||Closure..

She fidgeted with her hands, traced the green nail paint on her finger nails. Then she took another look at the clock's hands, just about five minutes had passed since she last did that. The clock made its signature tick-tock-tick sounds but it still gave her no comfort, the time just wasn't passing soon enough. "Nine thirty-five", she murmured to herself with a sigh, and started locking and unlocking her phone screen repeatedly. Anything to take her mind off of the pressure she was under right then.

After another minute, she couldn't take it anymore, she looked at the five other anxious faces in the room and another bored one, then swiftly walked out of the conference hall that was allotted to her as a waiting room. She stepped onto the balcony-like pathway that joined two blocks of the same building, slightly higher than the ground floor level. She walked a few steps then leaned on the railing. The cold breeze made her shiver and she wrapped her arms around herself, a lone tear trickled down her face. She took a deep, calming breath and wiped it away.

Her mind wandered back to all the things she had been told that day, and a few years ago. She could have achieved all that she wanted long back had she just tried. Except, she didn't really know what she did want. Now that it was so close, she knew this was it. She looked back at her freshly redone green nails. And then she smiled. She remembered how after her first interview, she had been rebuked by a teacher as to how the color wasn't really 'formal' and she should keep that in mind the next time. She also remembered how a friend had made faces about her color choice. That made her grin. Nothing had ever changed her adamant nature. She was who she was and nothing had changed her against her will, literally.

She walked back into the waiting room a little more confidently. She picked up her phone and called her parents. "Yeah dad, my phone's battery is dying, I'll call you later with good news. She could practically hear her parents' relief when they realized she wasn't all that tensed anymore. About ten minutes later, she was called in for her seventh interview in two months. She shook hands with the interviewer and threw in a dazzling smile. "How long have you been waiting?" he asked. "A little over twelve hours", she replied. He looked at her with apparent shock, apologised for the delay and asked with brimming curiosity "How are you feeling?" She replied with the same smile, "Great!"

After an hour, she was lying on the bed obviously tired, half asleep, having given up on any hopes of gathering the strength to go down to the hostel mess for dinner. She stirred when she heard a ruckus outside the room, but what really woke her up was a friend's voice saying "We got through!". She woke with a start and said "You're kidding!" She couldn't believe she had finally done it. She couldn't believe she could actually call her parents with the good news. But most of all, she couldn't believe she wouldn't be calling the person she had thought she would first call when this actually happened. Everyone claimed it to be her success. For her, it was something else. Closure!