The following day, I was to deliver a speech to the class. I moved forward facing the students. I’m not good at fumbling with words, and I’m fully ready for the speech.
“Good day, students!” I greeted. “Today, we’re going to be treating the concept of a Growth Mindset. As we all might know, the concept of a growth mindset has gained widespread recognition and attention in recent years as a key factor in personal and professional development,” I started.“Can I ask a question?” Sidd raised his hand.What? I haven’t even started, and he has a question. Was that why he came to sit in the front row to distract me? Oh, God, he is certainly going to take revenge on me for ruining his computer work yesterday. Then this speech is useless. It’s automatically sabotaged.“What’s your question, please?” I asked, pretending to be polite.“What did your mind tell you before you decided to deliver a speech to us?” He asked.“What do you mean by that?”“Nothing, continue,” he gestured.I ignored him. “As I was saying, coined by psychologist Carol Dweck, a growth mindset refers to the belief that one’s abilities and intelligence can be developed and improved through effort, perseverance, and learning from failures.”“Have you learned from your failures before?” Sidd interrupted and the students laughed.“Sidd, I won’t have you ruin my speech, what’s wrong with you?” I scolded.“Can’t I ask questions?”“You are asking silly questions.”“Continue, Rani, we are listening,” Aditya, one of the students encouraged.“Thank you, Aditya. In contrast, a fixed mindset is the belief that abilities and intelligence are fixed traits that cannot be changed or improved upon. Understanding and adopting a growth mindset can have profound effects on various areas of life, including personal growth, academic achievements, professional success, and overall well-being.”“Do you practice it yourself too? Because I haven’t seen any changes of a growth mindset in you,” Sidd interjected again and they were another bout of laughter.“Sidd, do you want to take over?” I asked pissed off.“I’m just saying the truth, besides, your mind hasn’t changed from being the same as when you were a baby, so I’m wondering why you haven’t started growing your mindset yet,” he stated and the students continued laughing.I couldn’t continue, the laughter wouldn’t let me. I can’t remember what I was to say next.“Continue, Rani,” Naomi, another student urged.Now what do I say? I have lost track of my speech. “Um, like I was saying, when we are, um, I mean…”“She is now confused because her mindset hasn’t grown out of confusion,” Sidd mocked and they all laughed. The speech was sabotaged. I scuttled out of the class. I should have known, I wouldn’t have volunteered to do it. Sidd is a maniac.The following day, I was at the campus gym simply stretching when Sidd and his friends came along. He pretended he didn’t see me, and I did the same thing. I continued with my stretching. I was wearing a sports bra with leggings, overall, my wear was okay for a workout. Soon, two people came along. The campus has many students, but I recognized those two. They were part of the bad guys' team on campus. Bullying the freshmen and taking it hard on old students. I have never crossed their part, and I hope they don’t cross mine. Sidd positioned himself for weightlifting. He took hold of the barbell. His two friends took their position on weight pulling machine and dumbbell lifting respectively. The two guys too were lifting dumbbells. After some minutes, Sidd sat up. I was already on the treadmill.“Hey, guys!” He called out. They all looked at him. I don’t care what he was going to say, so I didn’t look his way. “Have you all noticed that we only have a single lady in our midst?” He asked. Now I was interested. I looked their way, and I saw all eyes on me. My heart banged a bit, but I composed myself. “What should we do with her?”“She looks hot!” One of the bad guys said.“We can feast on her. No one is here except us,” the other bad guy contributed.“ I was thinking the same thing,” Sidd said.Now I got pissed off. I stepped down from the treadmill and walked up to them. “Are you guys indirectly talking about me?” I asked, looking at each of them in the eyes.“Wow, she’s full of confidence,” one of the bad guys chuckled.“And you Sidd, what are you trying to do, huh? Besides, what do you mean by a feast on me? Do I look like a meal to you?” I rebuked.“Guys, I will think we will leave her in your care,” Sidd said to the bad guys and stood up. “Buddies, let’s go,” he said to his friends and they turned to leave.I pulled him back. “You are going nowhere, you get? You are to explain to me what you mean by feasting on me,” I demanded.“Why don’t I answer the question, I was the one that said it,” one of the bad guys interjected.“I think your fight isn’t with me anymore,” Sidd whispered to me and they headed out.The bad guys moved closer to me, I took a step back. “Look here, guys, I don’t know what you want from me, but I’m warning you, if I get a scratch on my skin, you won’t like your next life,” I warned. They wouldn’t stop coming closer, while I was left to walk back in fear.“Let’s see how that goes,” one of them said.God, please save me. As he tried to grab my arm, Manu, Aditya, and Kimberly came along.“Hey, Rani!” They all waved and then paused.“What’s going on here?” Manu queried.The two bad guys looked at them. Now we are four, let’s see how they feast on us all. “Let’s go, dude,” one of them said and they hurried out.I sighed. “Come on, girls! Let’s rock the tools!” I exclaimed and they cheerfully joined me.Later on, I was seated on a bench with Manu. I was going through a book while she was going through her phone. “Look at this, Rani,” she said showing me her phone. “This is the dress I will be buying for my birthday,” she said. I collected her phone to properly check out the dress. It was a pink beaded white Anarkali with a stole. A mannequin was wearing it.“This is beautiful, I like it,” I said.“Should I order two? I want us to have the same dress,” Manu said.“Are you kidding me? Should we be wearing the same dress on your birthday? Who is the celebrant? People will be confused,” I stated.“Yeah, that’s right, but you can wear another dress on my birthday while you still have this one,” she suggested.“Then order for two,” I affirmed. “I’m sorry, maybe your birthday date that I know is not correct. You were born in November, right?” I queried.“Yes!”“And we are in February.”“Yes?”I laughed. “You are preparing for nine months to come birthday?”“But I like the dress.”“You are f
The next day on campus. I was seated in the courtyard reading. The day was beautiful, with no disturbance. I haven’t seen Sidd since today, so I was rest assured of a peaceful day. As I continued reading, I heard my name.“Rani!” Someone called angrily. Sidd? I thought he wasn’t on campus today. Oh, God! He came standing right in front of me. “Where is my jacket?” he demanded.“Sidd, let me ask you a question. Why are you so obsessed with a common jacket? I told you I burnt it,” I said nonchalantly.“Do you know the worth of that jacket?” he asked.“Does it costs millions?” I retorted.“I want my jacket back, Rani. You got to give to me.”“Then beg for it. Let’s see if it resurrects back for your sake,” I said. “Besides, I had begged you to give it to me. It’s your turn to beg me to give back to you.”“Do you know the ramification of what you are doing? You know next time I won’t ever give you anything from me no matter what you say, hope you know that.”“And I hope next time you won’t
Our final exams were around the corner, I had to prepare hard for them. I was an intelligent girl but still, I had to stay up late studying.I was studying one day on campus when a ball was thrown at me. Sidd came to pick up the ball from where it was.“Why did you throw the ball at me? Can’t you see that I’m studying?” I asked as calmly as I could pretend.“Did you see me throw the ball?” He questioned.“I knew it was you, who else in this whole campus does silly things?”“Seriously? And who in this whole campus is as bad looking as you?”“If my look was that irritating, why then do you always disturb me? You can’t live without my beauty,” I commented boldly as I was packing my books to go home.“You are so delusional, you know that?”“Just admit it,” I stated as I was about to go. He threw the ball at me once again but I couldn’t do anything about that. I knew that praising myself hurts him and that was satisfactory for me.I studied late on campus one day, I didn’t come with my scoo
Two months later, I got employed in a large business company as an assistant manager. My first day in the office was hectic. Now I know what Kiara had been going through. Come on, it’s not easy.My CEO was a nice man. Though he was kind and generous, he despises lazy workers. I love my new job and I wish to stay longer in the firm.I came to work the following day and I bumped into Sidd. That was the first time I was seeing him after our graduation.“Oh, my God! This is not happening!” I muttered to myself. “What are you doing here?” I queried boldly.“I should be the one asking you that,” he said. “I am the manager of this company, so what are you doing here?”At the mention of him being the manager, my jaw dropped. Evil is certainly coming after me.“What does it look like I’m doing here?” I retorted.“Don’t tell me you are the assistant manager my uncle was talking about,” he chuckled.“Your uncle?” I uttered surprised. “Who is your uncle?”“You want to know? Well, he is t
I stood beside the car waiting for Sidd. He had driven me to this place. I patted my feet on the ground, checked my wristwatch countless times, and looked at the hotel’s entrance, he wasn’t forthcoming. Should I cry? I was already feeling bad. This wasn’t a great day for me. Stuck in a tight dress, had to dance with my enemy, almost falling in front of everyone, and still being saved by my enemy doesn’t sound pleasing at all. Finally, he was coming. I sighed in relief. He opened the car and entered. Do I honestly have to go with him? I entered the car too, fastened my seat belt and he drove off.On our way, we got stuck in a long traffic jam. How did we get here? I was dying. My breathing was on the edge, my belly was tight with an unremovable belt. I was sweating even when the car had an air conditioner. I glanced at Sidd, he seems fine. I unfastened the seat belt. My home is many miles away from where we were. If I wanted to walk in this dress, I will sleep on the street. I didn’t w
I reached the office all rushed up, sorry and confused. I hurried into my office, fumbling with my files and computer. I got a telephone call. Not now. I answered the call. The CEO wants me in his office. Reaching work by 9:30 am wasn’t a joke. Who knows what Sidd had told his uncle? I learned he resumed before everyone else. As I tried to rush to the CEO’s office, my foot entangled with my computer’s cable pulling it along and hearing the system land on the floor. I turned to it, it was damaged. The screen was broken. What am I supposed to do? Another bad startup? This shouldn’t be happening, not today. Late coming, damaging company’s property, why? How do I explain myself? I rushed down to the system, gathering the pieces together, the telephone was ringing again. Gosh! I jerked up and scuttled to the CEO’s office.I was permitted to come inside after knocking. Sidd was there. He will be present in anything bad happening around me. I scowled at him while moving closer to them. “Good
What would my life have been like if I hadn’t met Sidd? Wouldn’t I have been happy? I always thought to myself. Hateful days in college, bizarre days in the office. All because I happened to know Sidd.“You look pale, what happened to you?” my mom asked me in the morning as I prepared to go to work. “Nothing, Mother, I’m fine,” I replied. “I will see you when I get back.” I left.The truth was that I cried last night. I imagined my life without Sidd and it was awesome. I got no other problem but Sidd. How can he be so cruel? He behaves crazy around only me. I have never seen him hurt the emotions of any other girl, but me. I tried recalling how it all started.I was a month old in college, and Sidd was the highly praised folk. His status matters less to me. I never cared about how girls swooned at the sight of him. I was rushing to class and got piles of books in my hand. I bumped into Sidd. I apologized, being too full of himself, he ordered me to tie his shoelaces as a sign of genu
He lifted my chin. My heart pounded even more. Tears streamed down my cheeks. I tried to push him, he pinned my arms to the wall. I was crying. He was going to kiss me. His lips were an inch from mine. I struggled with him. He wouldn’t let my arms go. I tapped my feet on the floor in frustration. His gaze was on me. I felt self-pity. How can I live with the trauma of being defiled by my enemy? Why did I agree to stay with him in the first place? It would be better to lose my job than my integrity. Sidd was a psychopath. He wouldn’t let me go. What came over him? He had said he doesn’t desire his enemies especially not the ugly ones. If he deemed me as ugly, why then does he want to take advantage of me? Who will I report to that I was raped by Sidd? They will say I’m making up an accusation because we hate each other. His family will defend him to the last point and I will be left to feel abashed.“Close your eyes,” he ordered.“Sidd, I’m begging you, don’t touch me. I will do any o