Chapter 3: Conflict feeling

From that day they became closest friend forever. Tanisha kept her promise she made to Anushka, that she would be there whenever Anushka needed her.

It's 2017, they are adult now. They both celebrated their 19th Birthday along with some of their close friends and had a family party with each other's family. They got their higher secondary results and both scored very well. They both decided that they would choose a career on computer engineering. They attended the same college.

Anushka's room :

"Are you excited Tani?", asked Anushka while rummaging through her cupboard..

"Yes obviously, how exciting that we are going to college in next 2 days.", Tanisha said.

Closing the cupboard door, Anushka stood in front of the mirror and arranged a dress in front of her from top to bottom.

Tanisha was scrolling her phone. Anushka called out to Tanisha, "Hey, look at me…."

"What?", said Tanisha, keeping her head down towards the phone screen.

“Arehh!! look at me. I'm talking to you. What are you looking at your phone? Look at me Tani." said Anushka dryly.

"Wha...", Tanisha couldn't finish her sentence and stared at Anushka through the mirror with her mouth wide open.

Anushka starts laughing looking at Tanisha's face in the mirror.

"Haha.. look at your face.. hahaha.. hey tell me would this outfit be appropriate for fresher's night?"

Tanisha regains her composure while Anushka's laugh.

"Um.. You'll look pretty in this.", Tanisha said without taking her eyes off Anushka.

"Hold on, I can't wait to wear it, I'm gonna wear this dress right away." she said excitedly.

“Yeah...", said Tanisha.

Anushka entered the washroom and closed the door. Tanisha started shaking her head continuously and thought, “What happened to me? Why was I looking at her like this? It was as if everything else around had disappeared before my eyes. It was as if the world stood still and only she existed before me."

While Tanisha was thinking about all of this, Anushka opened the washroom door and entered the room. Anushka, stood in front of Tanisha and said, "Look", immediately Anushka turned round once and showed the whole dress. Tanisha came out of her thoughts on hearing Anushka's voice, she was sitting on the bed suddenly stood up and stared at Anushka. Anushka immediately turned round once and showed her the whole dress. Tanisha was mesmerized by her beauty. She looks stunning in her backless dress. She couldn't take her eyes off of her. Tanisha felt like she was obsessed with her beauty.

"Say something Tani.... I am waiting for your review.", Anushka said anxiously.

Tanisha can't hear anything she just looks at her.

"Hey... what happened?", Anushka said and shook her by her hand.

Tanisha came out of her daze and asked, "What did you say?"

"Arey baba, I asked you that does this dress suits me or not?"

"Yes, you look beautiful. Um.. Anu I have to go. Bye.", saying Tanisha suddenly left her room.

"Oi, what happened!", Anushka shouted but Tanisha ran without hearing her and went out of her house.

On the street, Tanisha is walking on the sidewalk and her mind is lost in deep thought. The incident is repeating itself in her mind. "Why was I looking at her like this? When she stood before me I forgot about the outside world, there was only she and her beauty. I did not see anything else in that room. I just wanted to see her. What is all this happening? I've never really felt like this before. At that moment, my heart beat was very fast. Anu is very beautiful, I liked all dresses. But today's backless dress seemed to make her more beautiful, charming and more gorgeous. I have no idea what's going on with me, I'll have to find out soon."

On the other hand, "Why was Tani behaving like that? Why did she leave like this? What's wrong with her! No no I have never seen her like this before. She was lost in her own thoughts. Is something bothering her? I should talk to her.”, Anushka thought after Tanisha left without hearing her.

After sometime Anu take her phone and sent a message to Tani, “Hey, have you reached home safely?"

Tani reaches her home around 8:30pm and keeps roaming around her room. She kept thinking about the incident in Anu's room. Meanwhile, a WhatsApp message tone rang on her mobile. Tani takes the phone from her desk and sees that Anu has messaged her. But she didn't open the message box, she felt terrible then. She is very confused about her strange behavior. She left her phone and went to the washroom. After getting fresh, she came to her room and now took her phone and opened Anu's WhatsApp message and started typing the message.

On the other hand, Anu is still looking at her phone wondering when she will be online. About 15 minutes later Tani comes online and shows "typing" in her inbox. Anu breathed a sigh of relief that at least she was talking.

"Yes, arrived around 8:30pm.", answered Tani.

"Oh, at least you could have texted me that you got home.", Anushka said.

"Hmm.."

"What hmm? I was worried. You left my room like that and you didn't call or text me when you came home! What happened to you Tani? Tell me, is there something that's worrying you?"

"Tani I'm worried. Please tell me if you face any kind of problem or anything. Don't be so quiet."

"Hey, it's okay. Don't worry. Just felt a little uncomfortable then."

"What? What happened? Why didn't you tell me? You're giving me one panic attack after another."

"Nothing much, I felt suffocated for a moment so I left, I'm sorry to stress you out."

"Yes you should be. Bye."

"Wait.. Accha baba sorry sorry sorry. I promise I will never do this again please don't leave...", she immediately sent a voice message.

Anu listens to the voice message, but is still a bit upset about everything, at this point Tani makes a video call. Anu immediately received the call and saw Tani holding her ears with her both hands and makes a sad face. Seeing Tani's cute act, Anu smiled a little and said, “Okay, enough. You don't have to do that."

Tani said, “No, I'm really sorry that I made you worry. Promise I won't do that again in the future."

Anu smiled and said, “Okay.. Apology accepted. I'm coming to your place tomorrow, let's go shopping together. We need to look cool on our first day at college."

"Good plan, ok come at 11am. We'll go shopping and have lunch. Watch a movie on the way back."

"Yup movie time. See you tomorrow, bye. Mom is calling for dinner", said Anu.

"Yeah bye Gablu good night, take care, see you tomorrow.", Tani said. Gablu is Anu's nickname, given to her by Tani.

Talking to Anu, Tani's mind became much lighter. That conflicted feeling is no longer in her mind. She left the phone and went downstairs for dinner.

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