Chapter 50: You Set Me Up…

“…that’s enough philosophy for today, don’t you think?” A half-grin grew on Aanya’s face as she spoke into the silence.

“I would say it’s enough for a good, long while, actually.” Aakash mused in return. “Too much thinking.”

“Now, now, Professor, what would your students think if you taught them not to be philosophical because it requires too much thinking?” The rib came almost instantaneously.

“Dunno about that but I do know what my peers thought about a professor who philosophised every damn part of the stories we studied under him. God, did we hate him!” Aakash sighed. “Philosophy isn’t bad. But sir dragged it into every discussion…ah, no, into every lecture. Cuz only he spoke.”

“And our Aakash loves interactions so soooooo much, doesn’t he?” Aanya’s eyes were still closed but a mocking smile had made its appearance on her lips.

Aakash spluttered at the unexpected dose of sarcasm.

Grimacing as he saw his wife’s smile widening, Aakash hurried to explain himself, “…I just didn’t like interactions where people just made simple things needlessly complex! Sharing interpretations wasn’t so bad.”

“Oh, I meant interactions in general. You were all quiet and serious back when we started to attend parties and dinners together.”

“I’m not good with big groups! And when we first began attending together….” He shuddered, “There were so many people hounding me! Questions about how we met and blah blah blah…” Aakash trailed off, a long sigh escaping from him.

Looking down again, he noticed Aanya’s now-open eyes filled with glee. A complaining tone emerged, “You know that! Why do you always bring it up?”

Aanya raised a hand to caress his cheek, “It’s so much fun to tease you. Though did I ever tell you that when I informed you back then my parents were urgently calling me and left you there alone, it was actually just an act I set up with my cousin?”

“Huh?” Aakash looked down, flabbergasted.

“I knew what would happen if I left you alone! We have so many family friends! You’d be swarmed. Hehehe…”

“Wait, you wanted me to be alone with them?” The man was stupefied.

“Aryan never revealed it? I thought he’d let it slip with his big mouth.”

“You made me go through that horrifying experience on purpose…?” Aakash’s jaw fell open.

“Now, don’t exaggerate. It wasn’t that bad. At least,” Aanya giggled as she wiped away tears of laughter, “Most of them went away with the impression, ‘He’s such a polite and intelligent young man.’ I know, because they told my parents that in front of me. Oh, wouldn’t they be surprised if they learnt that the ‘young man’ they liked so much was a prankster?”

“That’s Harshil!” Aakash protested before asking again, “…You set me up?”

“Oh, shut up, you. Stop acting like a child who was tricked out of a lollipop.”

“You set me up…” He murmured.

Shaking her head at her husband’s apparent childish sulk, Aanya just bonked his head, “Come now, it’s all in the past.”

“…A past that still haunts me. As much as remembering Prof. Mandev’s classes makes me annoyed and drowsy.”

“How can you be both at the same time?” Aanya laughed. “Either you can be annoyed in class or lulled to sleep.”

“Oh, I can be both for sure! He was all over the place but hardly; hardly was he ever on the main subject! Metaphysics here, epistemology there…and that’s not all!”

Sighing again, Aakash continued his rant, “The examples and the digressions from the topic! You could barely understand what he was talking about and then bam! You’re discussing a completely new topic or approach! But worst of all, his voice was monotonous. I’m pretty sure I slept through half of his classes…”

“What a model student!” Aanya exclaimed.

“I don’t want to hear that from the one who slept through so many of our social science classes that Preeti Ma’am even reported it to her parents during the PTM!”

“…what was so fun about learning about old sultans…? And who would even remember which river is where to mark on maps? And all those structures of democracy and case studies…bah! Boring!”

“Case studies didn’t seem to bore you when you were studying economics, did they? Hmmm, Aanya?”

“Economics is obviously fun!” Aanya declared.

“…still doesn’t seem to counter the point that you slept through the other Social Science classes.”

“…whatever.”

“Sure.” Aakash ruffled her hair, pleased at having gotten her back at least once.