"Uncle Edwin, I'm ready!" Janet shouted while wearing her socks. She looked at herself in the mirror one final time to see if everything was perfect.

It was.

Uncle Edwin came with the car keys in his hands.

"Jane? All set?"

Uncle Edwin smiled as he opened the door.

"Yes, Uncle Edwin." She smiled back.

Uncle Edwin patted her head and went outside to take out the car. Just when she was about to get out, Maria called her.

"Jane! Your tiffin!"

"Maria, I won't be needing this. There, we will get our snacks and meal on time. And you know we should maintain a proper diet to keep ourselves healthy─"

"Okay! Okay! Jane, I know enough. You don't have to take a class now." Maria rolled her eyes.

Janet flushed, embarrassed.

"No no, I didn't mean it like that─"

"It's okay, you don't have to explain, buddy! It is healthy. Don't you worry!"

"Okay, fine!" This time it was Janet who rolled her eyes.

Maria giggled. "Oh, I totally forgot, your uncle had told me about the key ring he got for you, it's in his room... I totally forgot to give it to you. Give me a second."

Janet hurried, "No, it's okay. Let me get it myself."

Together they went into his room and saw the key ring lying on his table, Janet smiled, "Seems like it's his ring."

"Maybe. It looked used."

"Not that much, but yeah."

"JANET, YOU'RE DONE?" Shouted her uncle from the car.

"Shit, he's waiting for me. I've to go Maria. Bye! See you soon."

"See you soon dear." Maria smiled back, "Oh and..." She trailed off taking out her phone, "Keep my number so that I can talk to you whenever you're free."

"But it's not like I know about you much, what's there to talk about?"

"Anything."

The word sounded so regular on her tongue that Janet somewhere felt off, as if Maria was not the kind of person to do the dishes or clean the room. Anyway, without further thoughts Janet brushed her hair off her face ignoring all these weird feelings.

"JANET?" Her uncle shouted again. Janet could hear the starting of the engine this time.

"I should go now!" Janet hurried. But just as she was about to turn around and leave, her elbow collided with the shelf beside her, and the photo frame over it fell down, scattering the glass piece everywhere.

"Oh no!" Janet shuddered. She bent down to pick up the pieces so that it doesn't hurt anybody but Maria held her there.

"It's okay. It's okay Janet. I'll clean this up." Maria quickly bent down to pick up the glass pieces.

"I'm so clumsy!" Janet buried her face in the palm of her hands. But then her eyes went toward the photo of the shattered photo frame. She looked at Maria, who looked at her too, and shifted her gaze toward the photo of that girl whose picture had been shattered.

Who is that?

Janet did not have much time to inspect who it was, as her uncle's honking was giving her an anxiety. But still she felt something in her chest, as if the person whose photo had been shattered was standing next to her. Janet shivered at the thought. She was glad that Maria was with her.

"Maria-"

"Janet, go now. I'll tell your uncle about this later. Don't tell him anything now." Maria said cutting her off as she looked at the picture critically.

"But-"

"Don't waste any more time, Janet. Good luck." Maria gave her a smile that made Janet less tense.

Janet straightened her dress and went out of the room. As she reached the car, Uncle Edwin bombarded her with questions, "What were you doing? I mean... why did it take so long to come out? Are you okay?... I mean, do you need help with something?"

"Oh Uncle, no need to worry about anything. I'm extremely fine and don't need any help with anything. Now, let's go." Janet sighed.

Uncle Edwin narrowed his eyes.

"Why do you look so tensed?"

"Turn on the AC please and yes I'm fine!" This time her voice sounded a little irritated. Though, she was not. She was just afraid that he might find out about the photo frame. Uncle Edwin was a disciplined and elegant person, she sure didn't want him to know about her deed. Not yet.

Uncle Edwin shrugged his shoulders and went off to Cheveroux.

This time, the journey was more hectic as there was more traffic. With the jerking, and honking of the cars, Janet felt tired as she put on the headphones and played one of her favorite songs 'Wildest Dreams' and the playlist went on and on.

"Jane? Jane. . . wake up."

Janet's eyes opened in a flash, and she got up all of a sudden.

"Ah! It's okay Jane. Slow, slow...Why are you always in a hurry?"

She saw her uncle taking her bags out of the car. She quickly put the headphones inside her bag and got out. Taking out the water bottle, she washed her face and mouth. When she looked up, she saw the signboard 'Rieomb Court.' She saw many pupils going in and many were coming out. Some were giggling outside the hall. It was not at all quiet like she had seen the other day. Her eyes widened.

"Uncle, why didn't you wake me up a bit earlier?" She spoke.

"Ah! You were tired I guess, that's why I didn't try waking you up. Thought, you'd take some rest during the journey, ya' know. But you're here." He smiled.

"I know but still..." She looked around embarrassed.

"Oh, it's okay. There are a lot of other students who got messy hair and-"

"WHAT!"

She quickly went towards the side mirror to fix her hair.

"Ugh! You're so annoying! Why didn't you tell me earlier?" She whined.

Uncle Edwin let out a laugh and then said, "Jane, don't be so insecure. You're fine. A hair not behind your ear won't harm you. Now, come on, you're gonna be late."

"Fine!"

She entered the courtroom; it was full of students who were talking, giggling and eating... looked like they were already very close to each other and had known each other for a very long time. All of a sudden, she started to feel insecure.

Will I be able to make any friends here? Will they ever talk to me? They are so-

"Janet. It's your practice time, I guess. . . don't just stand here thinking about senseless things."

"Yes, Uncle Edwin." She sighed but then narrowed her eyes again, "How do you know?"

"I just know, somehow. Come on! Stop wasting your time Jane, go get the keys to your room."

"Yeah yeah, how good you dodge all my questions." She rolled her eyes.

Then they went towards the counter. The lady who was working the day Janet visited the courtroom, wasn't there... so she felt a bit awkward asking another woman about the keys and everything. But her uncle came forward and started introducing everything to the woman.

"Okay, so Jane. This is where I gotta say bye to you. Take care." Her uncle said after everything was sorted out.

"What? No! You can't go like this! Won't you meet Mr. William?" Janet pouted.

"No no." His voice was firm.

"Please, Uncle Edwin." She pleaded. And she knew it'd work. That one 'please' would compel him to do anything.

"Please, Janet." His tone caught Janet off guard. "Let me go now. We can meet him later."

"Okay. . ." She was somewhat shocked. That was new. Never in her life had she said please and he didn't listen, so she didn't dare say anything back.

Must be personal reasons. But why was it so critical? So complicated that he didn't even consider her please?

She stared in the direction her uncle went hurriedly, for some time, then turned towards the woman.

"Here, Janet Tyler. The key to your room. Call us anytime if you get any problem." She smiled.

"Of course." But just as she was about to go, the woman called her again.

"Janet Tyler!" Janet turned around. The woman at the counter awkwardly scratched her forehead and asked, "Okay, this may sound weird but... uh... I mean... did your uncle, by any chance visit our court earlier?" Janet was going to nod her head in denial when the woman started speaking again, "I mean... he looked very very familiar to me. I mean, not that the parents do not come and go for information and everything. But his face was of something else, it reminded me of something big happened here, do you by any chance, know. . ."

"No. As much as I know, he came here for the first time-"

"Of course, of course. . . my bad! I think I'm thinking too much. I'm sorry for the wastage of your time. I might have mixed him up with somebody else. Apologies, again!"

"It's okay." With that, Janet walked forward.

Why was she asking me all this? What was even the motive? Did my uncle really come here? Somewhere, I also felt like he did. But why didn't he tell me? Moreover, what was that big thing-

Thud!

Janet bumped into someone with a loud thud.

"You're made of stone or what-" She shouted as she looked up irritated but stopped short as she remembered his face. She saw a faint smirk appearing in his face before he masked it with a tough demeanour.

She must have imagined that.

He is the one! Yes, yes he is definitely the one! Who wins all the matches and plays super well-

"Can't you see where you're going!?" He shouted back.

Janet was still in her trance when someone waved a hand in front of her eyes. She stepped back with a jolt.

"Oh, hello miss! Done ogling me?" The guy in front of her frowned and brushed his shoulders as if he had just been covered with dirt.

Deep down in her heart, she couldn't bear him... First because of slight jealousy because of his high talent, and second because of the rumours.

And third, acknowledging his rude and egoistic behaviour.

If he really was taking the advantage of this institution by any means, then...

What? What can I even do? I certainly don't have that power.

'But you have something important inside you Janet, which no one has.' Her inner voice screamed and she shivered.

Did... I really think that?

She felt embarrassed bumping into someone she didn't even expect, that too into him! She had heard enough rumors about him.

"No. I... I" She trailed off not knowing what to say. But when she looked around, she saw all the eyes were on her.

What a way to start the day!

"You what?" The man or boy she didn't know in front of her asked as she still saw the face that carried a self-satisfied attitude.

She had had enough.

"Oh, hello I -don't- know- who- you- are can you please stop blocking my way? I have to go. Moreover, you're the one who bumped into me." Her tone was a bit irritated this time as she didn't want to prolong the conversation.

"Oh? I saw a pretty girl walking in front of me full of thoughts and I decided to intervene. Don't you think I'm too busy for that?" As soon as the words left his mouth, he regretted.

No, he didn't regret blaming her, but he did regret calling her pretty. He rolled his eyes, annoyed at his own behaviour.

I'm pretty? Ha! Janet eternally laughed.

But she shifted her gaze towards her surroundings and saw the court was full of people now. Even if there weren't enough people, each and every student was calling out to the others to see the drama and till where it goes. But Janet wasn't the one to satisfy them. She looked at him again and then towards his hand where he held the phone, where the screen was still on, and anyone could see the messenger that was still opened. Everyone followed her gaze toward the screen of the phone.

Oh! He was also busy messaging. I am not the only one to blame.

"You sure are." Janet said and gave him a half-smile.

"And you sure are a pretty observant one. Like you observed how-" He said and cocked his eyebrows, but before he could continue the the girl in front of her cut him mid-way.

"Shut your mouth, please. Nobody's interested." Janet flushed not wanting to hear the repetition of her words.

"Everybody's interested." He said with a shrug.

And it was definitely true. . . By the way, they all gathered there to enjoy the show. But then a hard voice was heard.

"What's happening here?"

"Sir, I tried telling them, but they won't budge." The man beside him sweated profusely as he entered the hall.

"Step aside, everybody!"

Janet's eyes widened as she saw the man coming.

"Mr. William?" Janet muttered.

"Hey, Dad!" The guy greeted.

Hey hey hey, sweet pies. . . how are you doing?

Excited to meet our next character?

What do you think about Edwin and Maria?

Any ideas?

Any thoughts? :)

Thank you for reading! ♡