THE ANTITHESIS OF LOVE

SHOT 1

Written by saisthoughts

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"Sivaangi! This is the third party you've skipped out this month."

Sivaangi unplugged one side of her earphones, "Your point being?"

Her friend, Priya sighed dramatically, "My point is, you should come out more often! It'll be super fun tonight, we got a DJ from downtown, c'mon!"

Sivaangi shook her head a no and stuffed the key into her dorm room, "No I have a shift at Madison's and then I have the radio jockey thing."

Priya raised a carefully drawn eyebrow, "Radio jockey? Is that still alive?"

"Apparently so," Sivaangi said, flopping down onto the couch.

Priya frowned, "Boring. Ashwin will be there at today's party."

"And that's supposed to make me come?"

Priya shrugged, "He asked about you the other day."

Sivaangi looked up at her, her mind coming to a screeching halt. Infamous bad boy-very popular among the ladies- Ashwin Kumar was asking about her? She lowered her gaze to her phone, pretending to not care.

Priya retouched her lip gloss daintily, "He likes girls like you."

Sivaangi sighed, "I didn't realise I was a flavour of chips to be liked like that."

Priya stalked towards the door and said, "Don't be so stuck up babe, you need to let loose."

With that she blew a kiss in her direction before leaving out the door with her strawberry scented perfume following her. Sivaangi sighed and lowered herself into the bundle of blankets she had created for herself.

This was her safe space, her haven. Under the blankets, music blasting from her earphones and just herself to keep company. She didn't like to surround herself with people. They were exhausting, messy and too complicated.

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She pulled on her apron and sighed as she made the 15th coffee of the hour. She put on a smile and handed it over to the customer. It was the most mundane job in the world but she had to pay bills. The bell chimed in and she looked over to see a bunch of guys and girls enter. It was Ashwin and his bunch of friends.

She couldn't deny the fact that he was extremely attractive. With the tattoos and the leather jacket, very basic bad boy but he had a different air about him. His eyes found hers and they briefly sparkled for a moment before she looked away. Him and his other friend walked up to her to order. He leaned over the counter, his eyes boring into hers and his friend, Krithik, spoke.

"Hi, you're from the English literature course right?"

Sivaangi nodded, "Yeah."

Krithik smiled, "Sweet. We love English, don't we buddy?"

Ashwin nodded faintly, too busy staring at Sivaangi. Krithik said, "Dope to meet you. Now me and my friends want some coffee. Were like 10 people so we could get a group discount, right?"

Sivaangi sighed, "That would be something the manager has to approach and he's not here right now."

Krithik clicked his tongue, "A shame, it's fine. Hey, why don't you come to our party instead? It's happening tonight. It's like a pre-party to the bonfire."

Sivaangi gave him a strained smile, "Sorry, but I'm busy tonight."

Krithik tilted his head, "Doing what?"

Sivaangi looked at them, "I host the late night radio."

Ashwin spoke for the first time his voice deep and husky, "You host the radio?"

She avoided his gaze, "Yeah."

They said their orders but oddly she could feel a pair of eyes trained on her always. She found the same type of magnetism in his eyes she found in music. Like she was drowning. She looked away even as they got up but couldn't miss the pull of his chocolate eyes as he left the diner.

Extremely exhausted, she collapsed onto her fort of blankets. She must have fallen asleep in that position because when she woke up her neck hurt in odd places. She groaned as she cracked her neck and her phone rang. It was Rekha, her very ambitious and slightly overbearing Cultural representative. Before she could answer, the call was cut off and instead a message popped from her.

Rekha.

10 o'clock is your on air time. Be here by that time!

Sivaangi pulled herself from bed and dragged on a sweatshirt before trudging to the radio station. She found Rekha on standby. Her eyes widened as she saw Sivaangi.

"Finally! Okay, your air time has been shortened to 45 minutes because the Dean thinks we need save on the electricity.." she rambled.

"Rekha, focus." Sivaangi said and Rekha nodded sharply.

"Yes, anyways that's it. I have a meeting with the Engineering department about the bonfire so I need to rush. But do well! Oh, yes and the HOD said she wants to see you at the bonfire or else you and her will be having a "talk.""

Sivaangi groaned internally as Rekha walked. She plopped down on the chair and pulled on the headphones. She slid up the mono levels and the airing button. She took a deep breath and spoke into the mic,

"Hey everyone, this is Sivaangi back here to host the late night show for you guys. So excited to be here. The weather's great, drizzling at places. I hope you all are hyped for the bonfire as I am. So to match that mood I have a perfect song for you guys. You call in on the number 3001 2483 5643 for requests. Hope you enjoy."

off the table by Ariana Grande and The Weeknd

The music flowed into her headphones, ebbing onto her mind bringing her a peace like no other. S sighed as she fell back on the rolling chair. She could drown in music if she wanted to. Completely submerged, no worldly senses. The drug came to an end, bringing her out of the submerged world.

"That was a beautiful song to set the tone. Now before we move on, it seems as though someone's calling, let's see- Hi! Welcome to Brundts late night radio. What's your name?"

Silence was there on the other side before a deep voice broke through, "I have a question."

Sivaangi tilted her head, "Okay, what is it?"

"Are you depressed or something?"

Sivaangi blinked violently, "What?"

"No I mean, it's a very sad song so.."

Sivaangi scoffed, "It's not a sad song, it's about love that matures over time."

The line was silent again before, "But that never happens does it? Love never happens over time, it's a spark that happens when you meet someone."

Sivaangi frowned, "Not necessarily. You can't give a specific time and place you fell in love with someone."

"It is too long ago. I was in the middle before I knew what I had begun," the voice said. Sivaangi bit her lip, her stomach oddly fluttering,

"Did you just quote Pride and Prejudice on an Ariana Grande song?"

A deep rumble of laughter came from that side, "I believe I did."

Sivaangi smiled to herself, "Why don't you tell me your name?"

Silence again. Before, "How about this Sivaangi, I'll flip a coin right now and if it lands on tails I dojt need to tell you my name but it's heads I'll tell you."

Sivaangi swallowed, "How would I know you're not lying?"

"Oh, I'm definitely lying. But where's the fun if jm not?"

A sound of a coin flipping and splashing into water was heard. Sivaangi raised an eyebrow. The only water body in the campus was the fountain they had near the Elektra auditorium. There was silence and Sivaangi asked,

"So what did you get?"

"Erm..this is embarassing but it's very dark here so I couldn't catch the coin but eitherways I'm not telling you."

Sivaangi laughed out loud and clasped her hand over her mouth when she did. She hadn't laughed like that in forever.

"That seems unfair. I would like to know more about your pop culture refrences to old English literature."

"Don't worry, you'll be seeing me soon enough."

Sivaangi raised an eyebrow, "I will? How?"

"With loves light wings did I o'perch these walls."

Sivaangi laughed again, "Romeo and Juliet? Seriously?"

She could hear the grin in his voice, "Seriously. I'll see you around Sivaangi, I need to go now!"

The wind gushed by and then silence filled the line. She felt oddly high, her head didn't seem so heavy anymore. She inhaled deeply and spoke, "That was a very.. interesting conversation. Following that, we'll play a song now."

fool for you- Zayn

Sivaangi put down the headphones and rushed outside to the fountain near the auditorium. It was grandly empty, the pit in her stomach settling. The butterflies became faster oddly enough. She liked the mystery. The bushes nearby rustled and out of it came a very disheveled Priya and her boyfriend. Sivaangi raised an eyebrow and Priya asked as she adjusted her dress,

"What are you doing here?"

"What are YOU doing here?"

Priya shrugged and looked at her boyfriend sheepishly, "We were by the trees but it was crowded so we came here, but the. Ashwin came alo-"

"Wait, wait, Ashwin was here?" Sivaangi asked, her mouth slightly open. Priya nodded, "Yeah he was there the whole time. He was talking to someone on the phone."

Sivaangi gaped at her and blinked. She took a step behind and stamped on something. She lifted her shoe up and saw a coin, heads facing open. She stared at the coin, her mind, fitting all the pieces. Except one big question remained her mind,

Why the hell was the playboy of her University wooing her?

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Written by saisthoughts

A part of the Zokuhen Collaboration

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