"I Wanted To Tell You This A Very Long Time Ago"

Chapter 4

“Why can’t you reply to the message?”

“Oh, nothing like that, Jacques. I was just busy.” I texted him back.

“Yeah! I know you always remember the work when I am texting.” Jacques replied.

“Hello? Jacques, are you here?”

Jacques didn’t reply to me. He might be angry. But I thought again; it's okay because Jacques is still a friend of mine. I am happy.

“Good morning, Jacques.”

I messaged him the next morning, but he didn’t reply to me. It hurt my ego, and I also thought, why do I even care about him?

A few days later, he left me a message. “What’s up?”

I immediately replied to him. “Nothing, cooking. What’s up?”

He didn’t reply to me. So a few minutes later, I messaged again. “Are you angry with me?”

“Why do I have to be angry for?”

We texted every day, and even Jacques replied to me slowly. The O.L. Exam was nearing me.

And it was also the 2nd of November. What do you think that day was? It was the day this princess was born. I closed the book and opened the phone, and Ammee had texted me, “Happy Birthday.”

“Thank you! How about the others? Maybe they are snoring already. What friends I have.”

Jacques messaged and wished me at 12.10. I opened it, and he had texted a very long message.

“Wish you a very happy birthday, Yashmin. I was waiting for this day to come to tell you something important. I don’t know when it happened, when I started to have feelings for you. I wanted to tell you that ”I love you.”

“What?” I read the message more than ten times. I was confused. I thought about whether he was telling the truth or just pranking. It is very hard to believe Jacques. Jacques is a sleek of slacker. Very hard to trust. He will say a word and laugh. He will talk about things and point to the others. The most untrustworthy idiot in our group.

“Hahaha! What a joke.” I texted him with the three laughing stickers.

“I am not joking. I am telling the truth. I like you, and I love you.” He replied to me immediately. “Please don’t be upset.”

“Get lost,” I replied, smiling. “I will never believe you.”

“And you are thinking that I am joking?”

"Are you serious about what you’re saying?" I texted him back. "Swear to God?"

“Swear to God.” Jacques texted me back. “I love you.”

“What? Are you out of your mind?” I texted him. “Didn’t you find someone else to love?"

“I am not telling you to give me your answer. You can take time. Just remember that I love you.”

“What’s wrong with him? Is he sending texts while he is still asleep? What should I tell him now?” I thought.

“See...Jacques. You know the exam is coming soon. And we need to focus on studies. I don’t want to get involved in these things now. Besides, you are my best friend. You will forever be my best friend.”

Jacques replied to me five minutes later.

“Am I telling you to be my girlfriend now? Besides, who says that friends cannot be lovers?”

I didn’t want to make Jacques angrier, so I decided to slip away. “Jacques, I am feeling sleepy now. Good night.”

I turned off the light and kept staring at the ceiling. “What should I do now? I thought I would talk to boys and girls and ask for some advice. I was feeling bad, though. I don’t know much about love, but I don’t know; I had never heard about friends falling in love with each other. Or did Jacques never think of me as his friend? Did he just pretend to be a friend? Did he always like me? What did he want? I closed my eyes, but I could not sleep, so I took the book in my hand and started practicing math.

The next morning, I told the boys and girls everything.

“Bro, I can’t believe that,” Ammee said. “Are you sure it was Jacques?”

“I think it must be his grandfather,” Binod said, and they all started laughing.

“Idiot.” I glared at him. “Rather than making fun of me. Help me to find out the way to this.”

“You don’t like him?”

“No, I mean...”

“Whatever you say, I know you like him,” Ammee, she said, sitting beside me. “Little bit, you know.” She hugged me and whispered in my ear. “Jacques is a good boy, you know.”

“Go away.” I pushed Ammee away. “No, I don’t like him. Help me find a way out of it. Please?”

“What’s the problem of being in a relationship with him?” Binod asked. “Why can’t you be his girlfriend?”

“Don’t tell me that you have a boyfriend already?”

“No, I don’t,” I said. “Please, don’t start now, guys.”

“So why don’t you tell him that you have a boyfriend, and he will understand it?” Binod said. “He will not ask you again.”

“What if he asks someone in the class?”

“Don’t tell him that you are in love but like each other.”

“Something like crush,” Ammee said. “Whatever they say.”

“Just tell him that he is from your grandmother’s hometown,” Binod said. “Someone from your aunt’s family.”

“Will he trust me?”

“I don’t know,” Binod said. “What else can you do?”

“Yeah, try it. ” Ammee agreed.

“If he says okay, then I will take care of both of you cuties,” Binod said and laughed.

Ammee showed her middle finger but said nothing.

I went back home and explained everything to Jacques, as Ammee and Binod advised me to.

Hi! I am Buddhi. I am a teacher and a student of philosophy, Buddhism, and old and ancient knowledge and wisdom. My dream is to read every single book in the world and write new books for the future generation. I have written many stories, but I could not publish them because of my financial instability. That is the one reason I started this YouTube channel where I talk about the stories and some of the Buddha's teachings to meet you all, readers. Please watch the video, like it, comment your thoughts and opinions, and subscribe to the channel for more.

For work: buddhireads@gmail.com or buddhwrites@gmail.com