snapchat, and I was still using WhatsApp to text people.

Our only math lecture ended at 12 p.m. Sajit sir asked me to set up the projector in the neighboring class for his next lecture.

Batch 1

The elite batch

As I opened the door, the classroom appeared as it always did—nothing less than a 5-star restaurant, minus the food. The way they sat in groups made it seem like one. Some of the top students sat at the front, including Sachin, Ayaan, Ananya, Anika, and many others. Amit, the leader of the backbenchers and emperor of conversation, as I always called him, was also there. In the mid-left corner, Paresh, who had confessed his feelings to Sanjana J soon after joining the batch, only to be bluntly rejected, sat with his new friends. And in the middle of the first and second rows were those four girls- Lea, Naira, Sanjana J, and Rushika who always stuck together.

The chocolate-brown curtain and the yellow ceiling lights gave the room a remarkable look. Add some background music, and you'll feel like you've stepped into a high-rated restaurant.

Lost in thought, I carefully made my way toward the whiteboard, which was between the first and second rows where those four girls were sitting on four different benches, forming the vertices of a rectangle. They were deep in gossip and discussion. As I approached their area, Sanjana looked at me and wished, 

"Happy Birthday."

"Oh (in my mind)..." I never saw that coming. My heart skipped a beat, and I could feel it. I took a step back and thanked them.

"...Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you very much," I repeated as the other three also wished me.

"Are, ise kaise... wait, how did she...?" was my honest reaction to it. I still remember the fact that she had not followed me back on Instagram even after accepting my follow request.

"Bade log hai ye," my mind chanted about her often.

Maybe she might have seen it in Ramesh's story. But it was actually so sweet of her that I could barely lift my head up to look at the four of them. Entering their rectangle, she almost gave me a heart attack. And the worst part was that I blushed so much upon hearing that I could not even lift my head while thanking her.

"Kindness costs nothing," was the line I found on A3 notebooks. Why would she even care if it's my birthday? But still, if she wished me, it was kind of her. And I took back my words of her having some attitude and not accepting only my request.

"Bro, come here also," while leaving the class, I was called by Amit and his gang, and they too wished me well after pulling my leg. "Ha Bhai, you took wishes from girls only," he taunted. "Are yaar, I had gone there only to keep the projector and then they wished me," I was the one explaining as always.