Chapter 89: Abhirami

"So, what is it, Mr Sadanandan?" Abhirami asked as she took a seat really close to Taro. However, Taro didn't quite like how close she was, so he decided to keep a certain distance from her. But, Abhirami didn't stop her advances and continued sitting uncomfortably close to him. In the end, he decided to have a chat with her while walking around the class.

"Umm… How are you doing in class these days?" He asked, trying to ease up the conversation before asking her about the troubles she was facing.

"Well, the classes had been pretty fun since you came in as the class teacher! Before that, it was all a dread…" She said with a smile on her face.

"Dread before I came, huh? Did the other teachers bully her or something? Well, I wouldn't be much surprised if they did, but that's real low, people!" Taro cursed at the teachers inwardly. "You know… if you got something troublesome going on, you can always tell me!" Taro offered his help in hearing her troubles.

Upon hearing this, Abhirami hesitated a bit. Seeing her do so, Taro was sure that she was hiding something that seriously burdened her. He didn't want her to burden something troublesome. However, he couldn't outright ask her to say the stuff that's been bothering her, because that would be considered as bothering her as well. He believed that may be him calling her out like this to have a talk could be considered as a bother as well. Since it didn't seem like he had much of a choice, he decided to put the best smile he practiced for countless years before his mirror, as if it was meant to say that he trusted in her and would listen to her troubles.

Abhirami was melted by seeing such a gentle smile. Little did she know that this smile was the product of years of hard work. Initially, Taro didn't know how to smile. He couldn't smile after his parents died. So, the lesser he smiled, the more people considered him to be repulsive among the social circles. No matter how much he tried, he couldn't even get people to accept him for a part-time job. In the end, he finally got the construction worker job which didn't particularly care about him smiling. He thought that he was satisfied with such a workplace where he didn't have to mingle with people; he thought that being able to provide for yourself was enough and there's no room for unnecessary camaraderie with random people. That was, until he met him.

"Mr. Sadanandan!" Abhirami shook Taro as violently as she could to try to wake him out of his trance and she succeeded in doing so.

"Ah, what happened?" Taro asked as he gently pushed Abhirami away from him. He was so engulfed in the past that the story about his fake smile ended up someplace entirely different.

"I don't know! You were the one spacing out like that! Aren't you the one who's supposed to answer?" She asked.

"Well, I'm slightly nervous, I guess?" He blurted out. True, he was slightly nervous about holding a civil conversation with someone who doesn't know the meaning of private space. However, that wasn't the reason for him spacing out. Since, he already told her that, he didn't think of correcting it. He's supposed to hear her troubles, not the other way around!

"Ah, I didn't think this would create such an immense pressure on you. I feel bad for you, I truly do… So, you don't have to trouble yourself in doing this." Abhirami sighed. She could see her class teacher sweating, and she felt bad.

"Oh, what a sweet child… She understood that I had slight trouble in talking with her, and now she's ready to postpone our talk to some other day? I should thank her…" Is what Taro thought, before a bomb was dropped by Abhirami.

"I am interested in someone else anyway. So, if you said that you liked me, it would've placed me in a really difficult position." She said as if she saw nothing weird about it.

"I'm sorry, what?" Taro couldn't comprehend what just happened before him.

"You called me aside to tell that you actually love me, right? I saw you when you were trying to take a look at me in that last period. I had expected you to come to me with this sooner or later, so I'm glad that you came in this soon. So… Here's my answer. As much as I wanna tell that I like you as well, I'm involved in a romantic relationship with someone else. Therefore, I have no choice but to reject your proposal. I'll give you a call when I'm available. Is that okay?" She said.

"What the…" Taro couldn't even believe what he just heard.

"Look, I know you're really sad. But, you gotta be brave about it, alright? You're the class teacher. You have a job to do. Be diligent about it for now. We'll think about us at a later time." She spoke as she patted his shoulders. At this point, Taro didn't even care about pushing her aside. He was furious.

"How self-centered can a girl even be for her to have this sorta illusion? Look here, bitc…" He was about to rain profanities at her, before remembering that he's her class teacher now, so he had to give respect to the part he was playing and talk calmly to her. "It's nothing like that. I'm not interested in you. Not even the slightest!" He spoke.

"Huh, why? Is it because I'm not attractive enough to suit your taste?" She asked. She was ready to reject him because she thought that he was interested in her. However, now that he said that he didn't actually like her, she wanted to know the reason behind it.

"No, no… You're really attractive. However, you're my student… We have obviously a huge age difference as well. I'm thirty, you see…" He replied, trying his best not to tick her off.

"I'm fine with that sorta age difference… Especially when it's someone as sexy as you." Abhirami spoke as he pulled him closer.

"Hey, hey, hey! What sorta behavior is this? Don't you like someone else? You're acting too much like a sl*t… Wait, I shouldn't say that about a student even though that's true. Also, if this was a boy, people would call him a stud and applaud such behavior. I mean, why is being a stud even a good thing? Doesn't that mean you're a cheating asshole. Crap, I'm getting off point." Taro quickly gathered himself before thinking of something to get out of this situation. "I have a fiancé!" He gave out the only excuse he could think of.

Upon hearing this, Abhirami moved away and clicked her tongue. "Who is it?" She asked.

"Someone from my place." He replied with conviction.

She clicked her tongue yet again. "Do you love her?" She asked.

"Yes. With all my heart." He replied.

She sighed. "Then you should've said so earlier. I wouldn't have pulled a move at you. I don't like stealing someone else's boyfriend. Like, men shouldn't cheat a maiden like that." She replied.

"Says the girl who tried to score with me while having an affair with someone else. What kinda double standard is it? Anyway, what's with teenagers on this planet trying to get into a relationship this early? The crappers back in my planet are usually busy trying to destroy areas in their age. Why are these kids so mature in this planet?" Taro thought while staring hard at Abhirami.

Uncomfortable by the stare, she took the matters to her own hands. "So, why did you even call for me then?" She asked.

"Well, I wanted to see if you had anything troubling you and if you do, I thought maybe we could have a talk about it…" Taro replied.

"Hmm… How good are you in love related things?" She asked.

"As good as any other guy." He replied.

"Well, that's good enough for me!" She said as she dragged Taro into a seat to have a talk.

#

"Okay, so you're saying that you're actually interested in a guy and to learn more about him, you befriended his best friend, who is equally attractive. And that friend told you that your crush actually likes you, but by then you and his friend had already got attracted to each other and got yourself in a relationship. Now, your former crush is aware of the entire story, however the poor idiot is still attracted to you and now things are getting awkward between you and your boyfriend because of this unnecessary emotion of his friend towards you and he is currently stuck in this situation where he has to pick either you or his best friend, your former/current crush, for him to actually happy. Isn't that right?" Taro summarized what he actually listened to in one breath.

"Yea, that's basically it. What do you think?" She asked.

"This girl! Did she want me to be her third fiddle or something? Trying to triple-time… You're actually evil, aren't you?" Taro felt horror as he stared at the girl before him.

Meanwhile, Shivani, who was walking towards the classroom to call Taro, saw him and her best friend "happily" chatting and decided to leave them alone for now. "Seems like those two are having quite fun there!" She mumbled with a bright smile on her face.

#