Andrew—

One time I see her sad and lonely, the other time she's laughing her heart out. It seems like nothing had ever happened and her life was full of joy.

After being thrown out of the class two days back, I lost interest in attending classes today especially when I had to deal with a very difficult project topic. I was the group leader and I was supposed to be the one to do the coding part. Documentation and survey could be easily done by the other guys but implementation technique had to be effective and suitable.

I had taken my car out of the parking and was driving straight from Vasco to Margao. I wanted to play football. When I was yet driving, I had received a message from Lionel saying that there were matches that day in college. When I asked him the timings, he said he did not know and told me to find it from the sports sir. When I reached DBCE, there was a lot of noise and people were all around the football ground. I guessed there might be some match going on but went to ask William about the football matches.

His door was locked. Shit! What was I supposed to do now? I did not even have a spare football with me. I had driven all the way 30 kms just to find that the sir is not there.

I had gone out almost stomping my feet towards the ground. Some game was going on, I guess tug-of-war. Who would play such a lame game in an engineering college?

A hearty laughter had jerked me from my thoughts and I was shocked to see the same mystery girl laughing with some other girls. I was utterly confused then. She had worn a white top with lace coat which made her look like a bride. I smiled internally. I had to go talk to her, I had thought.

Gathering all courage I had I asked her about that day's football matches but all I got was a rude reply.

I was shocked but answered her anyway. "Thought you knew because you seem to like spending time near the ground." That had got into her. She had stood motionless there while I moved towards my car.

I came to know that DBCE had organized their yearly event and that is why people were playing tug-of-war yesterday.

Sir William called me and asked me to come to college because he wanted me to organize few things. I did not want to go to their college and confront the same mystery girl again. It seemed to me that she was just everywhere in college, especially when I would come to visit the college. Our first conversation was also not interesting. She was cold to me.

But what more could I expect from a girl who confronted with a stranger like me? I wanted to take back whatever I said yesterday to her. I knew deep inside she was hiding some deadly pain she was having but did not want to show it on the surface.

After reaching college past afternoon, I made my way towards William's office. Thankfully, he was there and he handed me some papers. They were some NSS volunteers mark sheets. All the tasks done by various volunteers were written on the sheets. I quickly glanced at the tasks they had done. Cleaning the backyard, malaria awareness rally, garbage disposal, cleaning the football ground and so on were there on various sheets. Many of the volunteers were absent on most days but one particular girl was present on all days. She got an A for her excellence in National Social Service.

I raised my eyebrows at that. Susan- something - was her name. I did not get her surname though because it was just scribbled in a very bad handwriting. After completing my task, sir told me about the matches. They were not there two days back as Lionel had told me but were supposed to be conducted in the coming month. I thanked him and wished him good night before leaving his office.

I went to my car and was about to open the door when my eyes fell on the back of a girl. She was sitting on the wall facing the ground. She was wearing a black 3 ¼ sleeve top which had silver bead work on it. It shone in the sunset light. Her jeans were faded blue and the overall look just suited her thin frame. Before I knew it, she turned around and embarrassingly I had to look down.

Her expression turned shocked to annoyed and she got up to walk away.

"You really like the view from that wall, don't you?" I asked her hoping she wouldn't doubt me of stalking her.

"Do I know you?" she asked neutral.

"Doesn't matter for me because you try to look normal when you're not." I back answered.

She opened her mouth several times to say something but couldn't find the words.

"Last time I saw you, you were sad and heartbroken and yesterday I saw you, you were laughing your heart out. Two sided much, isn't it?" I shrugged my shoulders as if I was questioning my own self.

"Are you stalking me?" She asked narrowing her eyes. When I did not answer her she continued.

"By the way, I wasn't sad the other day, I was just tired. By the way why would you care if I'm happy or sad? I'm perfectly happy with my life." She turned to walk away but before she could take a step further I asked, "Are you?"

She stood dead in her tracks and turned around slowly to face me. I opened my car door and putting one foot inside said, "You can tell me, I mean, about whatever is bothering you."

I smiled at my daring and the coolness I showed on the surface on my face.

I reversed my car and taking one last glance at her from the rear mirror, drove away from the college.

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Short chapter, i know but hope you like it. Andrew still has to find who is this mystery girl he sees in the college. So bear with me and please vote, comment share.

XOXO