"Oh dear, what happened? You should drink slowly, see how you started choking," Swapna Madam gently tapped my head, and the coughing stopped.
"How are you feeling now, Hasini?" Devendra Sir and Swapna Madam asked at the same time.
"I'm fine now, Madam, it's stopped," I said with a smile, but deep down I was dying of fear, wondering if they were going to ask me to tell our love story all over again.
"Alright dear, tell us now, I really want to hear your love story," Swapna Madam asked again affectionately, holding my chin.
Oh God, what should I do now? She is asking me to tell our love story. What kind of love story even happened between us for me to tell her? I thought to myself.
When I looked towards that man, he was sitting stylishly with one leg crossed over the other, looking at me with a side smile and full of curiosity to see what I was going to come up with.
You deadbeat guy, I can't even find the right curses to hurl at you! Look at how he trapped me right in front of my parents and is just watching! As I cursed him a thousand times in my mind, my phone buzzed with a message notification.
Who could it be? When I checked, it was from this very same man sitting right next to me. Why is he messaging me when he's right here? I looked at him, opened the message, and read it:
"Hey brainless, instead of blowing your own brains out, use your acting skills you've got. God gave you a brain to use, not to fold up and keep in your pocket! Instead of blabbering nonsense uselessly and using your brain for nothing, pass the test my mom and dad gave you with 100% and show it. Then I'll believe you aren't completely brainless and that you actually have a brain somewhere in there, poor thing."
The moment I read that message, I looked at him. He was busy tapping away and looking at his phone. Even though I was mad at him for calling me brainless, I had to hand it to him for reminding me of my acting skills right at the right time. I smiled to myself.
Right then, it felt like my soul had popped out of my body and was talking to me. "Hey Hasini!" it said, flicking me on the head.
"Hey, who hit my head?" I asked angrily, getting up and turning around. I was shocked to see someone who looked exactly like me—same face, same hairstyle, same color saree. "Who are you?" I asked doubtfully.
"I am the soul inside you," it replied.
"Well then, shouldn't you be inside me? Why did you come out?" I asked, folding my hands.
"I came out to sweep away all the dust and cobwebs accumulated in your brain," she said.
"What? Are there dust and cobwebs in my brain? Have you gone mad or what?" I asked her.
"I haven't gone mad, you're the one who is crazy!" she said, flicking my head again.
"Ouch! Why are you hitting me like this? Why don't you explain why you're hitting me before doing it?" I asked, rubbing my head gently.
"Why? Are you actually praising him? That's just your madness!" she said.
"Oh, what's wrong with that? That psycho-monster recognized the talent in me and even gave me an idea to get out of this mess," I told her.
"True, he gave you an idea, but did you forget? Didn't he punish you yesterday by making you climb up to the 50th floor without using the elevator, within 20 minutes?" she asked.
"Yes, he did," I replied.
"Right, and didn't your legs pain? You even walked into the house with a limp yesterday, did you forget?" she asked.
"How could I ever forget that? He tortured me like Ravana, how could I forget it so easily?" I gritted my teeth and rolled my eyes at her.
"Then why did you say you're going to praise him?" she asked.
"Oh my dear, crazy soul! I only thought about praising him, I haven't actually done it yet! I have a plan of my own. Just watch how I'm going to deal with this psycho guy. After I tell our fake love story, I'm going to make him suffer a thousand times worse with interest!" I said with a side smile, crossing my arms.
"Wow, you're amazing, Hasini!" she cracked her knuckles, "Your style is totally different! Go rock it, all the best!" she gave me a thumbs-up and smiled.
"Thank you. Now please get back inside me, let's see what this guy is up to!" I told her.
"Okay, I'm always with you, Hasini," she said and slipped right back inside me.