My One Minute Happiness

 

"You make us proud" - My mom said.

"I am truly blessed to have such a son" - My dad said.

"Study hard, work hard and reach heights" - My granny said.

But no one said, "Be happy". 

I was a nerd with specs on, as every introvert would, bullied by many and appreciated by many teachers. "An ideal school student", they would say when I topped my 12th board exams and got a seat in IIT after clearing JEE exams. Pretty cool, right?. Well, not exactly. I am one among millions out there who moves in the path as life pushes them. Nothing cool about me, nothing special whatsoever. Everyone wants to be popular in their environment, wherever they dwell. Well, that wish was always out of reach for me. 

But that girl, a magic if you will, is an epitome of whom I wanted to be. Unlike me who has no one around, she is that one dashing girl who would always be circled by a bunch of people. There would be hardly a guy who doesn't like her. But yeah, some girls won't like her as it is expected to be. Oh, wow, her smiles, surely a true wonder that my eyes would sparkle in salvation. "Yeah, you can die now" - my mind would say. I cannot stop myself falling in her cute dimples. I am not the type of guy who would stare at a girl but she made me so. I would follow her always. Don't ask me why. Even I don't know. My heart beat become a drum when she's closer to me. I tried so many times just to wave a hi and smile at her. But this stupid inferiority complex always shows up. 

Just then I gave up on her, trying myself to move back to old me, she came.

I was, one day, minding my record works in college canteen with my headsets on. She along with her herd came and sat a few metres away from me. As always, I gave her a multiple sideways glance and as always she had no idea I was checking on her. But that day, she noticed and I was got caught. She approached me with her killing smile. I was stumbled, hustled my notebooks and headsets into my bag and just then I was about to leave, her soothing "Hey?" stopped me. 

"Could I just talk to you for a while?"

That's it. A multitude of thoughts, an avalanche of happiness and confusions as well, sweats, and what more, my heart became a 100 mega watts speaker. I nodded and sat on a table.

"Why don't you speak to anybody?. Don't you like friends?", she grinned with the same killer smile.

"Nothing like . . that". Yeah, it's pretty much expected that I would stumble.

"You know something?"

"Hmm?".

"I love your silence or may be more than that". 

What did she mean by that?. My sweats now became a stream. I said, "What do you mean?".

"Don't act, you stupid. You know what I mean".

I looked down, swiping my sweats and bridling my outburst of happiness. "No, I dunno", I said.

"I love you", she said. My eyes widened. I lost count of the beats that my heart skipped. This one minute is what I am craving for, in my 20 years of life. This one minute added sense to my soul. Just then my whole life is turning around, this one minute turned into ash.

"Did you heard it?. I completed my dare, you guys", she shouted at her friends.

"I am so sorry, uh", she paused for a while to remember my name, "Well, I don't know your name too. But I am really sorry. This is just for fun".

Yes, my one minute of happiness costs me a life full of distress. 

Acknowledgements: This story was written and scripted by my brother, Venu Prasad. I just translated it to English. A big thanks to him.