Monday mornings should honestly be banned. Especially after a freshers party.

"You're thinking about him again?" Lavanya's voice pulled me back to reality.

I looked up from my notebook. "What?"

She looked at me with a 'tera kuch nahi ho sakta' look.

"Come on, we all are going through similar situations," I tried to cover-up and failing successfully.

"Taarini and I aren't delulu like you, yet," she flipped her hair.

There was no use of defending myself with more such statements. Because I did accept that I'm head over heels for Hridayansh.

And somewhere, deep inside my heart, I know the reality check isn't too far from me.

By lunch break, the thought had already started bothering me.

Maybe he knows.

Of course, he does.

It's me who's fake convincing myself that he thinks it's anonymous.

"What happened to him?" Taarini whispered into my ears.

I followed her gaze.

Hridayansh sat with an open notebook beside his plate, scribbling something on a piece of paper at times.

"Internals?" I asked quietly.

Taarini casually glanced on the paper on which Hridayansh had been writing something since the whole lunch break and nodded back at me.

Of course. The internals.

Everyone had been talking about them since morning. The Freshers' memories has already been disappeared.

He hardly ate a bite or two from his tiffin till now.

After all, exams meant much more to him than they did to most people. Being a topper came with its own pressure, that it makes a man lose his appetite.

"Wait," I looked around. "Where's Revant?"

The seat beside Karthik was empty. And Taarini looked up instantly.

"He didn't come?" she asked.

"He was in the class itself till now," Lavanya frowned.

"Karthik, where's Revant?" Lavanya asked him quickly.

"His mom got hospitalized yesterday night."

"What happened?" Taarini asked before anyone else could.

"Nothing too serious, I think," he said. "He got a call yesterday and left for the hospital immediately."

Taarini nodded slowly. "Oh."

Lavanya and I shared a known glance.

We noticed the slight crease forming between her brows afterward.

She seemed worried.

She wouldn't admit it. Not even if someone forced her. But it was there. And we could see that evidently.

"Let's visit him in the hospital after college," Hridayansh, who was silent all this time, spoke, resting down his pen and folding the paper.

Karthik nodded once.

He was still discussing something with Karthik, serious and... distant.

He had not look or talk or even greet any of us, except Karthik, which seemed to be quite unusual of him.

I pushed aside all my thoughts, turned off my sixth sense for a while and resumed eating my lunch box.

It's rightly said, too much thinking will cause harm to you only.

It must be the internals only that are bothering him. Nothing else. And not my letter, at least, please.

We walked back to our respective classrooms after the lunch break.

Hridayansh was still talking to Karthik, walking a bit ahead of us.

"Hridayansh," Lavanya called him, right at the point where Karthik and Taarini were about to leave for their classrooms in the right.

I looked at her in confusion. She rarely used to talk to him.

Hridayansh stopped on his track and looked turning back at her.

"Ipsita and I," she started. "... have some doubts in the physics numericals of Chapter 2. By any chance, are you free for two or three days after college for a group study?"

What.

Was.

She.

Doing?

I stared at her in complete disbelief.

When exactly did we decide that we had doubts?

And more importantly-

when exactly did I decide that I wanted a group study with Hridayansh?

The traitor didn't even look guilty. She stood there calmly as if she hadn't just thrown me directly in front of a moving train.

I wanted to kick her hard.

But unfortunately, ragging is illegal.

So I simply stood there, trying to maintain whatever dignity I had left, which wasn't much.

I still couldn't believe what she just said. And I truly believe she's not even in her senses.

My eyes remained fixed somewhere near the floor.

I refused to look at Hridayansh because if I looked at him and saw even the slightest hint of amusement on his face, I would immediately evaporate from existence.

Hence, the ground seemed like a much safer option.

Beside me, I could feel that Taarini had already realized what was happening. She was trying so hard not to laugh that her shoulders were visibly shaking.

I hope both these girls know I will remember this betrayal forever.

At this point, the tiles beneath my feet knew more about my situation than Hridayansh probably did.

What if he thinks this is my excuse to spend time with him?

Oh Lord Jagannatha!

What if it actually sounds like that?

Please say you're busy.

Please say you're busy.

Please say you're busy.

The prayer repeated inside my head.

Because if he agreed, I would die from embarrassment. And if he refused, I would die from humiliation.

There was no winning here.

And finally, after a brief pause, Hridayansh spoke.

"Chapter 2?"

He seemed very calm as if he was genuinely considering Lavanya's request.

I still didn't look up.

"Yeah," Lavanya nodded enthusiastically. "Numericals."

After a brief pause (again), he replied, "Okay, I don't mind."

I instantly shot my head up.

"If everyone's comfortable," he added.

Everyone?

And right then his eyes landed on me and I looked up at him.

Wait. Was that coincidence or he did that on purpose?

Before I could continue attending the whirl of thoughts inside my head, I felt Lavanya looking at me with her so-called sweet cheeky smile from my peripheral vision.

And the moment when I realized, by 'everyone', he meant... me.

My eyes widened upon realization yet I kept myself composed and nodded once.

I've internally decided all the curses and bad words to blow off on Lavanya when we enter our classroom. (Though I don't speak any bad word.)

"Then, we can study after college for a couple of days," Hridayansh said.

Lavanya beamed like she had personally solved world hunger, "Perfect."

And I mentally added another reason to murder her.

As the group began discussing timings, I remained unusually quiet.

Partly because I was still processing what had just happened (Credits to Lavanya). And partly because one terrifying realization had suddenly struck me.

For the next few days, I would be sitting in a study group with Lavanya and Hridayansh.

And I can already guess that Lavanya will leave at moments so that Hridayansh and I can be alone and...

Oh, Lord.

This girl will get her karma soon. And I'm having the privilege of giving it to her.

And knowing my luck, I would probably forget basic physics formulae every time he would look in my direction.

The next day's evening, two entirely different conversations unfolded in two different corners of the city.

One was filled with hesitation. And the other with silence.

Revant was sitting outside the hospital room with a paper cup of tea that had long gone cold.

The corridor smelled strongly of medicines and disinfectants. Nurses walked past every few minutes, pushing trolleys or carrying files.

His mother was somewhat near stable.

The doctors had assured them there was nothing life-threatening. Still, the fear hadn't completely left him.

He was about to take a sip of the tea from his cup, but his phone vibrated.

He took out the phone from his pocket and looked carefully at the caller ID.

Taarini.

Revant blinked in confusion.

Why would she call him?

For a second he wondered if he was hallucinating. Then he answered immediately.

"Hello?"

The confidence and amusing nature usually present in his voice was missing. Taarini noticed it instantly.

"Hi."

A small silence followed.

"Hi."

Another silence.

Neither of them knew how to begin. Because for the first time, they weren't arguing or teasing ecah other.

"How is your mother now?" Taarini finally asked.

The question came out softer than she intended.

Revant looked toward the hospital room. His shoulders relaxed slightly.

"Better."

"Really?"

"Yeah. She keeps scolding me for skipping classes just to take care of her."

Taarini and Revant both smiled.

"Then she must be recovering really well," she laughed lightly.

"Haww. Didn't know you would take her side," Revant tried to sound a bit betrayed.

"I would always choose her between you both," Taarini spoke immediately.

For the first time since two days, Revant found himself smiling properly, all because the person he'd always admired since the beginning, had called simply to ask how he and his mother were doing.

They continued talking about college, classes and Lavanya's little embarrassing blunders.

A few kilometres away, inside a quiet public library near their locality, another silence existed. But this one felt different.

Bookshelves stretched endlessly around them. The air smelled faintly of old paper, dust and furniture. Only the occasional turning of pages disturbed the stillness of the atmosphere.

Hridayansh sat across from Ipsita. Lavanya occupied the chair beside her.

Physics textbook, lecture notes, pens, rulers, rough sheets and water bottles covered most of the table.

The study session had gone surprisingly well (especially for Ipsita). For almost two hours.

Hridayansh explained numericals.

Ipsita attempted to solve numericals.

And Lavanya complained about the existence of numericals.

After a few minutes, Lavanya received a phone call from home and came to know about the arrival of some guests unexpectedly.

"Maa just called, she said some guests have come over," she said, in front of Ipsita and Hridayansh.

Ipsita frowned, knowing very well what she's about to say next and what is expected to happen next inside the library.

"I'll be right back in thirty minutes, or maybe forty," Lavanya said and walked towards her bag, collecting her belongings and eventually exiting the library.

Ipsita had no choice or chance of stopping her or even talk to her in gestures. She sat staring at a question she had solved incorrectly three times.

The awareness of being alone with Hridayansh still refused to leave her mind.

Meanwhile, Hridayansh remained focused on his notebook.

The library had grown quieter as evening approached. It was almost 7 PM. Most students had already left. Only a handful remained scattered across different corners.

Ipsita was about to show the numerical she was stuck on to Hridayansh, but right then, a loud crash echoed from somewhere deeper inside the library.

Ipsita flinched slightly, and Hridayansh looked up from his notebook.

The librarian hurried past their section. Another staff member followed him. Several students stood up from their seats and constantly whispered and murmured.

"What happened?" Ipsita asked quietly, looking at the direction of the source of noise.

A student sitting beside their table answered absentmindedly, "I think some old shelves collapsed in the archive section."

The archive section was the oldest part of the library. Very few, almost none, students used to visit that section. And hence, it became one of the least maintained sections of the library.

The librarian entered the section and turned on a few more lights. The staff member that had followed him earlier, helped him arrange the fallen books.

"Did someone do this knowingly?" the staff member asked.

"We'll have to go through the CCTV recording," the librarian replied, dusting off his hands.

For the next few minutes, everything returned to normal.

Until the electricity suddenly went out. The entire library fell into darkness. There was still some visibility left, but it added more to the fear.

A few startled voices rose immediately. Someone dropped a pen. Someone else gasped. Emergency lights flickered weakly after a few seconds, casting pale shadows across the bookshelves.

"Silence, please. We're looking into the matter. Everyone is requested to be seated on their respective chairs and maintain silence," the librarian announced.

All the staff members except two ran towards the archive section. The atmosphere changed instantly. The familiar library no longer felt familiar.

Ipsita glanced around uneasily. And then she noticed Hridayansh.

Hridayansh was no longer looking at the books. He was staring toward the archives section corridor.

"Hridayansh, what happened?" Ipsita asked quietly, though she could not hide the tension in her voice.

Hridayansh didn't answer immediately. His eyes remained fixed toward the dark corridor.

"That's strange."

"What's strange?" Ipsita asked, almost immediately.

"I could have sworn I just saw someone standing there."

Ipsita quickly followed Hridayansh's gaze. The corridor was completely empty. Yet neither of them looked away immediately.

The emergency lights flickered weakly overhead, casting long shadows across the rows of bookshelves.

"What exactly did you see?" Ipsita asked quietly.

Hridayansh continued staring toward the archive section.

"I don't know."

That answer somehow felt worse.

"You don't know?"

"It looked like someone," his eyes narrowed slightly. "Standing near the corner."

Ipsita immediately looked back toward the corridor. A cold shiver ran down her arms.

"Nope," she closed her notebook immediately. "Absolutely not."

Hridayansh looked at her. "What?"

"We are leaving," she spoke.

His eyebrows lifted slightly.

"Ipsita - "

"No." She began stuffing papers into her bag at record speed. "It's already 7 and this, whatever this is, feels very unsafe."

Another sound echoed from somewhere deep inside the library.

A metallic clang.

Ipsita froze. "Did you hear that?"

This time even Hridayansh didn't argue. Because he had heard it too. In fact, the whole library had heard it.

Everyone remaining inside the library could feel it. The librarian and two staff members were still moving around near the archive section, whispering among themselves.

And suddenly staying there felt unnecessary.

"Okay," Hridayansh stood from his seat. "Let's leave."

Within seconds both of them began collecting their belongings and putting them quickly into their bags.

They walked through the library quietly. The emergency lights continued glowing faintly above them. The sound of their footsteps echoed through the almost-empty building.

Both of them sped up near the archive section without discussing about it further.

Three minutes later, they pushed open the main entrance and stepped outside.

"Heee Jagannatha, thank you for saving us today," Ipsita prayed, joining her hands, closing her eyes and looking up towards the dark sky.

"Actually, it looks creepy from outside too," Hridayansh folded his arms.

"It looked normal till yesterday."

"Yesterday I wasn't told someone was standing in the dark corridor of the archives."

A laugh escaped from both their mouths. For a brief moment, the strange tension of the last few days disappeared.

"Come to my place from tomorrow. In no universe, am I going to trust this library ever," Ipsita suggested, as both of them started walking towards their society.

"Same here," he breathed. "Let's decide when Lavanya comes."

The silence between them no longer felt uncomfortable. That was perhaps the strangest and the best part of the evening.

"Well," Hridayansh adjusted the strap of his bag on his shoulder, glancing once more at the building. "Try not to get traumatized tonight when you go to sleep."

"Me? You're the one who started this," Ipsita immediately scoffed.

His eyebrows rose. "I started this?"

"You literally said you saw someone standing there."

"I did see someone."

"You think you saw someone."

"That's exactly what people say before the ghost gets them."

Ipsita stared at him for a good five seconds and then broke into a laughter. And hence, Hridayansh, too, laughed it off.

"Goodnight, Ipsita."

"Goodnight, Hridayansh."

Both bid their goodbyes after a few more jokes and parted their ways.

As Ipsita walked home, she found herself smiling. Hridayansh wasn't acting strange nor he was avoiding her.

She thought maybe she had overthought everything. And things were all good and fine as they were before.

Next Day,

"Thank God you weren't there," Ipsita said dramatically, pointing her spoon at Lavanya. "We would've had to drag you out unconscious."

"Excuse me? I would've investigated," Lavanya looked offended.

"You would've screamed first."

"I would've screamed while investigating."

Across the table, Taarini muttered, "Badi aayi, investigate karne wali."

("Oh please, look who's acting like some big investigator.")

Lavanya cried dramatically, "Taarini, yaar!"

"See?" Ipsita pointed at her. "Taarini's agreeing too."

The entire table laughed.

"Guys, you're not understanding the seriousness of the situation," Hridayansh interrupted with a completely straight face and leaned forward.

"We were sitting peacefully."

The girls nodded.

"The lights went out."

More nodding. From the boys too.

"There was a suspicious figure."

"Allegedly," Ipsita interrupted.

"Suspicious figure," Hridayansh repeated firmly.

"Allegedly," she repeated.

"Suspicious figure."

"Fine," Ipsita gave up.

"Then mysterious sounds started coming from dark corridors," he continued.

"There was just a loud thud of books!" Ipsita interrupted again.

"I heard sounds."

Ipsita didn't anything but rolled her eyes thinking the incident wasn't even so dramatic as Hridayansh is narrating it.

"The archive section collapsed. The lights kept flickering. On, off, on, off, on, off," he explained, mimicking the flickering of lights through his fingers.

Revant, Karthik and Lavanya seemed very interested in the narration at that point.

"Then we escaped," Hridayansh lowered his voice dramatically and leaned back onto his chair.

"...That's it?" Revant asked.

"That's it."

"I could have narrated it in a more dramatic way," Lavanya complained. "So sad, I missed all of this."

"You missed the possibility of death and trauma, Lavanya," Hridayansh spoke.

"I missed an adventure," she corrected. "Because imagine if it was actually haunted."

"Please don't start," Ipsita groaned.

Lavanya ignored her completely and continued.

"We could've gone upstairs and investigated. And we've found clues. We could also discovered a hidden room."

"Finally. Someone with the courage that the paranormal investigators look for," Revant pointed toward Lavanya.

"Courage?" Taarini looked horrified. "That's called being the first victim."

Everyone burst out laughing again. For the next fifteen minutes, multiple theories and narrations continued flying across the table about ghost encounters.

"Well, Hridayansh and Lavanya, please come to my place from now for the study. I'll be sharing with you the address," Ipsita suggested.

"Did aunty agree?" Lavanya asked.

Ipsita nodded her head in yes, with a smile.

Our center table had completely disappeared beneath books and notebooks.

Our center table had completely disappeared beneath books and notebooks. And our pens, pencils, rulers and calculators were spread across the table.

"I assume you forgot to convert the unit," Hridayansh's voice pulled me out of my thoughts.

I looked down at my answer, and then at his.

And immediately wanted to throw myself out of the nearest window. How had I missed that?

"Again?" Lavanya laughed from beside me.

"This is the third time," Hridayansh added.

"Thank you both for your support."

"You're welcome," Both of them answered together.

Traitors.

"You've to be careful about the type of mistakes you make. So focus on them first," Hridayansh spoke.

"Alright, sir," I answered, almost saluting him.

"Bas, enough studying," my mother entered the room with three plates along with a tray carrying three glasses of fresh juice.

The moment she entered, I instantly straightened my posture. Lavanya looked equally alert. Meanwhile, Hridayansh politely stood up.

"Namaste, aunty," he greeted her, slightly bowing down in respect.

"Namaste, aunty," Lavanya quickly copied his posture.

"Namaste, children. Please sit down," my mother smiled warmly.

"You children have been studying continuously since afternoon."

Studying?

If only she knew that I had spent half the time staring at formulas and the other half trying not to stare at Hridayansh.

"Take these," she pushed the plates toward us.

She had prepared masala poha, chutney and few different types of homemade cutlets.

"Thank you, Aunty," Hridayansh said.

My mother smiled warmly and said, "Oh, such a well-mannered boy."

I nearly choked on air.

"Study well," she continued. "Internals are near."

"Yes, Aunty," Lavanya replied calmly.

My mother nodded approvingly and finally looked at me.

"Learn something from him."

I froze. Lavanya immediately looked down to hide her laughter.

The real traitor.

"Maa!"

"What Maa? Learn manners from him."

Just then, she leaned a bit, maybe to look into our notebooks, and spoke again.

"Look, his notebook is so neat and clean. And yours looks like a kindergarten kid trying to learn alphabets."

I practically hid my face under my palms. She's literally embarrassing me.

Finally, after reminding us to eat properly and not spend all evening studying, my mother disappeared back into the kitchen.

"Kindergarten kid, huh?" Lavanya exploded into laughter.

I buried my face inside my notebook.

"I am never recovering from this."

"Learn something from him," Lavanya repeated dramatically.

"Shut up, yaar, Lavanya."

Hridayansh quietly focused on his juice, slightly smiling at the situation and nodding his head in amusement.

For the next hour, they returned to studying. Frequent conversations and teasing kept happening, making the environment more chill and lighter.

Ipsita never imagined this study session could have been an actual study session despite the awkwardness between her and Hridayansh.

It was becoming one of those kind of memories, that people randomly remember years later.

"Well," Lavanya dropped her pen and stretched her hands up in the air. "I suppose we are done for the day."

Ipsita and Hridayansh looked at the clock.

7:52 PM.

Ipsita looked towards Hridayansh with pleading doe eyes.

"Alright, alright. But let's have a walk," he said, smiling.

Both the girls quickly packed their books and stationeries inside their bags and got up.

Hridayansh and Lavanya bid their goodbyes to Ipsita's mother and the three of them left for a walk.

As they got down from the lift, darkness had completely settled over the city. The buildings were adorned with bright white and yellow lights.

"So refreshing," Lavanya stretched her arms dramatically. "Nature."

"This is the parking area," Ipsita said dryly.

"Nature, it is."

Ipsita and Hridayansh rolled their eyes looking at each other with familiar amusement.

Luckily, they were not talking about physics or the internals anymore. In fact, Ipsita started remembering and narrating the funny incidents of freshers' party.

After walking a few distance, Ipsita noticed a familiar figure coming towards her.

"Hey, Ips. Long time, no see."

"Oh, Sid!" she recognized him and awkwardly looked at Lavanya and Hridayansh. "It's just... internals pressure you know..."

"Yeah, right," he nodded. "How's preparation going on?"

"All good," she answered. "By the way, meet my friends, Hridayansh and Lavanya."

Siddhant looked towards them and shook hands simultaneously.

"Hridayansh and Lavanya, this is Siddhant, my childhood best friend," she introduced.

"Nice to meet you, Siddhant," both greeted.

"Nice to meet you too, guys," Siddhant said. "You both are from her class?"

"Yeah, three of us belong to science section," Hridayansh answered.

"Cool. I'm from commerce."

After a few more talks and chit-chats Ipsita bid goodbye to Siddhant and moved on walking with Hridayansh and Lavanya.

The same evening, in a nearby park, Taarini and Revant were sitting on a bench under the subtle mix of golden and night bluish sky.

"I'll definitely punch you if you call this a date," Taarini warned Revant, almost leaning onto him and pointing her little index finger.

Revant smiled a little. Though, his life was getting stressed with each passing day, he believed that only Taarini could fix his mind and make him feel relaxed and hopeful.

He was about to give up seeing her dangerously close to him and his fear of actually getting hit by her small yet bony fist.

But right then - thud.

Some children who were running behind a butterfly mistakenly pushed Taarini to her front.

Towards Revant.

She collided straight into his chest, her hands instinctively grabbing his shirt to stop herself from falling.

"Oof-" he let out, catching her before she lost her balance completely.

"What the-" she muttered, while regaining her balance and looking behind at those little children.

They were already gone in the other section of the park.

Taarini quickly returned to her original place without making it more awkward for her. Being that close to Revant wasn't something she would ever dreamt of, in any of her dreams.

"Prabhu Jagannatha, mu ta khali chance magithili, apana direct takkar hebar byabastha kari dele," Revant looked towards the sky and said, folding his hands dramatically.

("Lord Jagannatha, I only asked for a chance, and you arranged a direct collision.")

The grin on his face widened. Meanwhile, Taarini's patience evaporated.

"REVANT!"

She hardly smacked his head bringing him back to reality.

"It was just a slip of my balance," she glared hard.

"And that's all I would pray for, every morning," he answered, smiling cheekily as if he wasn't smacked a second ago.

Taarini stared at him for long. Dangerously.

"One day," she said calmly, "I will personally introduce your face to a good strong wall."

"Together?" he looked at her hopefully.

"Revant," she glared again.

"Okay, okay," He raised both hands in surrender. Though the smile never left his face.

Taarini rolled her eyes and began walking away.

"Hey, hey, wait for me," Revant said, almost running to keep with her pace.

"How's your mother now?" Taarini asked him, slowing down her walking a bit.

Revant looked at her as if he hadn't expected her to ask this.

"She's good. The doctors discharged her yesterday."

"That's great," she smiled, genuinely.

"She asked about you."

"What?" Taarini blinked.

How come she knows and asked Revant about her?

"My mother," a smile appeared on Revant's lips. "I showed her the freshers' photos, and told her that I liked you."

Taarini's lips parted for a second. She couldn't process the new information which Revant just shared.

"Your mom knows about me?" she asked, still in dilemma. "And you even told her you like me?"

Revant nodded his head, while looking at the ground and scratching the back of his head.

"You tell your mother... everything?"

"Not everything." He paused thoughtfully. "Only the important things."

For some reason, that answer made her heart skip awkwardly. But she ignored it immediately.

"Let's have ice-cream?" Revant suggested as they reached the exit gate of the park.

And for the very first time, Taarini didn't hesitate or tried to escape the situation.

"Only if you don't call this a date," she put forth.

"No promises," he replied and starting walking ahead smilingly.

Taarini rolled her eyes and smiled to herself before running and catching on him.

Word count - 4.3k

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