If only life came with a Ctrl+Z

What would you undo?

“Dude, you look.. You look.. Weird. Anything wrong?” Asked Jay looking at Raj. He didn’t look himself today.

Raj did not respond.

“Is it her? Lemme guess. You besties had another fight?”, enquired Jay.

“No no! I’m just nervous. I’ve decided to tell her”

“Ha, Finally! You’ve been in love with her for like forever now. About time you man up and told her.”, said Jay, visibly excited at his friend’s decision.

“I just don’t know dude. In the past 2 years, I’ve never given her the slightest clue about how I feel about her. What if she shoots me down? What happens then?”

Jay felt lost for an answer. If she didn’t feel the same way about Raj, then their friendship would most certainly be screwed. Finally he said, “I don’t know how you do it, but you always seem to know how to take the best course of action at the right time. This should also work out just fine”

Raj knew what Jay meant. But he didn’t know Raj’s little secret.

Looking up, he could now see her approaching the staircase from her classroom. Raj’s legs started shaking from nervousness. His grip on the rose stem tightened. He held the flower behind his back, so that Jay couldn’t see it.

“Okay Jay, wish me luck, there she comes. Now or never!”, said Raj as he climbed the steps towards the first floor corridor of the college.

“All the best buddy!”

Jay looked with interest at Raj approaching her. But just a little into the conversation, Jay could surely make out that the proposal was not going the way Raj had planned.

A clearly dejected Raj walked back towards Jay moments later.

“Yup. It’s official. I’ve screwed up. She does not see me that way, and she has feelings for a guy from senior year. All fucked up. Wish I could undo this”, said Raj looking down and shaking his head. His eyes damped a tad.

“Oh.. Hmm. Leave it dude”, responded Jay with disappointment. He didn’t know how to console Raj. He knew how much she meant to him.

Raj was not listening. He slipped his hands into his pocket. He felt the controls of the strange device. Hoping and praying that it would work, he pressed the button. Raj felt dizzy and nauseous for a second as the world around him whizzed by in a blur.

“Dude, you look.. You look.. Weird. Anything wrong?” Asked Jay looking at Raj. He didn’t look himself today.

Raj did not respond.

“Is it her? Lemme guess. You besties had another fight?”, enquired Jay.

Raj looked up towards the first floor corridor of the college. He saw her walking towards the staircase from her classroom.

She hadn’t seen Raj and Jay standing at the bottom of the staircase facing the corridor.

She crossed the spot where Raj just had the awkward and uncomfortable conversation with her. She was walking towards another classroom.

Minutes later, Raj saw her smiling and blushing as she was having an animated conversation with the guy from senior year she had just mentioned. They looked happy.

“Fine. I’ll just leave you with your thoughts” said Jay as he turned around to leave Raj alone.

“Now you know how I always seem to know how to take the best course of action every time”, thought Raj, looking at Jay walking away.

“What? Did you say anything?” Asked Jay.

“Eh? No nothing. Just leave me alone for now”

Raj silently dropped the rose flower he had in his hand, and walked away. He would never tell her how he felt about her this time. She would never come to know. At least not in this parallel universe.