The semester was heading to an end with a little more than a week to pretests . It was to be followed by PL's, exams and a semester break. On their many encounters, Shanaya and Abhimanyu behaved as normally as they could. They always passed each other as strangers who had nothing to do with each other. Shanaya always looked away or passed with a straight face as if he doesn't exist. He wished, she looked  his way on some days.

             He tried to wrap his head around Shanaya royally ignoring him. He wondered if she recognized that it was him with her that night. But then he argued that he was popular enough to be not known to her. He remembered that she was quite stressed that night and there was quite a possibility that she didn't look at him properly. He reasoned that may be she missed  his name in the pitter- patter of rain. He made himself understand that may be she knows the popular boy that he was  but not as the boy who accompanied her to the hostel that rainy night. Still, it all seemed too far fetched. He thought it was better to leave the whole thing with the status incomprehensible.

             Ram and Abhimanyu were both sitting at their study tables reading something when Yash flunged open the door and dropped himself on his bed. He was beaming with happiness. He lay on his bed thinking for some time. Then, he took a long deep breath that got him the attention of his both the room mates.

Yash: Meena proposed me and I said yes. He said it fast and loud with a blushing face.

Ram: Oh My God!. His mouth open in amazement.

Ram: Congratulations, Dude!

Yash: Thank you.

Abhimanyu: Finally!

Abhimanyu: I was expecting it long time back. Congratulations, Yash! Meena is a nice girl.

Ram: Wow! One of our roommates has a girlfriend now. This calls for celebration!

Yash: We can drink up the left over whisky that we got from the Blue Mountain. I have it in my closet.

Ram: Yeah, we'll. But not now. May be later in the night.

Abhimanyu: We'll miss you, dude.

Yash: I'll also miss you guys. You guys take care.

Ram: What nonsense. Where is he going?

Abhimanyu: To Meena! He spontaneously said. And they all laughed.

Ram: What yaar! Nobody proposes us. Poor us! He said  in a sad voice.

Yash: What is surprising is that nobody proposed Abhimanyu. He said and then laughed.

Yash: Did any girl propose you? He asked seriously.

Abhimanyu: No yaar, none. I don't think girl's like me.

Yash: I agree with you. I don't think you have a chance with any girl. I don't think girls can like you. He laughed

Abhimanyu: What! He said pretending shocked.

Ram: I envy him that he has everything that  girl's want and you are saying girl's won't like him.

Yash: He is too good and nice, and girls these days are into bad boys. Even the simple one's are attracted to bad boys. You know, there is something very mysterious and attractive about their personality. Look at me. I do everything bad. I drink, smoke, miss lectures and sit in cafe checking out girls. Yet, I get proposed.

Ram: But Meena is a good girl.

Abhimanyu: That's what he is saying. Good girls also like bad boys . Nobody likes good boys. Do you get it now?

Ram:Oh!

Yash: Okay let me give you another example from my class. There is this girl Shanaya. Abhi, you remember, the one from my class in the volleyball match.

Abhi: Yes.

His heart started beating faster at her name and what he was going to hear about her.

Yash: Now Shanya is this very sweet, pretty, simple and nice girl. She is also friends with, guess who?

Ram and Abhi: Who?

Yash takes his time.

Ram: We don't know. Now, you tell.

Abhimanyu: Give us a hint.

Yash: Only one who bragged about how he dated three four girls at the same time in his school. The one who lost his virginity at fourteen. That guy.

Abhimanyu: Sandeep.

Ram: Oh, that dude from your class.

Yash: Yes. Meena told me he even proposed her roommate Shilpa. And my guesses are now he is trying on Shanaya.

Ram: I have heard he has even tried drugs. His dad is filthy rich and as far as my information goes even Shilpa hails from a rich business family.

Ram: Have you seen his sexy bike?

Abhimanyu: Everybody has seen it. So, what were you telling about them? Are they boyfriend girlfriend? He tried not to get the topic deviated from Shanaya to bikes.

Yash: No, I don't think so. As of now, she seems good friends with him. What I mean to say is that a simple girl like Shanaya is also charmed by him and the last time I saw them, they were standing in a hidden corner and talking. So, I think he is trying on her.

Ram: I think simple girls are rather more attracted to bad boys. Our class is full of simple girls and we two good boys haven't been proposed by any. Can you believe it?

Ram: I was expecting minimum two girls to propose a good boy like me and all of them to propose Abhimanyu instead of sitting and salivating behind him.

Ram: But I am happy for you Yash. Your good days are near.

Yash: I am hoping to get a lot of action. He said and smiled mischievously.

Abhimanyu: Don't try to run too fast on that track.

Abhimanyu: Saavdhaani baratni zaroori hai warna accident hone ki sambhavna adhik hai (Observe caution else there are higher chances of you meeting with an accident)

They all laughed out loud.

Ram: And then Yash will not only have Meena but also Munna. He said imitating a crying baby.

They laughed even harder.

            Meena in her room breaks the news to her roommates Shilpa and Mona.

Meena: There is something I want to tell you girls.

Shilpa: You look very excited. What is it?

Meena hugs Shilpa. And then she hugs Mona.

Shilpa: I have been wanting to propose Yash. I was not sure if he'll accept or refuse. Today evening, I proposed him in the tennis court and he said yes. You have no idea how happy I am.

Shilpa: I'm so happy for you, girl.

Mona: I'm also very happy for you. What can be better than two people who like each other,find each other.

Shilpa: You are brave to propose. I mean, I could never do that. I can make a guy propose me but not propose him. Good that Yash said yes.

Mona: Why do people always feel that a guy should propose. Why can't a girl propose? I mean what's wrong in it?

Shilpa: It's just that whole boys hostel will know that this or that girl proposed him even when they refuse the proposal. They love to brag how girls are dying after them and also because a girl proposing a boy is rare.

Mona: Common Shilpa! Even girls do the same.

Shilpa: At least they don't make it look like how bad the guy was pining for her but boys do that. It becomes a joke for them. Anyways cut out this discussion.

Mona: How did it all happen?

Meena: We met in the badminton court , the first time. After that we got to play together a lot of times and then we started hanging out. As I got to know him, I felt more  and more attracted towards him. I want to mention here how good looking he is. Not in the league of Abhimanyu, but Yash is easily the next most handsome guy in our college. That's what I feel. Playing tennis together every evening only furthered the things.

Shilpa: Were only two of you always playing in the court? Nobody else comes and plays there  what?

Meena: Not always, but most of the times. Sometimes his friend Abhimanyu also joins us.

Shilpa and Mona: What! Abhimanyu played with you?

Shilpa: You know Abhimanyu?

Meena: Not really. But he is Yash's roommate and a very close friend of his.

Later that night after dinner, when Mona was out to her classmate's room.

Shilpa: Can I tell you something Meena.

Meena: Yes.

Shilpa: The guy I'm waiting to propose me is none other than Abhimanyu. The thing is how will he propose me if he doesn't get to know me. I didn't know how to become friends with him. Now that you told he comes to play badminton and is roommates with Yash, I think I have a chance to be friends with him.

Meena: Oh, do you want me to tell Yash to help you in this?

Shilpa: Oh no, please don't tell Yash anything at all about it. You got to promise me you'll never ever even hint him on this.

Meena: Then how?

Shilpa: Can I join you guys for badminton?

Meena: Yeah, but Abhimanyu rarely shows up. And it's not like we play everyday now.

Shilpa: Okay, let me know whenever you go next time. Let's see if I'm lucky. If not, I can always play a game or two with you guys. She smiled.

Meena: Alright. Done.

             With only a week to go for pretests, many had stopped coming out in the evening. Only few boys and couples hung out. Shilpa joined Yash and Meena twice for tennis that week, but Abhimanyu wasn't there. Shanaya wanted to walk up to canteen every evening but since she couldn't get anyone to accompany her, she had to stay back in the hostel. She was too scared to pass by him all by herself. She feared, she wouldn't be able to hide her nervousness to behave normal.

           On the last day of pretest, most of the students were out to celebrate. Abhimanyu who had not seen Shanaya for a week decided to hang around the campus to catch a sight of her. His roommates, who earlier had plans to go out in evening also decided to stay back. Abhimanyu told his roommates that he was out in the library to read and would join them on a walk  in the late evening.

              Shanaya was getting butterflies as she was positive to see him. She was a little sad about not doing that well in the pretests, but she promised herself to make up for it in the PLs. She  dressed up for Abhimanyu in the most beautiful knee length black dress that she had. In the evening she walked around the campus with her friends and then went to canteen with them. Shanaya's eyes wandered everywhere to spot Abhimanyu. When she did not spot him anywhere, she felt sad. The thought that he could be out and she might not see him brought her spirits further down.

               When Abhimanyu came out of the library, evening was getting darker.  He saw a group of his classmates talking. He joins them. Very soon Ram and Yash also join them. They all stood on the road by the lamp near the main building, chit chatting about the pretests. Abhimanyu stood facing the road to canteen while Yash and Ram had their backs to it.

              Shanaya was sure that Abhimanyu was not in the campus. She felt blue and didn't feel like listening or talking to her friends. So when they walked out the canteen, she walked quietly with her head down and thousand thoughts on what he must be doing.

               As Abhimanyu stood there chatting with his friends his eyes spotted Shanaya's bright face walking toward him lighting up the night. His heart starts beating faster. There was quite a distance she had to walk before she walked past him. Abhimanyu asks Yash to give him a cigarette. He tells his shocked friends that he wants to smoke to relieve the stress he got from the hectic pretests. Abhimanyu pops the cigarette in his mouth and Yash lights it for him.

             When Shanaya lifted her head,  she saw a cluster of boys standing  at a distance.  Her heart became hopeful of spotting Abhimanyu in that group. Few more steps  and  she spotted Abhimanyu standing tall under the lamp with a cigarette between his lips and smoke rising in air from the glowing end of the cigarette. She felt her heart palpitating and her eyes froze on the visual he was presenting. Her eyes couldn't dare to miss what looked like straight out of the  GQ magazine covers. He looked smoldering hot with a cigarette smoldering in his hands that hung by his side. Unlike other days, she didn't turn away her head, but stared him smoke until she was next to him.

           He flicked the ash off the lit end of the cigarette which made the it glow. With one hand in the pocket of his jeans,  he brought the hand that held the cigarette between his long fingers to his lips. He softly pressed the cigarette butt between his full bodied luscious lips and took a long drag of the cigarette. He then blew out a cloud of smoke in air. As he smoked in style, he stared her but never overdid it.

            When Shanaya was almost next to him, he looked straight into her eyes with cigarette between his lips as he took another puff and then exhaled the cloud of smoke behind her. After she had passed, he dropped the cigarette on the ground and crushed the lit end with his shoes. On being asked why he threw more than half the cigarette, he said he was done and didn't want to smoke more. His friends looked confused. 

           He couldn't believe what just got into him. He hated himself for breaking an important college rule of 'no smoking in campus'. He couldn't fathom what if someone reported and his parents were called. It was another thing that nobody ever reported such incidents. He couldn't understand why he was doing what he was doing and decides to stop going an extra mile to see her.

           Abhimanyu looked his sexiest that day. Shanaya was feeling so turned on that her body was on fire. They say smoking kills. Smoking might or might not kill him but he was killing her.