76 Who are you?
"I'm doing good. Seems like Mr. Sadanandan had quite a long talk with you as well." Shivani spoke with a smile on her face.
"Oh, you were a victim to his talk too, huh?" Juan asked.
"To an extend, yeah. However,it kinda helped me though. Although, you're a weird guy, so I don't know how much impact it caused you though." Shivani shrugged.
"Well, we'll see about that!" Juan smiled.
Meanwhile, Taro ran back to the class. " Yo, the guys are here. Shivani, are you coming?" He asked.
"Yea!" Before she exited, she turned back to Juan. "See you tomorrow, Juan."
"Sure!" Juan waved his hand as Shivani exited the room.
While Juan was contemplating all the emotions that he felt inside his mind right then, Shivani and Taro were on their way to the school ground where the others were waiting for them.
"So, what were you two talking about while I was gone?" Taro asked, trying to break the silence between them.
"Do you really think we could talk about something so substantial for the few minutes you were gone?" She asked.
"Well, you should've talked about something, right?" Taro asked back.
"There's a thing called privacy, you know?" Shivani sighed. "If you are so keen about it, well, I asked him about getting trapped into a talk with you. I guess you talked his ears out, right?" She asked.
"Nah. Instead, he was the one doing the talking. I just listened for the most part." Taro replied.
"Oh, yea? I thought that he'd never open himself to another person like that!" Shivani looked surprised upon hearing this.
"Well, I am that good!" Taro chuckled. Silence befell between them yet again. So yet again, Taro took it upon himself to break the silence. "Hey, can I ask you a question?" He asked.
"Sure." She nodded her head.
"Do you know who the deputy leader was when Juan was the school leader?" He asked, since he felt something weird about the way he talked about that person.
"Oh, that would be yours truly. Why? Did Juan talk about those hellish days?" She asked.
"Hmm? Nothing." Taro shook his head.
"Is that so?" Shivani asked and then stayed silent. She was living up to the moniker of conversation damper.
"Why did you have to change her gender, Juan? Maybe, you thought that I would mistake it as love or something?" Taro wondered as he walked. "Hey, do you think Juan will fall for someone his age?" He asked.
Shivani thought for a while. "Hmm.. I don't know as of now, since his current attraction is towards old ladies. However, the taste of a person could change, am I right?" She asked.
"Hey, Mrs Veronica isn't that old.." Taro replied.
"Well, compared to the other unmarried teachers here, yes she is." Shivani spoke.
Taro sighed because the girl seemed set on acknowledging Veronica as an old lady. "Oh, we're near. I can see them." He pointed to a considerable distance and waved his hand. The faraway one waved back as well.
"Yea.." Shivani mumbled. It seemed as if she was thinking deep about something. "Hey!" She called Taro.
"Hmm?"
"You're really open about things like teenage romance and stuff, huh?" Shivani asked.
This time around, Taro was the one thinking. "I mean.. Yea, kinda.. I'm fine with kids having their teenage romance and stuff. Isn't it natural stuff that everyone experiences at that age? Like, who knows, at least one percent of them might actually end up together!" He explained his stance.
"Natural, huh.. You should tell the other teachers that." Shivani sighed.
"Fu~fu. Do you think they haven't experienced one or two at your age? Of course they have!" Taro smiled.
"Ha.. You know? You are a bit different from the teachers here.. Weird, but in a pleasant way, I guess?" She spoke.
"I see. Thank you. I will take that as a compliment." Taro replied as they headed to the two aliens and the MIB agents, the one's waving their hands like crazy.
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"Ha, the guy's not gonna change anytime soon, huh?" Taro sighed as he saw Juan once again prancing around Mrs Veronica the very next morning after he gave out a pep talk.
"Well, it's difficult to change a person's behavioral pattern so soon. It'll take time. So, wait for it." Shivani, who stood right beside him, consoled him in her own way.
Somehow, even during all those shenanigans he did, Juan managed to notice them and waved his hand as he walked towards them. That was when Taro noticed the rose in Juan's mouth, which made him look like a cliche playboy from those movies.
"Hello, there!" Juan took the rose out of his mouth and spoke. However, it seemed like he had no other place to keep the rose.. At least, he acted like that when he gave the rose to Shivani. "Here, take it. Mrs Veronica isn't accepting the rose today for some reason. Good for you, eh?" He smiled.
Shivani smiled back as she received the rose from him and threw it as far she could, much to Juan's surprise. He then ran towards where the rose fell to retrieve it, because he believed it was such a waste to throw such a good rose. While he did that, Shivani just walked opposite to him, with a weird expression in her face that Taro the alien couldn't really explain. However, Taro meanwhile, stood amidst the two opposite walking people with a coy smile on his face.
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The classes that day were normal as usual. It seemed that the twelfth graders had finally accepted him as the class teacher and adapted to his teaching style, much to the delight of Taro. Other than that, the second graders were still being cute as ever and Taro was kinda happy. At a random point, Taro wondered where Juan got his rose from since he resided in the school hostel and tried to search upon that. That's when he learned that Juan dedicated a part of his room for growing roses. Taro was a bit weirded out yet relieved since he knew of a whole lot of other plants that he could have grown instead, but didn't.
However, weird things began to occur once the lunch break came by. Taro was quietly trying to stay by his corner while having his food, which was handmade by John of all people. For some reason, he felt as if John's been acting too friendly these days towards him, which he doesn't really hate; rather he quite liked. However, he was kinda worried that it might be because this could also be an act after regaining his original memories. Therefore, he did inform Lonappan about this event who asked him to stay wary around John.
Anyway, while he was having his food quietly, someone approached him. It was a woman. "Mr. Sadanandan. We have to talk." The woman spoke as if she was looking down on him.
"Hmm.. Who are you though?" Taro asked. It had been a few days since he arrived at the school, however, he hadn't yet familiarized with their names yet. Therefore, he thought it was a welcome change that someone actually approached him to chat, so that he could learn their names at least.
However, what he thought as a chance to familiarize with his colleagues, made the woman feel like he was ridiculing her for approaching him. "You're quite rude, aren't you?" The teacher spoke with immense hatred in her tone.
"Not really, I just wanted to know your name." Taro replied.
"I'm Mary; I teach physics to the twelfth graders. Well, I kinda thought that you would at least remember the names of the teachers who teach your class!" Mary scoffed.
"Miss Mary, don't take me wrong, however you see.. I really have a difficulty trying to remember the names of the ten to twelve kids in my class, so do you really expect me to learn everyone's name in a jiffy?" He asked.
"Ha, I don't care about your problems. I just wanna say something to you before I head towards your class." She replied.
"Hmm, so you seem like you wanna dump over your problems onto me and yet don't wanna listen to mine. Quite an unfair trade isn't it?" Taro asked.
However, at this point, she started completely disregarding any of Taro's statements as if he didn't say them and instead spoke of the stuff in her mind. "Mr Sadanandan, you should keep your students in check."
"Hmm.. Okay, look here, Miss Mary. It's been like what? A few days since I joined? I don't even know how those kids behave and you just want me to keep them in check? Don't you think you're being a bit harsh on the newbie here?" He asked, visibly shaking his head in dismay.
"Well, you're the one who quickly took the post of class teacher aren't you? Why don't you quickly take the responsibility as well?" She asked.
Taro sighed. "There's no way that you'd back down, huh? Take a seat then. Let's have a chat about my students, shall we?"
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