I know we all are locked won due to this unfortunate pandemic that has been haunting the world for a while now. Let's all hope that we revive from it soon, with minimal loss to humans.

Here's a little gift from my side to kill some time while you're sitting idle!! I don't even know how many of you are still following me or have the bonus book in your library!! I hope it reaches to at least a few!!

Happy reading!!!

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It was another regular day at school.

I was at the library in my tutoring sessions along with Matt.

"God this is so boring. I have had enough enough marketing for three hours in the morning" I was cribbing.

"What is your problem with marketing?" he asked.

We were given an essay as a take home assignment and were working on it.

"You don't get it Matty, having a problem is an understatement. I absolutely loathe the subject. I am not for it. I am an introvert and this subject forces me to initiate conversations and talk to people"

"I am glad if not us, at least the subject is trying to get something out of the attempt"

"Seriously Matt?"

"What? You hardly talk to people sweetie, this is not going to work. You are in college and there is no other better place than college to come out of the fear you have"

"You know it's not fear"

"Then educate me...what is it?"

"Matty this is not the place or time for this discussion. Do not make me cranky"

"Oh I get it. It's you period"

"It doesn't have to be my period to get cranky over this topic" I said with a straight face.

He knows when I get my period? Wow!

"Fine calm down tiger. We'll talk about it later. Now just finish the paper. I bet he will ask the update in the next five minutes" he said.

Our tutor was an equal asshole. He knows I hate the subject and he purposely makes me do all the readings and debates. Why?

I seriously hope some day some professor would be understanding and help me like the subject so I could at least get a B. I have two C's already. Aaaarghhh!!!

"Hey nandini. Could you share what you have with us?" It was the tutor.

I told ya!

"Sure Adam"

I read out a few points I highlighted with my star highlighter.

"That's good. I would suggest you read more into it. Everything is not written directly, you need to read between the lines. This is a Harvard case study guys. It is not that easy. It will take you a day or two to comprehend and then start the analysis. Believe me I have been through it" he started giving gyaan.

Adam is a straight A student with a perfect 4.0 GPA, ya he is a rare breed. I agree with you.

"Sure. thanks" I said.

"Okay guys. I have practice. Need to go. I will see you on monday?" he asked.

We said yes. Next monday, which is three days from now, at 5 PM.

Matt and I decided to go the chinese restaurant for dinner tonight.

"I am going to come with you on one condition" I said.

"What?"

"You're not going to continue the discussion we were having at the library"

"Fine! Can I ever dare say no to you?" he asked.

"I suggest you don't" I said, smirking.

"My atom bomb" he said, squishing me between his arm and shoulder.

We ordered for dumplings, egg rolls and noodles.

"So what about your crush, Lisa" I asked.

"I tried to talk to her twice. I cannot say there is progress, but ya it's not too bad either"

"Great! She's a nice girl. She and I are on the same floor"

"I know. She keeps telling me about you"

"What about me?" I asked.

"Your fetish for hindi songs" he said smiling.

"Oh that! You know I really am not that good at hindi. I mean I could manage but the accent pops up and it sounds funny"

"Why do you have to learn it in the first place?" he asked.

We finished two plates of dumplings already. I am going to get chubby cheeks by morning.

"I don't know. When I don't have anything else to do, that's the only option left"

We were almost done eating when Matt got a call from William.

"Hey roomie. Whatsup"

"Dude we had tutoring. Nandu was starving"

"Fine. Just the noodles?"

"Cool. I will see you soon"

"Is he mad?" I asked him the moment he hung up.

"He kinda is. He wants me to get noodles for him"

I called the waitress and ordered for a less spicy noodles and dumplings.

Matt and I started having dumplings because of him. They are his favourite.

"He is going to sulk all night after eating this. I wonder why he eats them"

Will is a complete fitness freak. He is in the soccer team and the captain. He ought to maintain standards for that. He basically survives on fruits and non-fat yogurt. Can you believe it?

"He loves it" I said.

We got the food and walked back to the dorm.

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Without even realizing how quick the time passed by, we were on the last day of freshman year.

And unfortunately the last exam was marketing management.

"Butterfly you are going to do fine. Please stop panicking. You are making me nervous" Will said walking with me.

"How can you be nervous you stupid, you always get an A+"

"Okay now on a count of three, you are going to breathe" he said.

We stopped on our tracks.

"Three, two, one" he said and I took a deep breath.

"Now look at me. He is going to ask you only out of what we have been studying for a week now. You have done great ib rest of the papers and I do not want you to get all nervous over this. Okay? We are going to write the exam, then go back to the dorm, take a nap and after that Matty, Lisa and I are taking you to the carnival. Okay?"

He is the only one who can control me any moment.

I hope we stay the same forever. Losing a friend like Will is a big loss to anyone.

"Yes. Carnival"

"That's like my girl" he said, taking me into a hug.

"Now let's go"

Matt was already in the exam hall. He had to accompany Lisa since she was also nervous about the exam.

I went and sat behind Matt and Will was behind me.

I don't usually cheat, but you never know when it's marketing.

Three hours passed by and it was the end of the exam.

I am satisfied with my paper.

As Will said, he made a good job helping me learn everything that was expected in the test.

"So how was it?" he asked as we walked out of the room.

"Good. You did a good job" I said patting his back.

"Now go take some rest, we are going to have a long night" he said patting my head.

We had great fun at the carnival. I ate as much as i could and came back to the dorm with a bad stomach.

I kept puking all night, don't know what went wrong.

I hope I feel better by tomorrow. I am going to start working as the campus ambassador this year. So my job starts tomorrow.

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Manik

Cabir and I were sitting in the study room, organizing my documents for the visa process.

It's been a year since I decided to go abroad to study. I struggled hard, I gave the GMAT and scored a whopping 690, relatively a really good score.

I got admission calls from three universities. University of California Los Angeles shortly called UCLA, University of Texas Austin and University of Wisconsin, Madison (Oh just a reminder, this is where the rest of life kicks off).

I am kinda confused amongst the three.

"Manik look what I found" Cabir said pulling a paper out of the folder.

"What is that?
"Your transcripts. Yaar tujhe Marketing mein 100 mein se 98 kaise mile? How is that even possible. Uss mein mushkil se meri 70 aathi thi" he said.

I was good at marketing. I somehow liked the subject. It needed me to talk to people and that was my favourite thing to do.

"Abey chup. Use rak de waapas andar" he put it back.

"Acha tu ne socha kaunsa application accept kar ra hain? You need to apply for the visa as well"

"Amaj mein nai aa rahin. I think the three of them are equally good"

"Ab ek saath theen universities mein toh jaa nai sakta hain na. Toh kuch toh decide karna padega"

Cabir said.

"Kya decide karna hain?" Navya came in with food for the boys.

"Khillao na, I can;t get up now to wash my hands" Cabir said.

"Manik tum bhi yaha aake baith jao" she said.

She sat between them and started feeding them.

"Acha batao kya decide karna hain, kab se pooch rahi hoon" she asked.

"Yahi ki kaunsi university mein jaana hain" Cabir said.

"Isn't there one option that's standing out?" she asked manik.

"I don't know. I can't see if there is one" Manik said.

"Mere paas ek idea hain lekin uss ke liye mujhe tum se kuch poochna hain" she said.

"Kya?" Manik asked.

"Are you inclined to particular one?" she asked.

"No, tab se wahi toh bol raha hoon" he said.

"Tumhaara kya idea hain?" Manik asked her.

"Chits" she said.

"Come on Navya! Yeh uss ki life changing decision ho sakti hain" Cabir rejected the idea the very next moment.

(Little did Cabir know when he said that his life would turn upside down....hehe that is our little secret right?)

"Mein kahamana kar rahi hoon Cabir. Ab Manik ne khud bola ki uski koi personal inclination nai hain and that all the three are equally good" she justified her idea well.

"Manik tu bataa tujhe iski bachpane waali idea ko follow karni hain?" Cabir asked Manik.

"Actually, I think she is right. I mean I do not believe in destiny and stuff, but since I found this diary mera destiny pe thoda belief aa gaya. Things are meant to happen if they do" Manik said.

"Wahh! Waah Manik baba wahh! Ab bas teri muh se yahi sunne ke liye mein zinda hoon aaj" Cabir said.

"Oh hello drama queen, agar tumhe yeh idea acha nai laga toh jao. Manik and I are going to execute it" Navya told him, feeding the last bite of the paratha.

"Woh mere bina nai karega" Cabir said.

She looked at Manik and Manik had a face that said Cabir was right.

"Theek hain then, chits it is" navya said.

She tore a paper from the notepad that was there in front of them.

Manik wrote names of the three universities on each of the chit and gave them to navya.

"Chalo mere saath" she said getting up.

They went to the prayer room where there were pictures of their parents and sister.

"Chalo ek uthao. We are not doing best of three so first chit you pick up is going to be your decision. Are you okay with it?" Navya asked Manik.

"Yes" he said.

He looked at the smiling faces of his family in the frames.

Cabir came and stood beside him, his hand around Manik's shoulder, trying to reassure him.

"Kya chal raha hain yaha?" they heard Alya's voice right when manik was about to pick up the chit. Alya and Dhruv walked into the prayer room.

"Alya, Dhruv! Kya timing hain tum donon ki. Aa jao, Manik ki life decision ho raha hain yaha" Cabir said.

"Kya?" Dhruv asked.

They quickly narrated the story to him.

"Are you guys serious?" Alya asked.

"Thank god! Atleast one person this is a crazy idea" Cabir said pulling Alya to his side.

"Dhurv tu meri side mein haina?" navya asked him.

"Always!" he said and stood next to Navya.

"Okay, three...two....one" Navya counted down and Manik picked a chit closing his eyes.

Do I need to tell you explicitly which one he picked up?

A great poet, ralph Waldo Emerson once said, "There's nowhere you can be that isn't where you are meant to be"!

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I hope you liked it. A little entertainment during the lockdown period! Hope you liked it!!

Stay home, Stay safe guys!! :):)