Chapter 3 – Hooked Up Feelings.

- “Sometimes we forget the key of happiness, we hook up to someone’s attention,

someone’s affection & the need for love, we don’t even realize the people whose world
revolve around us & we lose them too”.
One thing was certain, I was flung by that stranger girl’s charm. Her broad smile with rabbit’s teeth was
way cuter than anyone, and the way she was looking at me, ‘oh my god! I was blushing’, if anyone
wanted to point a pink buffoon guy, well that would be me.

To save me from my harassment, luckily one of the seniors went on to the floor with a mic in his hand,
and all eyes moved towards him, I felt relieved. I don’t see why, but many girls in the party were
gawking at him, the guy was medium build with pony style hairs wearing a black blazer, but something
about him was mesmerizing the girls.

The seniors weren’t losing the opportunity to standoff, the guy with the mic introduced himself with a
cheesy line. His name was Sahil, and the way he was approaching the girl’s and flinging his magic, it was
commendable. He went near my newly developed crush and held her hand for a minute.

My heart was racing & to make it worse, even she was blushing to his cheesy worst pickup lines, her
pink blushy cheeks was visible across the room.

I crushed the drink in my hand, which spoiled the shoes of Ishaan.

‘Dude, are you serious?’, Ishaan said.

‘I am sorry, I didn’t realize you were standing so close to me’. I replied.

‘I am not talking about the drink, this will wash off, you should wash your feelings for her, man I mean
you just saw her, & look at her’. Ishaan said in an irritating note.

Ishaan’s words were true, but how can a guy dipped in feelings could understand then, Sahil was
touching her curly hairs and was holding her hand, again and again, people around too was encouraging
him by making wooing sounds.

The whole shenanigan finally ended & I took a big breath of relief, The seniors made a list of games so
that everyone in the room can get to know each other and mix up, I was more interested in playing
duet’s, so that I could get a chance to talk to her but so was everyone else.

The girl with her new girl group around her joined a queue to a game, I counted the number to her and
joined the boy’s queue for the same game, Ishaan was noticing me too closely now and in the start, he
warned me about my no chance with that girl, but now he started supporting me.

The players played and moved too quickly or maybe the more I was getting close to her, the time
seemed to be flying by.

Finally, my queue reached the game, my heart started pounding again.

‘Hi, I am Dev’, I said.

‘Hi Dev, I am Shyla, Nice to meet you’, She replied.

The game was like that, there was a deck of cards on the table and the players had to blow on them
such that only the upper cards fall onto the ground, if the player blows too lightly and the cards didn’t
move, the player loses, or if the player blows too hard on the deck and the whole deck falls, the player
loses.
I could see many eyes were towards my game, everyone was ready to cheer for Shyla.

We both bent a little and Shyla blew first, flicking of the 1 st card from the deck. I felt that wave of minty
breath, and suddenly was having butterflies in my belly, I had relationships before and Girlfriend too,
but Shyla was different, everything about her, her curly long hairs & her big black shining eyes, her cute
smile with rabbit’s teeth & her minty breadth, I never felt like this for anyone.

everyone around started cheering for her & while I was staring at her, I played by chance flew off around
3, 4 cards, which was impressive, but only Ishaan started cheering for me and everyone else went silent.

‘beat this!’, I said to Shyla.

And everyone in the room started that wooing sound, like somehow I have challenged her now.

‘That was nice,’, Shyla said to me while she was chewing her glittery nails.

I was impressed by myself as I was doing good with her.

Suddenly I felt a thrust from the side & I fell onto Isaan’s arms, & while I gained my balance back,
Everyone around started laughing at me, It was Sahil who pushed me, he again swooped into the picture
trying to be the alpha in the room.

I could see Shyla’s face, she was disappointed by how Sahil was behaving and she also took off from the
game, Sahil saw this opportunity and call the DJ out loud to play music, as Shyla was going, he grabbed
her hand & asked her to dance. While all this was pretty macho for any guy to do.

‘No thanks!!, I don’t like guys who think so highly of themselves’, Shyla turned down Sahil’s offer.

Everyone around in the room saw this and they all stood silent, even though the music started.

Shyla came towards me,

‘Do you wanna dance Dev?’, She said to me.

I looked at Sahil’s face as he was humiliated and was watching me with revenge eyes & I said yes.

I held her hand for the first time, they were so soft & smooth, perfectly manicured, I could bet if anyone
put a drop of water on it, it would slide right off.

The Dj saw this and Sahil’s face & he changed the music from romantic jazz to Hindi Bollywood Songs.

I was bummed by that, as I wanted to hold her more close to myself, but now everyone around was
dancing like monkeys.

Shyla also started flying her hands and twist that curve body in perfect match to the song, and I with 20
others was just looking at her, the only thing in my mind was ‘wow’.

‘Show me some moves Dev come on’ Shyla Shouted in the loud DJ.
I once participated in a group dance in my childhood and luckily knew to move hands and legs at the
same time.

I started throwing my hands too and moving my legs to sync with her, she stopped dancing and started
laughing at me covering her face.

‘Wow Dev you got some moves man!’, She said to me.

And then she started copying me, and then I realized that everyone around was copying me, my moves
were Funny & humiliating, but I was happy, so happy to just, be with her, & as expected the dance
ended pretty soon and all started going back to their groups.

I wanted to seize the opportunity, So I called Shyla while she was meeting with her group again.

‘Hey can I have your number?’, I said in the most cutest way that was possible for me.

‘Hold your horses Dev, you know, us dancing and playing that game didn’t mean anything right’, Shyla
said while smirking.

Of course, it meant something for me, I was so into her, but I hid my feeling then and there.

‘Of course not! I have no wrong intentions’, I replied nervously.

She started bursting in laughter, ‘I am just messing with you Dev, come on, cheer up! give me your
phone’. She replied.

I gave my phone and she put down her number and saved her number in my phone with her name and
ended that with a winking emoji.

I too then joined Ishaan and we all exited the party, I was too happy, gloating with joy and smiling for no
reason at all, anyone could see that the happiness was just flowing out of me. What just happened was
no less than a dream.

Going back to the hostel, I was having a warm nice feeling, the night with the big white moon was
suddenly romantic for me, I was imagining the 100 encounters, I was going to have the next day with
Shyla, She was all over my mind and in my imagination all over me too.

Ishaan was constantly haranguing about something, we reached the hostel & I saw the watchman
smiling devilishly at me, beside a guy with a cigarette was looking at us & as we approached near the
door.

‘keep your eyes down you dumbasses’, the guy shouted at me.

‘Oh my god, seniors’, Ishaan whispered and nudged me to look down and not stare the guy directly.

To be honest, bullying by a guy like that was not something I was used to, but I complied anyway,
greeting as I knew ragging was customary in hostel and college.

‘Summon yourself directly to the common room, your father is waiting’, the guy told us in an irritated
voice.
We were moving to the common room, but our legs weren’t that supportive, from the gate to the
common room, every senior in the way was standing, waiting for the freshers to go to the common
room so that we don’t run anywhere in midway.

As soon as I entered the room, the whole room had a different scenario from what can be expected in a
hostel, Whole room was covered with disco party lights, a big giant ball was revolving in the middle
shining hundreds of lights to the whole room & well the music was too loud to hear anyone.

The freshers were standing in a queue in different parts of the room & most of them weren’t wearing
any t-shirt. Most of the seniors were holding a cigarette or a beer glass in hand, One of them gestured
me to join a queue at the corner of the room.

At the end of the queue, one of the fresher was gawking at me, as soon as I reached near him, He
started smiling.

‘Hi, I am Dev’, I said with good enthusiasm.

‘Niche Dekh Gandu!’(look down Asshole!), he said abruptly.

While that was highly disturbing, I was confused about the abuse, that was for no reason. I looked down
& stood there quietly in the high chaos.

Suddenly the music went silent, I looked up & saw, Sahil entered the room and just like the party, was
walking as If he owned the room, my blood started boiling, I wasn’t ready to be humiliated by him again.

Sahil was coming towards me, he came straight towards me & while smiling cunningly he bent and
touched the legs of the guy who previously abused me. I was surprised by his gesture, why would a
senior respect a fresher who is standing with us.

Sahil started his speech again, ‘Oye Cunts and Bitches, This is ‘Gottu Dadu’, Our godfather, if I ever found
out about anyone going against him, well I won’t do anything but Dadu here is the brother of Gaitonde
Dada and all the parties and the stuff you gonna need are sponsored by our dada only, Big round of
applause for Gottu Dadu’

The whole hostel started hooting and clapping for the guy beside me, I looked at him and he was
smiling,

‘Niche Dekh Gandu’(‘look down asshole ! ’), he told me again.

I kept my head down, Sahil came towards me.

‘Hey look who we have with us, The famous Romeo’, Sahil said while laughing at me.

I was about to lose my patience with Sahil when Ishaan stopped me and nodded to stay cool.

‘Give me your phone Cunt!’, Sahil said to me tilting his head.

I had no option than to submit myself to his terms, I was hesitating at first, but Ishaan helped and
practically placed the phone in his hands.

‘Oye, These two are gonna be my bitches, shift their room to mine, and I’ll do their ragging myself, you
enjoy with others’, Gottu Said to Sahil in a bossy tone.
‘But this Romeo is mine Dadu’, Sahil said hesitatingly pointing towards me.

Dadu went straight up against Sahil’s face and said ‘say that again bitch!’.

Sahil went silent, it was visible that Gottu was the only boss around there. He signalled us to follow him,
while Sahil was looking at me for some kind of revenge,

Ishaan and I kept our head down, and started following Gottu, Sahil came towards me and handed me
my phone back, ‘till next time Romeo’, he said.

Gottu was walking up the stairs and silently we were following him, we reached the terrace, It was a nice
atmosphere, more open with fresh year, different from the brandy smelling common room.

There were many tables and chair across the terrace, Gottu went and sat on of them,

‘Sit bitches!’, Gottu ordered us and we followed.

‘This terrace is restricted to the freshers, once you go to the second year, anyone can come here, but
since you guys are mine now, you can come anytime you want’, Gottu said.

I felt kinda relieved, that I had someone powerful as my roommate but his abuse was still pretty
upsetting.

‘Can I ask something’, I asked in a breaking voice.

Gottu saw that I was nervous and he reached his pocket, and took out a ciggratte pack and offered me
one.

‘No, we don’t smoke sir’, I said.

Gottu chuckled, he reached down his backpocket and took out a bad-ass tin lighter, rolled down fire to
light his ciggratte.

‘Life ain’t so simple cunts!, it’s goint to be tough, Family expectations, backstabbing friends, dumbass
breakups and broken hearts, you will soon be craving for this my friends’, Gottu said in an emotional
voice.

And that changed my view for him, I was before a broken man, who was just using nicotine to stop
thinking about the weights he was having, and also for the first time he called us friends.

‘you see that building, just stay out of there and always near me dick and your whole semester will go
faster than you cum!,’ Gottu Said while pointing a big 7 floor dark abandoned building.

‘Why is that building so dark ?’, Ishaan asked interrupting Gottu.

Gottu looked at Ishaan and Said, ‘Calm down!, That was going to be the new girls hostel, but some bitch
jumped from there, her suicide stopped the construction, after than some noobs from our hostel spread
the rumour about that bitch’s ghost roaming around & the college restricted that space.

Gottu threw his half burned ciggratte frustatingly towards my leg and continued,’ you know that was my
idea to make girls hostel near our hostel so that everyone can have a view you know, but that bitch had
to jump just before days of opening’.
Ishaan and I nodded positively acknowledging whatever he was saying.

‘You are a fresher right?, Then why Sahil called you a senior’, Ishaan asked, and that question then
intrigued me too.

‘I am a dropper, I am with this college for four years now, the college doesn’t throw me out because of
my brother, he is a politician here and his power supports this college and their trustees & I enjoy this
simple college life why would I ever leave?’, Gottu Said.

His introduction made a lot of sense as why the seniors were afraid of him, and why Sahil wasn’t the
boss anymore.

‘My real name is Gaurav, but you bitches can call me gottu just like the others, and you guys are safe
now, no one will do your ragging just take my name’, Gottu added.

I took a big breath, finally the luck was swaying towards my way.

‘Enough about me, Introduce yourselves now and purely in hindi’, Gottu said while looking at us.