Author's notes: This is a true story of my own experience that happened two years ago. Names have been changed for privacy reasons.
Author: SnehaRoy
Editor: Clement94
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The second year at medical schools in India is relatively rugged, with classes in the morning and ward duties in the evening. It was in 2018 that I cracked the nation level medical entrance to get a chance to study in one of the most prestigious medical colleges in Delhi and I had just turned 19.
Among all the other good things, I met Anirudh, my batchmate. His smartness, knowledge and personality were extremely appealing to everyone at college. But he chose to woo me and we started dating after the first 4 months in college. He was cute, taller than me at 5'9" and clean shaved. He was good at football, had a charisma to make friends easily and was extremely courteous.
I am Sneha, 5'2", have a round face and always prefer to keep my hair tied in a neat ponytail. Due to my height and extremely child-like face, the usual compliments I get are "Cute and sweet." Often people even ask me if I study in a high school.
Anirudh was my first boyfriend. I never dated in high school even though I used to get multiple proposals. That was because: Firstly, I was extremely career eccentric. And secondly, because I didn't want to fall in love with someone who my parents would never approve of. But now that I have got into a medical college, dating Anirudh felt like the right choice. He was going to be a doctor too and hence my parents would certainly never disapprove of him. Moreover, what impressed me about him was his sense of humor and smartness. In the initial days of college, he would help me study in the college library, much to the envy of other girls. And I personally loved that, I had always been extremely competitive and wanted nothing but the best for myself. So when Anirudh walked into my life: handsome, smart, desirable to most other college girls, I couldn't resist but accept him!
After classes, we would walk together to the nearby cafeteria for lunch, then have short evening walks outside the campus in our first year. And finally return to our respective hostels after a cup of tea at the tea stall outside the college gate. Everyone at campus knew about our relationship and we were often called the "sweetest couple" at college. It was my first relationship, and I was living through every high of it: from "goodmorning" texts to "goodnight" texts, from evening walks to parties... Anirudh loved me a lot, he wasn't extremely possessive or jealous. He never even pressurized me for sex. We did kiss and also made out a few times, but never went all the way. I just wanted our relationship to remain this way. I didn't want to lose my virginity before marriage.
We met each other's parents during the end-of-term vacation. And they knew about our relationship too. I was glad to find my parents, who had always been really conservative, not objecting to him.
Our relationship was going smoothly for 15 months, until that day in November. I was at ward duty in the afternoon. I was walking down the hospital lobby with Anirudh, when a man walked up to us.
"Excuse me, doctor, can you please tell me where the X-Ray room is?" He asked politely. He was tall, wearing a grey T-shirt, well built, had a neatly trimmed beard and looked about 25-27 years old.
For someone, who has been called a school girl at first sight all her life, this came as a pleasant surprise. He assumed me to be a doctor because I was wearing my apron and stethoscope.
"Walk straight, second right and you'll find it to your left," I said.
"Thank you doctor," he greeted with a smile and walked off.
The next day, I was standing with my friends at the tea stall near the campus gate during break, when we saw that same man again. He parked his car, walked out of it holding a large envelope in one hand and sunglasses in the other.
"Hey, that's an Audi A8?" Commented Sourav, one of my friends. Anirudh nodded in agreement as his eyes were fixed on that man approaching us, more specifically: me.
"Hey doctor, I hope I am not interrupting you. Thankyou for that little help yesterday. Got my X-ray done. Today I'm here for the diagnosis," he addressed me particularly in my group, showing me the X-ray plate envelope in his hand.
I nodded with a polite smile.
"Would you mind if I talk to you for a second, doc?" He asked. I excused myself from the group and walked a little distance apart from the others.
"Since I got my X-ray done, can you look into it if there is any reason for concern?"
I wanted to tell him that I am just a student and not a doctor, but I didn't want to break that bubble.
"Sure. Can I see it?" I said.
"Oh sure. Here it is," He took out the plate and handed it to me. I raised it in the air and studied it. It was a normal thoracic X-ray (chest region). I studied hard but was unable to find any abnormality.
"What is the problem that you have?" I asked.
"Severe chest pains at times," He said.
"Hmm. Do you smoke?" I asked.
"Oh yeah, I do! Is it something due to smoking?" He asked.
"Well, the doctor inside will be able to tell you that," I said.
"Oh alright. Um, can I have your contact number doctor, just in case I need to contact you?" He asked.
"Well, I..." I hesitated for a second, took a quick glance at Anirudh. He was sipping tea and talking to his friends. "Yes, sure." I dictated my number to him. He returned a polite thanks and walked away towards the hospital. I went to join my group.
"Hey, what was he talking about?" Asked Sourav, sounding excited.
"Just, asking me to diagnose his report," I said and chuckled.
"Oh, we thought he was asking for your number," said Nisha.
"Audi A8, he must be really rich! Would have been a jackpot if he asked for Sneha's number!" Said Sourav and laughed.
I felt a tingling in my stomach. My friends were clearly impressed by that guy. And I loved that he was being associated with me. I always subtly loved to impress and be the centre of attention.
That evening, when I was at the hospital, I received a text in my phone, "Hello doctor!"
Even though I knew who it was, I wrote, "Who's this?"
"Varun, we talked in the morning. I asked for your number. Actually you were right doctor ma'am. I had my ECG done and the doctor there told me it is due to smoking."
"Oh, okay. I see. Btw, I am not a doctor, I'm just a medical student" I typed back.
"I know. I already knew it."
"Okay." I wrote, a little embarrassed.
"If truth be told, I just wanted to talk to you because I found you hot." His text read.
I was taken aback by that sudden confession. I bit my lip in a bid to prevent myself from blushing. Not because sudden compliments from men are rare to me, but because "hot" was indeed a new, and welcome change. I didn't reply to him anymore. He didn't text me either.
The next day at class I found myself checking my phone multiple times in anticipation for his text which didn't come. After classes, and ward, I skipped the routine evening walk with Anirudh that day saying I was tired. I returned to my room.
As soon as I undressed, I decided to confront Varun.
"Well, thankyou for the compliment," I wrote.
"You're welcome, doctor ma'am," He replied back immediately.
"I told you I'm not a doctor!"
"But you didn't tell me your name either. I've even saved your name in my phone as 'Doctor ma'am'."
I laughed. My roommate, Nisha, looked up from her books at me with a quizzical look on her face. I went and sat beside her and narrated everything and confided in her not to tell anyone else about it. She seemed excited. "Wow Sneha! He likes you! You should totally date him. He's both handsome and rich. Did you see his biceps in that T-shirt?"
I shot her a stern look. "Oh hello. What? I have a boyfriend! Don't forget that! And I am loyal to him!"
Varun and I talked that entire night. He told me he owns an IT hardware business and lives alone in his apartment with his dog. By morning at around 4 A.M., we connected on social media. His profile was, at first glance, mesmerizing! Larger than life photos of travel, mountains, beaches, his luxury apartment, his brown labrador, and his workout photos. Most of his workout photos were semi-naked. I couldn't help but notice his strong arms, the veins on them, his perfectly carved abs and chest, his glossy skin, his underpant bulging out in an attempt to constrain something big... All in all, he was the most alluring male specimen that I had ever seen. And what I would never usually say about men is that: he looked better without clothes.
"Hey Sneha, you prefer wearing traditional and ethnic dresses a lot, right?" He asked, after having checked my profile out.
"Yes," I said. "I do wear western, but rarely. Mostly I combine jeans with a kurta."
"Maybe you should try combining jeans with a tank top or crop top. Or try wearing shorter dresses. You have a great figure and you need to highlight it." He said.
I laughed and said "Yeah ok, suggestion accepted. Maybe I'll try sometime."
"You should. Let's go shopping someday and I'll get you some if you would allow. Would really love to!"
"Oh c'mon. We just started talking today and you've already started making plans?"
"Good delicacies are best served hot!" He said. I felt glad that he couldn't see me blush.
We talked a lot in the next few days, mostly at night when I would tell Anirudh that I was studying.
Varun would tell me about his tours and his lavish parties and I would tell him about my day at college. What amused me most was his ability to sugar-coat offensive flirtatious statements and drop bold compliments mid-conversation. For example, one day I told him I topped the class test and he said, "Damn, you are so hot that I feel like putting my water hose in you and extinguishing that fire."
I got annoyed by that, since I had a boyfriend and he very well knew it. But I did feel a fire ignite inside me. I didn't know what I was doing or where I was going with all of it, but I just enjoyed talking to him after the day's toil. He broke the monotonicity of my life and gradually started becoming an addiction. I couldn't sleep at night without talking to him.
I also admired how much detailed his observations about me would be. He'd say, "I like how your lower lip is fuller than your upper lip, perfect replica of Kylie Jenner. You know what does possessing a larger lower lip mean?"
