Suramya Pokharel - January 27, 2024
In the evening again, I got a text. It was her sending me a sample document where she’d written her part. I checked it and edited the objectives for they didn’t capture the essence of the project properly. The introduction part looked heavily copy-pasted, so, I changed the wordings. The literature review also didn't look enough.
She sent it again, half an hour or so later, and had added HALF A PAGE! Fuck this! I’ll add more. I added a few pages to that section itself, put in the content I was supposed to write, checked the spellings and other errors, and sent it to her.
The date for presentation of the idea was revealed quick after, and this time she set a meeting, again in the library. I was early this time and waited inside. She came in with her friend, spotted me and sat beside.
“Can you explain the methodology?” she asked. Her tone seemed more relaxed compared to our first meeting. “I read the report, but didn’t understand much.”
“Sure!” I narrated her the entire methodology and how we were to approach things. Her friend, whose name I was still oblivious of, also jumped in with some questions of her own. The intentions behind the questions were still the same though – to appear smart. I answered them anyways. After quite a lengthy explanation, “I finally get it!” she said.
“Great! Now let’s discuss what part we’re going to present.”
“I’ll do the introduction and the stuff at the beginning, and you do the methodology parts.”
It was a fair proposal for I’d have divided it the same way. “Sure” I replied. “Shall we get going then?”
We got up, and again I made some small talk as we parted ways.
The presentation day came. She was quite early in the hall practicing her part. I came in just when we were about to start. “It’s our turn next. Where were you?” she asked.
“Prepared?” I asked back, ignoring her question altogether.
“I think so.”
Just then our name was called. We went ahead. She did her part pretty well. At times stumbling with words, but well enough nonetheless. Then, I went forward and presented my part. It went similarly as well. The questions asked after the presentation were not so difficult either. I answered most of them, and left the easier ones for her to deal with. I was in a hurry that day, so I bid her farewell just after we were done, and parted.
That night, she texted me again.
I was surprised. Does she really care about doing it? But one also has to keep in mind that initially people can be enthusiastic about doing new things, but it gets pretty boring and pretty hard pretty fast, and that enthusiasm burns off quick enough. However, I cannot go on discouraging her when she’s showing interest.
Thursday, after the classes, I called her, “Hello, where are you?”
“Oh!” she said in an alarmed tone. ”I totally forgot. I’m already on my way home. The classes ended early so..” She didn’t complete her sentence, and I kept quiet to let her complete it. After a moment, perhaps it got awkward and she continued, “Lets do it tomorrow?”
“Let’s do it Sunday now,” I replied. “And bring your laptop as well.”
“Okay! Yeah – Sunday is okay,” she said awkwardly. So much for her enthusiasm!
The Sunday came soon enough. By then, I’d completed a few initial tasks. Just after the classes ended, I got her call to meet her at the canteen. Sounded fine to me for I was getting hungry, and eating while working is always a welcome choice.
She was sat right in front of the canteen, alone this turn. When she saw me from afar, she got up to greet me. “Hello!” she said, extending her hand to shake mine. I reciprocated and sat down beside her.
“It so slipped off of my mind Thursday,” she started, in an attempt to justify herself. ”The classes ended early so I just got out. And then you called, and then I remembered. And yeah, I was already on the bus so ...”
“Hmm” I replied, nodding my head once.
“I’m actually quite hungry,” I continued. “I‘ll go get something. Do you want something?”
“Yeah,” she said, quite enthusiastic. “That’s why I called you to the canteen. Let me come with you.”
We went up to the counter. I got the sandwiches and she, after taking her fair share of time deciding, went with a pastry. I was unsure whether I should pay for hers as well but she got her wallet out to pay for hers and I let her. It’s not a date, nor are we in some friendly terms. It’s a work meeting of sorts, and we are colleagues of sorts. So, it does not actually make much sense to offer to pay.
Anyways, we headed to the table. And eating our respective lunches, I caught her up to where the project had reached, assigned her a task to do and started to do mine. My task required quite intensive processing in the laptop and during the lag times, I helped her with her tasks. Ultimately, we finished a batch of tasks for the day, and left for home with another batch to do and report on the next meeting.