I was getting irritated, but I still decided to wait for Priya.

She didn't show up all day, and there was no message from her either.

I was losing control of myself and getting angry with each passing minute

I was not kidding when I said to Priya that I took my time seriously. I never told anyone how much the set routine mattered to me, for that was what helped me get through all the tireless work. A way to detach me from it and let time flow through me.

I know I mentioned that I loved to control my emotions.

But one problem with that is that I tend to go to extremes when I do lose control. And something like that was happening to me right now.

Even though some people might not take this seriously, I was taking it way too seriously. The rational part of my mind was trying to tell me that this was not a big issue and I shouldn't let it blow out of proportion. But the emotional part of my mind was not in a mood to listen, and it was just putting more fuel into the already burning fire.

I sometimes tend to scare myself when I'm like this. The best solution I had was to make sure that I keep my mouth shut and don't say anything that I might regret later.

Somehow with great difficulty, I went to sleep that night.

When I got up in the morning, the first thing I checked was to see if there was any message from Priya. Still nothing.

I went to my class and remained unusually quiet through it.

I didn't even realize when it was time for the lunch break. I realized it only after the bell had rung.

While leaving the class to the cafeteria for lunch. I saw Priya waiting for me outside the class.

As soon as I was near the door, she came to me and started speaking.

"Hey, Jacob. Sorry about yesterday. Something had...”

I just walked past her, completely ignoring her. I didn't trust myself to react appropriately at the moment, and getting out of there seemed like the right thing to do.

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While leaving, I could hear some of the other students murmuring behind me

"Hey. What’s Priya doing with Jacob? I didn't know they knew each other.”

"Me neither “

I guess the fact I was taking lessons for her was not that widely known. I hoped this didn't start any weird rumours. It's not like that it would matter much to me anyway.

When I sat for lunch, I saw Priya coming over again. I stopped my meal in the middle and left the cafeteria.

Throughout the day, she tried multiple times to talk to me, and I just ignored her.

But despite my best efforts, there was one place where I couldn’t escape from her. And that was the library after classes.

And Priya was waiting for me there.

But this time, she didn't have any apologetic expression on her face. Instead, she seemed angry.

Before I could get into the library, she stopped me and started shouting at me.

"You want to talk to me properly, and do you want me to create a scene here. The librarian is very strict and he'll property ban us both from the library. And I have a feeling that it will affect you more than it will affect me.”

She got me there, as I couldn't risk being banned from the library even for a short period. And librarian was known to be a strict person.

"Fine. Let's go to the nearest room.”

"Ok.”

Once there, I waited for her to say something. Because I didn't want to say anything.

She also waited for some time in silence. But she didn't have enough patience like me.

"So, are you going to apologize?”

“What?”

I was starting to lose my temper again. And I guess she could see it on my face.

"For behaving like the jerk you have been all day. I know I missed the session yesterday, but I already said sorry. If you are expecting anything more from me, then you have got me wrong. I don't think I have done anything to tolerate this kind of behaviour from you.”

I was still furious. And her behaviour was not helping her case. I still tried my best and decided to find a way to defuse the situation.

"Ok. So why didn't you come yesterday?”

"One of my friends had booked tickets for a movie for us without asking me. And I came to know just mins before the show started. So I had to rush and thus couldn't inform you in time.”

Ok. She lost me there

"So, you skipped our session to go for a movie.”

"As I said, I didn’t plan that.”

I was getting angrier, and I could see she was as well. I decided this was the best time to stop the situation before it got completely out of hand.

I took a deep breath and spoke after I had calm down a bit

"Look, Priya. I don't think I can continue this. I had said very clearly, in the beginning, I would stop our arrangement if I felt you were not taking this as seriously as me.”

She wanted to protest. But I continued anyway.

"There is only one month left for the finals. I doubt it would make that big a difference anyway. I will still give you all the notes that I have prepared so far. But this is where we part ways.“

She looked angry. But she also calmed down a bit

"Ok. Fine”

And then she left. Hopefully, for the best.

After she left, I felt a bit better. My anger calming down slightly

Since the final exams were only a month away, I can put this extra time to better use studying.

I repeated my Mantra to myself again in my mind.

Emotions should be my slave, not the other way around.