Chie (Part-II)

I got out of my bed at dawn and went for a walk. The coolness was soothing my desperation and my eyes were looking everywhere considering the chance that she maybe be feeling the same and would be out.  I walked up to the pool and sat at the bench and replayed all the memories in my mind. I sat there in chillness with a mild smile in my face and the image of her in my mind. Tall, slender, curvy body with perfect ass and breasts, she was heavenly. And her eyes; she had the most beautiful eyes. I could see the sky and sea in her eyes.

The sun was up and slowly the participants started coming to the park and pool. The tie-sheet was pasted in the notice board and many of the students were clinging upon one another to take a peek. It felt funny that I was the part of the crowd until yesterday and I didn’t care about it at all today. I was a divergent and she was my genesis. My chain of thought was suddenly interrupted by loud ring of bell. It was the signal for all the participants to gather for the assembly. All the participants started moving towards the assembly hall and I also carried myself along with everyone. My eyes started wandering at all the faces I passed but unfortunately she was nowhere to be seen. I felt tired, maybe because of the sleepless night and I realized I hadn’t eaten anything since yesterday afternoon.

There was a long queue for entering the hall as the registration and badge distribution was done in the way in. The volunteers were rather sluggish and taking lots of time on one participant. I was irritated by the scene and felt dizzy due to weakness. It took forever to reach the door and when I got inside all the chairs were already taken. It was like a nightmare and in between events I was trying to wake up in my bed, in my room. Suddenly I came back to reality when I heard my name. My friends had reserved a seat for me. I was never thankful to anyone as I was towards them at that moment.

“We looked for you everywhere, where were you?” My friend asked me.

“I was just roaming around.” I lied. “Do you have something to eat, I am so hungry.”

“Oh you missed the breakfast! I just have orange juice.”

I rejuvenated with each gulp and my dizziness was gone for good. My eyes were soon wandering all around and finally they found what they were looking for. Chie with her teammates was sitting at the third row from the front. The hall was noisy with all the participants moving searching for the seats and shouting their team mates names. My eyes were fixed on Chie’s dorsum, I was worried that if even for a fraction of second I moved my eyes, I would lose her. I just wanted her to look back at me, to know that I was there in that hall, behind her, several seats though. I thought of calling her loud so that she will hear me but with all the noise, my shout would be lost half way. I decided to try telepathy. I had read that, if the feelings are strong, telepathy works. So, I concentrated with all my might, looked steadily in the back of her head and shouted her name in my mind, CHIE. It was of no use. But it was fascinating that I could concentrate my focus to that level in a clamorous scenario as such. I felt guilty for all those times I blamed my friends and family for distracting my concentration, as I realized that it was the will that shapes up the concentration of the brain, not the situation or scenario. That’s what Buddha is, a person who can focus on the right thing even in chaos, and the right thing, right now was to communicate with Chie, whatever the means it may require.

“Did u see the tie-sheet?” My friend interrupted my chain of thoughts.

“What?” I sounded annoyed.

“Tie sheet, did you see it? We are going up tomorrow, against Bandung in the first round.”

“Oh!” I said, “Bandung is easy. Isn’t it the team we beat in their own home last time?”

“Yes it is. And the participants are all the same. Stupid selectors.” She roasted. “What’s wrong with you? You look very distracted.”

“Oh, it’s nothing. I am not feeling so well. Maybe because I missed the breakfast.”

Suddenly the hall, as loud as the war zone turned dead silent as the announcer took the podium to welcome all the participants. The inaugural ceremony followed by the speech of the chief guest and other guest, welcoming and sharing best wishes continued for about two hours. All that time I was just focused on my telepathy. I would be distracted and come back to reality every time a loud roar of claps would follow the end of welcome speech of a guest. If it was other times, I would instruct all my teammates to focus on every word of these intellectual speakers as they gave us tips for better debates, but today, even I wasn’t listening a word, they were saying. I was just focusing on the round head with black hair and shouting the name loud in my mind, CHIE. It didn’t work.

After the inaugural ceremony was over, all the participants were instructed to move towards the canteen for lunch. My heart leaped, I could finally see her now. I jumped from my seat and rushed towards the front door, where Chie was heading. I bounced on some participants and shouted sorry on each tackle. I heard stupid, moron directed towards me, but those didn’t offend or stop me. What did hit brake on my flight was the thought of presenting myself in front of her. I had already embarrassed myself in front of her once and chasing her in that speed and with that desperation would only make a bad impression. I stood still in between the passage of the hall blocking hundreds of participants bouncing on me. I watched her moving towards the exit door and as she reached the door, I thought of using telepathy again and shouted her name with all my might in my mind. She stopped and looked towards me. I was never that delighted in my whole life, it was like accomplishing the greatest challenge. Finally she was looking at me and as I looked around everyone was looking at me. It was then when I realized, I had shouted her name out loud and had created a story for everyone to share back home about the competition. A huge roar of laughter filled the hall and my face turned from red to pale with shame and embarrassment. But it was not over yet, what came after was disastrous. I don’t know why I did that, but I lifted by right hand, put it in my left side of my chest and pointed towards her. She was already embarrassed got only annoyed by my acts and walked away. I followed the crowd and walked towards the cafeteria.

“Why did you run towards the front door?” My teammate found me. “You are acting strange. What’s the matter?”

It was fortunate they were already out of the hall before my showdown.

“I was hungry. I didn’t know there was a back door.” I lied.

“But you came in from the back door”.

“Where’s the food?” I winked.

I got a pyramid of food in my plate but didn’t feel like eating. All the events started playing in my mind, and I cursed myself for being as an ass. I was just playing with my food which now I had decided not to eat, I saw Chie coming towards me. I froze on the chair, eyes steady on her as if I was watching a ghost in a horror movie. She had an annoyed expression in her face but when she saw my condition couldn’t stop bursting into a loud laughter. That eased me and I relaxed a bit. I tried to bring a curve of smile in my face. She sat in the chair next to mine with a big smile, while I sat there with my head low in embarrassment. I couldn’t look her in her eyes.

“That stunt you pulled in there was awkward, but required guts. I am impressed.” She said.

I raised my head with a jerk after hearing that and hurt my neck. I always had that wiring problem with my nerves in my neck. I would feel severe pain in my neck if I jerked my head.

“Ouch!” I struck my head on the table. It felt so funny, I started laughing with my head down, eyes full of tears and both my hands on my neck.

“Are you ok?” She asked joining the laugh with me.

“Manufacturing defect” I replied.

“Oh I have lot of those”.

She is just trying to comfort me, I thought. What defect could such a perfect body have, I questioned with myself.

“So, what were you trying to tell me back there?”

“I am in love with you. The reason I am here, in this competition, or in this country is to be with you. It was fate that we met. I loved you before we even met, my love just didn’t have a face then, but it has now.”

“So much for two swipes of hands.” She laughed. “I am facing Australian Int’l after lunch. When is your’s turn?”

“Tomorrow.”

“I will see you at 6 this evening then. Meet me at SKYE.”

She stood up and left. My heart missed a beat and my body was flying with joy. SIX and SKYE were the only two words floating in my brain,

“Good luck”, I shouted. I wonder if she heard.

(to be continued....)