The base camp was always jampacked with climbers even before Mia and her little family got there every year. Her childish wish was to be the first person to enter the camp and to touch the summit before people settled down. The disappointment scorched her every time.

"How do they get here so fast?" she used to mumble, displaying distaste with her crunching eyebrows.

That year, packing started at home at the end of February which was supposed to be at mid-march. Forcing her father and brother to cancel all their plans, she made it perfect by departing early from home. Both Mia and Mithran were at college then.

"Don't tell me you are skipping your tennis games again..." Her mother spoke in a calm tone, knitting a sweater sitting on a swing.

Chandhrika was nowhere near to give up on her dream son-in-law, thereby forcing Mia to join the tennis club soon after she started college.

"I suck at it anyway. You can replace me if you wish to." Mia winked.

When her mother asked her about the exams, she pretended not to hear it but later explained to her father that she would write it with arrear papers. For that matter, she also became Mithran's voice. He was grumbling all the way about being the evil twin how she had ruined his life.

Kathmandu to Lukla trekking was quite and pleasant as there were no intruders to play 20 question game with them. That was Dhruv's turn to whine about how calm and serene the track looked.

"Sorry for screwing your 'on the path' friendship. My bad!" The smirk on her face explained she didn't apologize rather teasing a cry baby.

Watching her irresistible high spirit, the father and the son shared her enthusiasm to reach the base camp before the traffic gorged. Her frivolous plays made the trek more blissful and they had reached their destination before their estimated time.

Scanning the valley, she knew she was a little late as somebody was already there to her greatest disappointment. Sherpas would be the first one to arrive she was certain but there was another group of climbers, fixing their camper tents.

"Woah! Never seen this place so lonely before..." Dhruv dropped his rucksack down and straightened his back, placing his hands on both the hips he made a warmup dance. His age began to show.

Mia must have eaten chilies, her face turned red and her look was too spicy for anyone to swallow. Eye signalling Mithran, Dhruv started in the opposite direction from Mia and so did her brother, softly whistling to themselves as if they didn't notice what was happening.

Walking around would calm her down, she believed and made an attempt on that. However, it didn't work out. Mumbling all the way, she suddenly stopped and stomped her foot in irritation only to slip in the melting snow and started to fall on her back. Fortunately, a man wielding his tent was very close that he looked up at the right time and extended his hands in the air. Too bad he folded it pretty fast that she fell on the hard floor, hurting her back. 

"Oops..." the man exclaimed, smiling, his dark eyes glowing along with his handsome face.

Mia frowned at him. Trying to stand was a little painful and she groaned slightly as she did so. As he straightened first, the tiny man became the tallest of all, obscuring the mountain range behind him. Stretching his hand, he gestured her to hold it. Disregarding him she moved and hopelessly mourned.

"I'm sorry I let you fall," he grinned.

"Oh thank God you noticed!" She glowered, sarcasm slashing him like a knife to meat.

Like a lit Christmas tree, he beamed. She rolled her big eyes while his small ones found it to be amusing.

"I know. You can't walk now. Just get on my back. I'll take you wherever you wanna go," he said.

"Are you kidding me now?"

"Most certainly not..." His eyes pierced through her's and she could see the truth in his words.

"Then to the summit!" She wasn't playing either. One way or the other she missed her target, the previous years. Her 22-year dream was unfulfilled until that moment. She was determined to accomplish her mission that year. It was an added reason why she left home early. 

"To the summit it is..." he was confident, kneeling down, showing his back for her to hop on. Apparently, he was not joking.

On musing, she strolled far away from the common campsite, she realised. Grabbing his offer was the only choice she had. Like and hate didn't involve in her rational decision. 

As he carried her, her hands around his neck and legs wound around his hips, "Arjun Tej..." he suddenly blurted. With full gear on and less oxygen to breathe, carrying another fully equipped person was not an easy feat. Trudging slowly towards the camp, silence must have been uncomfortable for him, so he laboriously spoke.

"What? You should shut up!" she knew the drill too.

The quietness existed for a few moments before he started again, "What's your name?"

Rolling her eyes became a habit with him, "ahh..." she muttered in his ears.

"Don't you know the rule 'making friends on your way'?" 

"First off, I'm not on my way. And if you are a 'friend' person, why is your tent there?" she pointed her thumb towards his tent.

He cracked loudly, throwing his head behind, shaking her on the process. "You got me there... Still, I wish to know from you." 

Remembering something he was holding so dearly earlier, she asked, "What was that you had in your hand before?"

"It's nothing..." he shoved the matter off altogether, "Is it your first year?" 

"Seventh! How about you?" It was her hot topic and at last, she showed some interest.

"Umm... twelfth. I started when I was thirteen. Too bad the youngest person to reach the summit was thirteen but I started only at thirteen." 

"Did you summit?" He was young and she was eager to know if he had reached her destination already. Contrary to her strange thoughts, he nodded yes. Jealous smuggled her. Shame bashed her.

"Put me down. I can walk from here..." the slight thaw in her freezing to cold again.

 He chuckled as if he knew what had been juggling in her mind but marched forward, with a bit more energy than before. 

That was the first time Mithra Tej met her husband Arjun, a few years ago. The memory of that same place was both beautiful and hurtful.

Peter had been waiting for Mia's arrival from dawn. When the red giant touched the helipad, he hesitated for a bit before clearing his head and ran towards her. She lost her balance but she could see Peter and a Sherpa beside him rushed towards her. Passing out was not in trend.

Later in the tent, the physician who checked her, claimed it must be the infamous altitude sickness as she flew all the way to 5300mts without providing the necessary time for the acclimation. The worst part was she needed to rest at the base camp for at least two days. Arguing didn't work on Peter or Kat. They knew the seriousness of it so did she. Their collective stubbornness suppressed her's.

The base camp was exactly the same for the past 13 years she had been visiting and she couldn't find any change in the past four years she stayed away. The same triangular, color fabrics arranged on a rope, pointed the direction to the camp with the distance measures written on rocks or boards attached to the line.

Old habits never die. Waking around the camp refreshed her mind. Although half of the early climbers were left, a great mass of people who came to spend their vacation was at the base. They were not the mountaineers, neither did they have an ambition to trek on the killer snow. They remained back entertaining the backpackers in the dining tent, or with the evening coffee, if interested in taking a short trek in the valley where they didn't have to do much climbing. In short, it was area overloaded with happiness and friendship - a sophistication one couldn't indulge even at one's own house.

The understatement of the year would have been, 'I missed it all...' The place was more to her.

She halted approximately at the same spot where she first met Arjun years ago, reliving their first encounter, smiling softly to herself. As she stared into the void, the sharp blades of a rescue chopper swiveled ferociously, disturbing the surroundings as it lifted itself in the air. After a short stillness, it flew away towards the bleached highland.