The next day, Melvin visited the cafe again but alone. He sat on the table in front of me, ordered a coffee and started working on his laptop. I wondered what he was working on. Well, none of my business. 

I recieved a text message notification from an unknown number. It read, “You are so pretty! Why do you have to date that jerk?” I ignored the message. I recieved another one which read, “You read my message but didnt reply yet? I am waiting!" 

Is it Ralph again? I looked around confused. I recieved a text message that read, “You are wasting your time, your customers are waiting and I wont take it if any of them shouts at you now." I looked at Melvin and he looked back at me and smirked. I quickly walked up to his table and politely asked him what his problem is, in reply to which, he asked me to answer his question first. Alright, I am not dating anyone, I said. He stared through my eyes so bad as if he could see my soul. I asked him were he got my number from, to which he replied, “So, you have no problem with guys like Ralph having your number?” Oh god! This guy can never ever communicate like a human. I went back to the counter to continue my work.

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

The Freshers' party is at 7 p.m. in the evening today. Its 11 a.m. now and I just woke up. I haven't attended the college since past 5 days. And no one cares. I want to sleep again.

By 1 p.m., I recieved more than 10 missed calls from Ferb. I chose to ignore. There were text messages too and the latest one read, "I am standing outside your house. If you dont recieve my call by 4 p.m. I would come to your door and take you. Whhhhhyyyyyy? I went out to check. He really was there sitting in his car. If he really did do what he said, my mom would disown me. I changed my pajamas, put the gown in a bag, informed my mom about the party and told I would be late, she gave me an earful, I apologized for not informing her before and left.

Ferb drove to a huge salon. "Why?" I asked to which he replied, “I know you already are cute enough, but its just to compliment your looks” He winked. And I couldn't help but blush. “Come on, Ferb! I dont even look that pretty or cute.” I said. “I don't know about others but I always found you pretty, Sharon!” He told. 

It was around 6 p.m., I got all dolled up at the salon and called Ferb. “I'm nearby…would be there in 5 minutes. Are you done?” He asked. “Yes" I told.

He reached the salon. “You look gorgeous!” he said. Well, definitely not more than how good he looked - impressive, well-dressed in a slim-fit suit and the hairstyle complimenting his whole personality - just perfect! Just that I couldn't put it in words before him, so I chose to remain silent 🤭

There was an awkward silence between us all the way to the college. 

We walked through the entrance of the event together, so many of our batchmates and seniors had already arrived and there was very loud, deafening music.

The hosts for the evening introduced themselves, there were 4 of them - a male senior, a female senior, a male junior - Melvin and a female junior - Zoey. There were few games organized by the seniors and the participants were selected by them randomly. Zoey was asked to sing a well known sad song but in a funny way…Andy and Zeus were asked to enact a famous scene…Ferb and Niah were asked to dance together… I enjoyed watching most of it until I was called upon the stage by a senior. I was nervous. The senior called up Melvin's name too. What is this senior upto? He asked us to enact a romantic scene from a famous TV series. NO WAYS! I asked the senior to please spare me because I wont be able to do it. “Come on, Sharon! Be a sport. Its just for fun.” He told. 

I just stood there….I felt like I might pass out. Melvin came to me, caught hold of my hand, and pulled me closer to him, looked into my eyes and told, “I dont know the fate of our love, but regardless of that, I would only choose to love you for the rest of my life.” I could feel my heart beat so fast… He leaned forward, so close to my face that I could feel his breath… I might faint, I thought. I have never experienced anything like that before. Is he going to kiss me in front of so many people? Noooo, this can't happen! I thought. And before I would act upon and stop Melvin, he leaned in, his lips brushed against my ear, he whispered, “Even though I am dying to kiss you right now, I won't be doing that here. So, don't worry.” I couldn't utter a word after that. He again looked into my eyes and said, “And I promise, you'll never be able to forget me even if you want to." 

Everyone clapped and cheered, Melvin moved a step away from me and here we were, out into the reality. I felt embarrassed. I walked away.