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Cepheids Verimonas

Comedy Drama Romance

4.9  

Cepheids Verimonas

Comedy Drama Romance

Diagnosis Love Sickness

Diagnosis Love Sickness

23 mins
837


[Note: I have changed names of certain characters so that their privacy won't be violated. I have also used acronyms for the name of various institutes as the story is based on my own life]


-----------------


I didn't realize that the first time our eyes met, it would be the turning point of my life... She was my missing puzzle piece...


-----------------


It was my first year in the middle school, as I was in the fifth grade. It was spring, as the wispy seasonal wind blew across the courtyard of my school as the principal gave the annual opening speech welcoming and congratulating us on graduating from elementary school.


I was listening to his speech when I caught sight of a couple of students pointing at the upper gallery of the auditorium. There was a group of people standing there listening to the speech, and they seemed like foreigners. The principal declared that this year we were going to have a batch of exchange students from Australia headed by the Christian brothers.


(It wasn't an unusual event as our school being Catholic, Christian brothers from other countries would visit here.)


The group of students descended from the upper gallery and I could get a proper look at them.


There were total five of them. One boy and four girls.


Out of them, one of the girls stood extremely haughtily. She was wearing a white frilly dress like some princess. Her stance made me feel her seem obnoxious to me.


Later, after dismissal of the assembly of students, we returned to our respective classes. I was in 5-C.


During the "Value Education" period, our homeroom teacher declared that one of the exchange student who was in the same grade as us was going to attend value education and activities period with us. I was a bit angry to see that it was the same vainglorious girl. And as if to add "ghee" to the fire, our class teacher made her sit right next to me, because it was the only empty seat in the class.


(At this point, I must state that I am one of the "loner" types as I have a hard time making friends. So I had a tendency to sit in front seats of the class.)


Well, before I go on let me state that our school, SVTS, is an all-boys school, so making a girl sit next to me felt a bit awkward for me.


She bowed before the class. "Hello everyone. I am Wankendemonesa Ivy. I hope we get along well."


She was a fair-skinned girl. She wore a large frilly dress which looked as if it was a miniature version of a wedding dress. What caught my attention was her extra-long hair... It was blonde up to her shoulder and the rest was pure white till her knee. (Yes. Her hair was knee length. I was quite surprised she could actually maintain her hair.)


With this she came and sat next to me. Throughout the entire values class, she didn't even have a word with me...


Somehow the silence between us felt really suffocating, so to break the ice, I said, "Excuse me, which country are you from?"


She turned and glared right at me. "Weren't you listening to your principal's speech? I am from Australia. SGHS Sydney."


The way she was retorting felt intolerable to me.


"You don't seem like Australian to me from any angle." I started, but the teacher entered the class at the very moment.

"And don't treat us in an inferior way."


She looked daggers at me, said, "Russia!" and turned her face in the other direction, ignoring me for the entire duration of the class.


Ever since that day, the tension in the class rose to an astounding level. I was the class representative, and me being conflicted with a fellow student was a bit unhinging for the class teacher as well as the other students. Our teacher often called us over telling us not to be at each other's throats all the time. But her words fell upon deaf ears and this conflict between us went on for months until one day in the assembly medals for Macmillan Olympiads were to be distributed.


I received two gold medals - one for Computer Applications and other for Science while Wankendemonesa received only one in Science. We were the only students in the entire school to receive the prizes. The Christian brothers who had come with her invited me to their dormitory during recess. They introduced me formally to the other members of the society.


The most cheerful one among them was an upperclassman, Inkarcikus and his younger sister Magik. Next, there was Wankendemonesa (aka Wanda), with her younger sister Ai and her elder cousin sister Shatterglass.


Wanda and Ai were from Russia and they were formerly residing in Sydney, with Shatterglass, as their father (a particle physicist), had transferred to Michigan, USA for research purposes.


After the intro, Wanda apologized to me for being a bit too haughty. I apologized as well for being rude to her. It seemed as if Wanda had been humbled quite a lot.


After that our relations mellowed down a bit. Wanda told me that they were actually there to assist and study the autistic student of Asha Niketan in our school. "Asha Niketan" is a center for rehabilitation set up by the Christian brothers for differently-abled children.


In the month of December, the group went back to Australia for their exams and renew their VISA.


For the first time in my life, I felt a bit lonely about missing someone even if for a bit. In the cold winter morning, I used to stare up at their dormitory room, hoping Inky (short for Inkarcikus... We had become quite informal due to our daily interactions)


------------------------


Next year in the annual opening ceremony, I kept staring at the upper section of the gallery hoping to see the exchange students but in vain. It felt hollow in my chest. And that feeling was completely new to me.


Disheartened a bit, I returned to our classroom with my classmates. On entering the class, I saw a white back-pack on my seat. I thought that maybe someone has decided to sit with me after all these lonely years without a bench-mate.

(Like most classrooms, our class starts filling up from the back benches.)


Our new homeroom teacher entered. She declared that a new student will be joining our class.


And from the doorway, in came Wanda!


She had grown taller over the winter break and somewhat more beautiful...

(Later my dad explained that it was just me on the onset of puberty which made the opposite gender more attractive)


She came and introduced herself. Then she took seat next to me smiling at me. I shuffled in my seat away from her afraid to touch her. She leaned over and whispered in my ear, "Surprised? Guess you were hoping for me not to turn up this year..."


My face blushed from her hushed breath against my ear. I was too much elated to even say that it was the contrary.


Our class teacher glared at me and I suppressed my overflowing emotions, and shifted to the corner of the bench.


And this is how Wanda officially joined our class... Later I met Inky and Magik who told me they had acquired permission from their school, as well as ours, to officially attend classes.


That is when the "Golden Time" of my life began...


Everyday, Wanda and I used to have fun hanging out during recess, discussing science, literature, technology, etc. Her interests resonated with mine as we were both ahead of our class by two to three years. Her attachment to me, inspired me to perform better in studies and sports equally. I even came first in one of the National Merit examinations conducted by my cram school.


(I guess that is when I developed the habit of trying to academically impressing girls.)


Just for reference, Wanda had purchased an iPad 4 from Amazon that year, and I was really jealous of her! For me it was the first time I had touched a tablet device. And it felt really amazing with its fluid motions. I wanted one as well...


As the year, came to an end, Wanda told me that she would have to return back to Australia that winter... I asked her to keep in touch with me via email. But she said that she mainly used her Apple ID for messaging. (That's when I started pestering my parents to buy an Apple iPad. But it was at a lot later stage when I actually received it.)


Winter came... So did spring... But not Wanda...


She didn't turn up for the entire seventh grade with her sisters and Inky and Magik...


--------------------


"Missing your girlfriend?"


That was a common talk in our class as the boys had already been jealous of me for being close to Wanda. And besides, at the onset of adolescence, most of the boys became curious to know more about girls and getting "girlfriends". It had become such that getting oneself a girlfriend was some sort of achievement. So, it was a bit disturbing for me as the former unity of the class had been alleviated. I couldn't focus entirely on my studies and my education went downhill.


And the greatest reason for that was not me missing Wanda, but rather another girl, Rubi who stepped into my life.


Rubi was a girl in the cram-school that I went to. Her elder sister, Niri, is an academic prodigy (Right now she studies in MIT with 100% scholarship). I had become infatuated with Rubi over a series of events...


Soon I got addicted to online gaming on FB and wasted plenty of time which I could've spent productively. In winter 2013, my dad bought me an iPad 2, but something felt missing in my life.


The year without Wanda felt bland and devoid of life... I missed her a lot...


--------------


Spring 2014 went by. I had already moved ahead clearing my thoughts about Rubi and Wanda. In fact, I had almost given up hope about her returning until that fateful summer evening.


Being the class representative, I was standing in front of the Principal's office holding the class attendance register. There was a curtain drawn indicating that a meeting was going on. The school secretary told me to wait in front of the curtain till the meeting was over. After a couple of minutes, the meeting ended and a group headed by a girl came out.


The girl lost her footing on the threshold and was about to trip. I let go of the register and caught her shoulders just in time... And much to my surprise it was Wanda!


At first, I didn't recognize her as she was not wearing her usual rimless glasses. Without her glasses, she looked like a completely different person and even more beautiful in her early teens. She thanked me and was about to walk away when a hunky-looking tanned guy squint at me.


"Wait a sec!" he said "Aren't you Cepheids?"


My eyes grew wide. "Inky, right?"


Inkarcikus smiled. "You have changed a lot. Nice mustache anyway!"


"So have you, Inky!" I grinned at him. "You are a lot macho than before."


He shook my hand in greeting. Magik, Shatterglass, Ai and lastly Wanda hugged me one by one. I noticed a new boy in the group.


"Nyxicus." the boy said shaking hands. He was just about Wanda and my age.


"I'm Cepheids..." I started but he cut to the chase.


"I know!" he snapped. "Wanda keeps talking about you all the while."


I noticed Wanda's blush, and she took a sudden interest in her shoes (to hide her face).


Before the conversation could go on any further, the Principal called me as it was getting too late. Inkarcikus told me that he would be waiting in the Christian brothers dorm upstairs. I completed my usual day-duty in the office and hurried up to the dorm.


The members of the group had settled down as they welcomed me in. We chatted for quite a lot of time. Magik told me that they couldn't come last year as Ai had her entrance exam into SGHS Junior High, and that she and Inky had to give entrance exams for High School. And Nyxicus was a student of SMCC Sydney, and a childhood friend of Wanda. So when the exchange students' interviews were going on, he volunteered from his school and got selected. By the time, we were done it was quite late in the evening and my parents gave me quite an earful for "hanging out with friends after school despite the home-curfew".


Later Magik pulled me aside and told me that Wanda and Shatterglass had missed me quite a lot! They were always looking for ways to contact me. Hearing this made my heart seriously skip a beat. Guess our friendship/bond was not one-sided...


-----------------


Normal class schedule continued. Wanda and Nyxicus both attended the classes mid-semester. We sat in the triple-seated bench in front row of the class.


Well, the most interesting part was that Nyxicus' actions reflected that he was ultra-possessive about Wanda (even though Wanda refused about any relationship between them) and didn't want to get friend-zoned by her. So ultimately Wanda ended up sitting between the two of us to avoid any conflict. I had suspicions that Wanda knew about Nyxicus' feeling but didn't have any interest in starting a relationship with him)


In the recess time, Ai and Shatterglass joined us in our aimless strolls. On the other hand, at my cram school my bond with Rubi got stronger over time. To me it felt as if I was a "harem-king" four-timing girls at once... But in my mind, I believed that Rubi still considered me as her rival.


Chatting with Wanda, I learnt a lot about her and her sisters. They called themselves the "Trinity". When Wanda was in first grade, her mother died from ALS. Since then she had moved in with her paternal cousin Shatterglass.


The rest of eighth grade is a bit awkward but interesting time for me, as I tried to establish a balance between my studies and my friends. Wanda and I had exchanged Apple IDs so we chatted at night almost every other day... It seemed as if the year of separation between had ended up strengthening our bond of love on our reunion.


Winter arrived. I was expecting Wanda and her group to return but they had acquired an extended multi-entry VISA or something-of-that-sort. We had an amazing time and on the night of Christmas as we stood under the Christmas tree in our school, Wanda stood up on her tip-toes and kissed me on my forehead. Every was taken aback and Nyxicus looked as if his fuse had blown.


She whispered in my ear. "This is a blessing for eternal friendship between us. Even a gale that shakes the world apart can't break the bond between us... So, please don't ever lose touch with me."


I promised to her that I won't... My first oath in life...


-------------


Before I realized it, time flew like sand from the hourglass. It was already a new year.


I had quit cram-schooling and was spending more time self studying. Over time I eventually forgot about Rubi. We were promoted to the ninth grade. Another free period was introduced, so I was able to bring my self-study books of higher classes to school.


Once during recess, Wanda saw me solving a problem on projectile motion in an empty classroom and she asked me, "Cepheids, the answer we are getting... Is it really valid in real life?"


At SGHS Wanda had always been taught to approach problems in a practical way.


"What makes you think so?" I asked her.


"Like... How can you project something large with a known velocity... And you are neglecting air resistance and other dissipation forces."


"Well, velocity selectors are possible for small charged masses... And besides all you have to do is get the answer right for now!"


"And are you satisfied with it?" she said coming closer to me. "Does getting a right answer to a question mean everything to you? Do you think such an ideal world exists? "


I reacted impulsively. "If it doesn't exist, then we can always build one. But without friction life is tough..."


Wanda's eyes seemed to glow. She interlaced her fingers within mine and I was taken quite aback.


"I don't need an ideal world, Cepheids." she whispered to me, her face inches from mine. "All I need is a world where you and I can be together for eternity. I love you, Cepheids... Don't let go of me."


Her words made me feel light-headed as the concept of confessing love was not clear to me at that time as I was just a bookworm with no practical knowledge.


"I love you too, Wanda." I replied without a second thought. "After all we are friends."


Wanda's face turned dark. She let go of my hand and ran out of the classroom shouting "Cepheids, you idiot!" at me.


(Later my father taught me that girls mature faster than boys so Wanda's feelings were stronger than mine. She was mad at me for "friend-zoning" her, and rejecting her love for me.)


Later I went to apologize to Wanda, but she behaved as if nothing had happened between us. Even till today, I wonder what wonder what would've happened if I had properly accepted her love for me. But at that time I was a bit unclear about my own feelings and I sank deeper into my studies as IJSO Olympiad was knocking on the door-steps. I started skipping school-days coming up with false excuses so that I could study more at home and complete my revision.


Despite my absence, I kept my promise with Wanda as I talked with her over iMessage and Face-Time when my parents were not at home. Back in 2015, (when I was in 9th grade) unlike nowadays Internet was a pretty expensive, like 250 rupees per GigaByte. And my monthly allowance was one GB for studying. So, to hide the fact that I had been communicating with Wanda, I had to come up with lame excuses for the quick exhaustion of the internet (like iCloud has been backing up and hogging my net even though I had turned it off)


Actually, I was quite a coward back then in my school days, and I hid the fact that I had been friends with Wanda for over three years. I felt that if I revealed my relation with Wanda, they would rebuke me.


----------------


In the month of September, our class got divided into groups for the Annual School Exhibition. I was placed in a group supervised by Wanda's elder sister, Shatterglass, while the other group (containing Wanda, Nyxicus and few other classmates) was headed by the new class representative.


Well, the preparations of the exhibition deepened my relation with Shatterglass quite a bit. She had a habit of bending over the student's shoulder to peer into their work. And occasionally her breasts would lightly touch the student's head as she bent over. The boys in the group were quite a bit perverted (all blame to puberty), so they enjoyed this and word about this got around the school quite fast.


Until one day... I had some trouble in cutting up the print-outs which Shatterglass noticed. She came over to me and said, "Cepheids, you need some help?"


As she started bending over I turned my head and nodded, resulting in my face being stuck between her breast. For a moment there was a complete silence in the room. Stuck there, I was having trouble breathing so I reached out for closest support, that were unfortunately her breasts and pulled my self outwards and took a deep breath.


Flustered, Shatterglass landed a sharp and powerful slap across my face, and ran out of the class yelling curses at me and calling me a pervert. The look on the faces of the classmates was priceless and on the other hand Wanda looked as if she was going to gut me apart like a sacrificial boar. Our class teacher dragged me to the Principal's office, where I was given a long lecture on sexual harassment and how my action was inappropriate. He heard my narration of the event and realized it was just an accident.


Later on, I apologized to Shatterglass and she forgave me and also apologized to me for being brash. And to the disappointment of the others, Shatterglass gave up the habit of bending over the students' shoulder.


Wanda, who was furious at me, reconciled with me after a couple of days and soon it was the day of the exhibition.


-----------------


Our class had been decorated with flowers, banners and sparklers. It seemed as if a party was going on. Various schools came to see the exhibition. I was given the job of narrating the synopsis at the doorsteps but I couldn't see the "Trinity" anywhere. During one of my breaks, an underclassman came up to me and told me that I was being called to a neighboring class.


I went to the class and found it to be entirely dark and deserted. I wondered if the junior student was pulling up a joke on me. Nevertheless, I entered the classroom into the pitch-black darkness. Suddenly, the door swung shut and I heard the bolt locking the room. Frightened, I tried to hurry out but a pair of hands gripped my shoulder and something soft pressed on my lips.


To me it felt as if time had frozen, I realized that I was being kissed, but by whom? Wanda? Ai? Shatterglass? Or maybe some homo student in the school... I put the last option out of my head as it was too disturbing. What if we were seen by someone?


Suddenly, the lights turned on rendering me blind. And the person kissing me was..... Shatterglass, much to my surprise. She winked at me and said, "Guess it was the first kiss for both of us." and looked down at the ground coyly.


"Oh, sis! You are such a jerk!" yelled Wanda. She was the one who had turned the lights on. "You said that you and Ai would grab him while I kissed!"


She hastened over to me, grabbed my shoulder and planted a deep kiss on my lips. I felt that my body was getting hotter and it was as if I was gonna melt.


Wanda pulled back from me licking her lips. Ai looked at me pouting. "Cepheids its not fair! Let me kiss you too..."


Ai stood up on her tip-toes and pecked me on my cheek.


"Bristly!" she exclaimed. "You are gonna have a huge beard soon!"


Registering the cyclone of events as I calmed down, I asked the "Trinity" , "So why did you ambush me all of a sudden?"


Wanda was going to say something but Shatterglass cut her out. "Wanda wanted a bit of skinship with you. So we decided to join the fun as well. By the way, your kissing skills are pretty good, Cepheids, at least for a first-timer. Keep it up!"


"You said that it was your first kiss!" I snapped at Shatterglass.


"Yeah, yeah! Watch a bit of French movies and you will be a pro-kisser in no time."


Wanda and Ai nodded in agreement.


I heard voices coming close to the room. If I got caught with the Trinity in a closed room then it would be the end of my school-life!

Luckily we were on the ground floor and the windows didn't have shutters so I got on the window and slid out like a ninja just in time.


I believe that it was one of the intense experiences in my life.


--------------


Winter came back once again. Wanda and the others went back to Australia. I was once again alone though I kept in contact with her via iMessage and Facetime, but it was not the same as talking face-to-face looking into each others eyes...


After many turn of events going on for months, I ended up joining a coaching institute in Rajasthan. On the other hand Wanda and Ai moved to Michigan to live with their father, and joined a new high school named CH/MS, Michigan.

As I had to live in a hostel, I made many "friends" who were actually jealous of my achievements and they dragged me down into the world of online and mobile gaming. Due improper time management, and attachment to the games... By the time I realized it, it was too late.


My grades had fallen too low for me to recover and I became a victim of mild depression. Wanda's messages helped me overcome my guilt for not having studied on time. So I got dragged down into the web of procrastination.


--------------


By the end of 11th grade, I had recovered most of my weaker topics.

The girl, Rubi, had heard about me joining in the coaching institute, and she ended up joining it too . She acted as another source of distraction for me as I had once been infatuated with her, but since I spent most of the time studying, I shrugged off my feelings for her.


When 12th grade began, I started watching Japanese anime on the suggestion of my cousin brother, Nayas. They kept me entertained and alleviated my love-sickness for Wanda. My grades gradually improved and I started attaining the top position in class, but at one point of time, the combined effect on stress and peer-pressure, my sanity snapped and I ended up throwing my laptop and iPad out of the window of our 3rd floor building.


Both of them were shattered into pieces. And what hurt me the most of all was the fact, that my burst of anger due to the momentary lapse of reason, had cut off my contact with Wanda... Who was the only ray of hope for me in the overcast sky of life...


Day by day, I started feeling lonely, as I had no one to share my feeling with. That's when I realized that I had been in love with Wanda... But by that time, it was too late...


Once, I had felt an extreme bout of sorrow, that made my thoughts and senses blurry. I was in class that day when out of the blue I confessed my "love" for Rubi in front of all my classmates. But Rubi rejected my feelings mercilessly and humiliated me in front of everyone causing my emotions to shatter. I stopped going to class from that day on and became a shut-in hikikomori .


Eventually my physical and mental health kept deteriorating over time as I was left with no friends to discuss my problems and there was no one to pull me out of this pothole of depression. The doctors started giving me anti-depressants but actually my problem was love-sickness. Soon, the anti-depressants started showing adverse effects leading to abrupt bleeding at times from my mouth and neck, and also made me weak and fatigued. So, I was rushed back to my home-town as soon as possible and my proper treatment and rehabilitation began in full swing.


It was a month before the entrance examinations, when I had recovered enough strength to hold a pen. But my hands kept trembling like a needle on a seismograph. Somehow, I mustered the courage to put forth a last burst of energy for revision but my handwriting was as horrible as an "ink-dipped cockroach left loose on paper".


But anyway I secured a decent rank in the State Level Examination and got selected for JU, Kolkata in CSE department. My parents congratulated me on my result, as they had not expected me to be in a state to give the exams much less come in top 50.

And soon my treatment came forth to a steady phase, and my physique (which had become gaunt and hollow due to the disease) slowly restored.


As there were still two months till the admission, I started taking morning walks to-and-fro to my alma-mater SVTS, and also played football by myself in the wide open fields with blades of lush green grass. This connection with nature helped me rejuvenate and also made my mind clear from most of the worries and sorrows which had once haunted me.


------------------


One day, I decided to pay a visit to the Principal for the final time as my college life was going to begin a week. (I had often pestered him into trying to get Wanda's phone number but in vain, as Wanda was in US not Australia.) I went to the curtained room and the school secretary told me that someone was having a meeting with the principal.


I waited for quite a while and a foreigner high-school girl emerged followed by a foreign lady, most probably her mother or sister, wearing a white sundress. The lady tripped on the high threshold of the doorway and was about to fall, when I dropped my football and managed to catch her bare shoulders just in time, to keep her from falling.


Her skin was soft as a petal and her knee-length blond hair seemed to sparkle in the sunlight emanating from the window. She thanked me and went out of the principal's office, but what caught my attention was a thin strip of white hair from below her hip.


The principal called for me, but my mind was already swirling with ideas as the entire event felt like a deja-vu to me.


Without wasting a moment, I dashed out of the room and noticed the two girls at some distance.


Taking a one-in-a-billionth chance, I shouted "Wanda!". If I was wrong then I would at most be embarrassed.


The elder girl stopped on her track.


"Wanda!" I yelled once again running towards her.


The girl turned and I was stuck in my steps... Her eyes sparkled like the lilac twilight as her pristine face reflected the sunrays like the beautiful moon.


The promise which I had made to Wanda, in my childhood days, has not been broken. We were together once again due to our star-crossed paths...


No matter how strong a gale came to put the world into turmoil... No matter how far we are separated... Our heart will always be one!


Guess she was the only cure for my "love-sickness"...


----------------


"An oath to keep,

Till the final breath...

Or to lose a love,

That's worse than death."


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