A Strange Little Aquaintence-2. (Concluding part) #memorableinstances7

That evening at the garden I was on a call with my sister. We were together making plans for the Ruby Anniversary of our parents which was a few months away. We wanted to have a small family celebration. Since our father was suffering from cancer we had to check the logistics for the same.

I was continuously walking around the garden talking to my sister, while Dhruv was sitting on a bench constantly watching me. When my legs started to hurt I sat down on a  bench different from the one Dhruv was sitting on. Dhruv spotted the same, came running and sat very close to me. I saw him and subconsciously moved away a little while still on the phone. After a while as I finished the call, Dhruv instantly repeated what he had told me many times before.

" Aunty, I really like you. You are too sweet." 

To which I replied, " You too are a very sweet kid Dhruv. But you mustn't waste your time this way sitting idle in the evening...You must ..."

" Aunty I want to tell you something" Dhruv interrupted.

"Yes Dhruv?"

'Aunty, not here, there"

Dhruv pointed to somewhere.

I looked at the direction I couldn't understand, as he was pointing to some corner of the society. 

"Dhruv tell me right here what you want to say. Are you scared?"

I tried to contemplate what could be going on in this little boy's mind. Is he scared of any bullies in the society and thats why he comes down at a time when nobody is playing? I wondered.

 It was time for me to pickup my kid, yet I asked Dhruv once again. But he insisted on telling me only in that wierd spot that he pointed to.

Dhruv's behaviour was confusing me. But I had no time to stretch this further. I said bye to him and started walking towards the building where my kid has his class.

As I entered the building, I got a feeling that Dhruv was behind me and I turned back. Before I could say anything to him, he made an action asking me to bend down like he wanted to tell me a secret. Curiously I bent to reach his height. I got my ear close to him to listen. Dhruv shockingly had some other plans. In a fraction of second, he moved swiftly from my side and brought his face in front of mine and tried to kiss me. Thankfully due to my good reflexes I jerked and stoodup abruptly at the right time.

"Aunty, I really like you" he said again. 

This kid was just three years older than mine.  I had a burst of emotions at that time. I was hurt, thinking on where did I go wrong? Immensely angry at his nonsense, unacceptable behavior. And praying no one saw what just happened, I was scared too.

I did not say a word to him and turned back. Took quick steps in the direction towards the class and rang the door bell. Dhruv came running behind me and the teacher opened the door. She saw me along with Dhruv standing next to me and was naturally confused. 

Dhruv ran away.

I narrated the whole instance to my son's teacher. She was indeed shocked too. She briefed me little about Dhruv's family. Dhruv's father had passed away a month ago at a young age. Dhruv is the only child of his parents. Which means he has seen tough times in his small age. Possibly the young age widow mother in her mourning phase is not doing justice in spending valuable time with her kid, to understand him better. 

The teacher offered that she could have a word with Dhruv's mother on this. At first I felt it is the right thing to do. But on a second thought I realized this could go against me. The chances for his mother believing this were rare. And what if Dhruv in panic twists the story and puts the blame on me? That could make things messy and risky for me. I was already in a lot of stress due to my father's health and had no patience to add anything further to it.  I chose not to take this matter further and decided not to wait in their society in future. 

The next week after that instance Dhruv was again waiting for me at the entrace of the garden, I saw through him and walked away. That was it. After that, whenever I have seen him, he has been happily riding his cycle, sometimes with his other friends too. If he noticed me, he would give a shy smile and look away.

Now when I think about it, I grin at the irony of life. While in my college, the guys were scared to have a crush on me. The reasons probably I will mention in my later blog. On Rose day,  even if I would get a rose, the sender would definitely be anonymous. Never had I imagined then, that almost 15 years later, while in my thirties there will be this little brat, one forth of my age, having a crush on me and  would be bold enough to go overboard in expressing the same too!