I was really disheartened when I learnt that Srishti's class monitor had called her a beggar. I knew Srishti shouldn't have punched her classmate, but if I was in her place, I would have also ended up doing the same.

Still, teaching violence to kids was not appropriate, so after reaching Srishti's school, I apologized to her teacher and the kid Srishti had punched. I asked that kid why she had called my niece a beggar as it wasn't good manners.

That kid looked guilty, but she was honest. She told me that she was continuously telling Srishti about her uniform, but as Srishti wasn't listening, she ended up calling my niece a beggar after other classmates started teasing my niece.

I felt really angry, but I was dealing with kids. They had a lot of time to learn and amend their mistakes. My niece was stubborn and didn't want to apologize, but I convinced her and even told her that if she kept fighting with other students, she will never be able to pass her class.

Srishti said sorry to her class monitor and vice-versa. Thankfully, the matter wasn't escalated by the class monitor's parents. As a punishment, Srishti and other students involved were given extra homework and an essay to write about good manners. On principal's advice, I took Srishti with me before the school hours ended. We were exiting the school when Srishti stopped and looked at me seriously.

"Maushi (aunt), am I really a beggar?" she asked, her eyes pooling up with tears.

I shook my head, but I saw how her uniform was dull with mismatched buttons, and multicolored sewing threads were sticking out. One of her shoe had a big hole in the front and even her ribbons were of different colors. Mom was also busy in handling our house and outside work, so I knew she always got Srishti ready in a hurry.

"You are lying," Srishti told me. "All kids tease me about my tiffin. Aajji (grandma) gives me the same sabzi (lunch) every day. And today, she even forgot to pack my tiffin. I didn't have anything to eat and other kids were making fun of me. They said that principal will not keep me in school because my fees is still unpaid."

I bent down to her level and wiped her tears.

"Don't take those kids' words seriously, okay? It is our fault. We should have paid more attention to you. Your Aajji (grandma) is working hard for you only, so can you please forgive her for forgetting your tiffin? Your maushi (aunt) is also sorry," I said.

Srishti took her time and pointed at her stomach. "But I am hungry. I will forgive you both if you get me an icecream."

I hugged her. "Why just an icecream? Let's buy a new uniform and shoes too."

She broke the hug and looked at me with twinkling eyes. "Really?"

I kissed her forehead. "Definitely. My Srishti is so strong! But don't go around punching everyone. If anyone teases you, go and complain to your teacher first."

She looked hesitant while answering, but when I narrowed my eyes at her, she gave me a toothy grin.

"Okay, maushi (aunt)," she said.

We exited the school gates, and Srishti was complaining to me about one of her friends when Akshay's younger brother, Rahul, came running towards us and stopped himself before he crashed into me.

"Bhoomi Di, how do I look?" he asked excitedly.

I raised my eyebrows at him. "You look like... Rahul?"

He rolled his eyes and did a 360° turn. That's when I realised that he was wearing a totally different school uniform.

"Are you changing schools?" I asked.

He smiled widely. "Yes," he pointed at the car in front of us, "Suhana Didi's driver brought me here as I wanted to meet my friends before I started classes at my new school."

I nodded. "Congratulations, Rahul."

"I am really happy. My new school is very big! You know, we have a swimming pool too," he informed. "We are also changing houses soon."

I was shocked because Akshay didn't tell me anything about relocating. I felt sad that my best friend was not going to be my neighbour any more, and he also kept this information from me.

While Rahul told me all about his new school, I felt bad for my niece. I noticed her staring at Rahul, her eyes roaming over his new clothes and shoes. Rahul looked at Srishti and ruffled her hair.

"Okay then. I am getting late, so I will go and meet my friends before I leave," Rahul said. "Bye, Srishti. Bye, Bhoomi Di."

I waved him bye, but Srishti didn't. I asked her what happened, and she pouted.

"I want the most beautiful uniform. Better than Rahul Bhaiyya's," she said with determination.

I laughed. "As you command, my princess."

I took her to the market. We first ate something, and Srishti was really happy when she herself selected her uniform. After trying on a few pair of shoes, she selected the ones that fit her best. Then, she herself picked out hair ribbons and hairbands. I let her shop by herself, enjoying seeing her jumping all over the shop.

Once she was done, we took all the stuff to the counter, and the cashier was making our bills when I sensed a very familiar and unwanted presence beside me.

"Oh ho, shopping shopping?" my sister's ex-husband, Shailesh, taunted as he checked the price tag on Srishti's school uniform.

I quickly pulled my niece towards me and kept her away from Shailesh.

"I didn't know you had time and money for all of this unnecessary stuff," he commented.

I glanced around me and saw two of his men waiting outside the shop.

"What do you want?" I asked him.

"I was just here to get an update about you guys," he said and smiled at Srishti.

She hid from him and didn't dare to look at him. Shailesh smirked.

"A family of cowards," he said. "I am really disappointed that Srishti didn't inherit any of my qualities. If I had a son instead, he would have been just like me. But your sister ruined everything."

I wanted to punch him. I knew I could, but then I would have gotten myself killed, and my niece would have been kidnapped.

"Do you need anything from me?" I asked Shailesh.

He nodded. "Of course. Deposit five lakhs in my account within twenty-four hours."

I widened my eyes. "Five lakhs? Within twenty-four hours? We don't have that much money right now."

Shailesh glanced at the cashier, who was discreetly overhearing our conversation. When Shailesh shot him a threatening look, everyone inside the shop scurried out.

"Well, I know you and your mother are taking me very lightly. I am just asking for a security deposit, nothing much. You also know that when things don't happen my way, I lose my temper. And when I lose my temper," he glanced at Srishti, "you get a very entertaining show to watch."

I fisted my hands as Srishti clutched on me tightly. I knew I needed time to process Shailesh's demand, but at the moment, arguing with him and denying what he was asking for was going to land me and Srishti in trouble.

Therefore, to get out of that place soon, I told Shailesh that I will deposit five lakhs in his account before tomorrow night. He was surprised by my confidence.

"Send me a proof when you complete the transaction," he said.

I confirmed what I had said, and he smiled at my niece.

"You should not be afraid of your father, kid," he said in his disgusting tone. "Don't become like your mother, okay? I am your role model. Be fearless like me."

Srishti wasn't even looking at him, but when Shailesh insulted her mother, she glared at him. Shailesh acted like he was scared and ambled out of the shop after warning me about our deal.

When the shopkeeper and his staff returned, they told me to leave their shop and refused to give us the items we had bought. I fought with them, so they told me that they didn't want to get in trouble with Shailesh and were aware of who he was. They requested me to go to another shop; I understood their fear, so I left and apologized to Srishti.

"Let's go to another shop," I told her.

She shook her head. "No, let's go home. I want Mumma."

I felt like murdering Shailesh. Because of him, our shopping was ruined and Srishti was scared too. I took her to our home, and she ran towards her mother and hugged her.

"What happened?" Dhara Di asked me.

"Nothing," I lied. "I refused to let Srishti eat golgappe, so she is angry with me."

My sister lightly smacked her daughter's back. "Naughty girl. First you eat all kinds of snacks, and then come back home from school early by complaining about stomach ache? Lying is not good."

Srishti gave me a knowing look, and I understood that she was teasing me because I had just lied to my sister. I also realised that my mother had also lied to Dhara Di and hadn't told her that Srishti was sent home early because she had punched her classmate.

Lies... Our family's safety depended on lies these days.

When my mother came home in the evening, I called her upstairs and informed her about my encounter with Shailesh. She was really scared, but as neither me nor Srishti was harmed, she took a breath of relief.

I told her about Shailesh's demands, and she panicked. Both of us tried to find ways to collect that much money. We didn't have much savings and cursed Shailesh for his impromptu demand.

"I will sell my jewellery," Mom said.

"But that still won't be enough," I told her sadly. "If we sell your jewellery also, we won't have any emergency funds. And we will be able to collect only eighty thousand to one lakh rupees. What about the rest?"

"Should I take a loan then?" Mom suggested.

"From where?" I asked. "Bank employees will continuously call us and even reach our homes. Loan sharks are even worse. Such a big amount in just a day... Who else will give us?"

Mom said that she was already indebted to her friends, so she couldn't even ask them for help again. I thought hard, and when the lightbulb lit inside my brain, I quickly ran downstairs and brought my father's old shoes back upstairs.

"What are you going to do with these?" Mom asked.

I took out the blank cheques Viraje Aunty had given her.

"Let's use one of these," I said.

My mother looked at me in disbelief. "Are you sure? Isn't Hriaan your friend? What if he gets to know and asks you about it?"

"He won't know. These are his mother's cheques, and he is aware how his mother keeps donating to charities and needy people. These cheques are our only option, Maa. I know we shouldn't use them, but it is better to be indebted to Hriaan and his mother in comparison to that asshole Shailesh."

Mom nodded and cursed Shailesh with all of her strength.

"Viraje Madam is very nice. She has already helped me before, but she never asked me to pay her back even once. Why can't there be more people like her in this world?" Mom said.

"Exactly. Let's use just this one cheque. I hope after getting some amount, Shailesh won't bother us again for a long time," I said.

"I will deposit the cheque tomorrow while going to work."

I agreed and asked my mother to buy a new uniform for Srishti too as I wouldn't be getting time again. She felt sorry when I told her how the shopkeepers refused to sell us the items we had already selected.

"Shailesh is a menace," Mom grumbled.
"After making connections with some corrupt politicians, his greed for fame and power has become uncontrollable. He can stoop to any level. He and his family were really nice before, Bhoomi, but unfortunately, I didn't know what kind of businesses they were exactly involved in. I, like an idiot, only saw their wealth. They are bloodsucking parasites, nothing else. I really wish to just murder them and go to jail, but I can't. Who will look after you guys?"

I smiled at her. "Those are exactly my thoughts too, but for our family, let's give up on our dream of going to jail, okay? We can achieve that some time later, what say?"

Mom and I laughed even if there were thousands of worries hanging above our heads like swords. The next day, Mom deposited the cheque in the bank, and I sent the screenshot of that cheque to Shailesh.

I had hopes that since five out of forty lakhs were done, Shailesh would stay away from my family for the time being. Also, my exams were right around the corner and the main choreography was getting finalised for our team evaluations, so I needed time for studies.

As I had feared, I was not able to follow my schedule at all. I didn't want to fail my exams, so I told my team leader, Suhana, that I was okay with whatever choreography the team would come up with. As I was running short on time, I asked her if she could send me the video recordings of the choreography and I would learn it whenever I got time. She was worried about me, but she accepted my request.

She reminded me that she was giving me an advantage, so I had to at least attend the mandatory team practice rounds. I was thankful to her. As I had fixed my routine with my team, I called my event management company's boss and asked her if I could have shorter work timings from the next day till my exams.

I told my boss that I would complete all of my work even if I left early. My boss was very nice to accept my request, and now that I had cleared a bit of my schedule, I called Arushi and informed that instead of just weekends, I would be coming over for studies at her place every day. She had already suggested that to me, so she had no problem with my decision.

I was glad that all of my concerns were taken care of, and I could focus on my studies. I was at the Sarthak studio only as I had come to discuss my schedule with Suhana. After meeting with her, I went to the practice room where Tejas and his team were practicing.

I glanced around, and when I saw that Tejas was not around, I located his bag and placed his crepe bandage and glove near it. I was going to leave, but Akshay appeared out of the blue and asked me what I was doing in the boys' practice room.

I told him that I was just returning Tejas's stuff, and he looked at me curiously. Before he could ask me anything else, I left the room. I had to go to my job, so I left the studio early.

I worked an extra hour, and after I reached home, I instantly fell asleep. Surprisingly, my mind did not disturb me with the thoughts of Tejas in the night.

The next day, I did overtime at the fishing dockyard because I didn't need to go to college. After wrapping up my shift at the fast-food restaurant, I reached Sarthak's studio on time. When I met my team, they complained that I was stinking and had a very strong fishy smell.

I smelled myself, but I didn't understand why my team was overreacting. I had even washed myself and sprayed a lot of perfume because I had to work at the fast-food restaurant. I ignored them as they kept scolding me to take a shower. I went to one of the empty practice rooms, and studied a few chapters while my team finalised the choreography.

As I had requested, Suhana sent me the rehearsals' recordings, so when I stopped my studies for some time, I watched the videos and buried all the moves in my mind.

I revised some important topics and went to get some practice. My team was going to leave for a break after half an hour, so I utilised that time to learn from them and cleared my doubts with Suhana. After half an hour, they left for a snack break, and I practiced by myself.

When I felt exhausted, I also took a small break and sat down on the floor. I was feeling sleepy, so I checked the time and thought of taking a short nap and wake up when my team would return.

I had just fallen asleep, when suddenly, I felt my left leg being lifted up in the air. I thought I was dreaming so I believed the sensation was not real. After that, I was lost in my dream land.

I was watching a terrible movie in my dream when I felt my body shaking. I was annoyed, but I had to wake up because Falguni was calling my name like her life was depended on it.

"What do you need?" I complained.

Falguni reminded me that my team had returned from their break long ago, and as I was sleeping peacefully, they didn't disturb me. But I was getting late for my job, so they had to wake me up.

On hearing that, my alarms started ringing. I quickly checked the time and sighed in relief. There was still time for me to leave. I started getting up, but I stopped when I noticed my left ankle bandaged up.

"Did you do it?" I asked Falguni.

She shrugged her shoulders. "It wasn't me and neither of our other teammates."

I got confused. I wondered about the mysterious bandage when I remembered that I hadn't yet checked my phone. Mom usually gave me missed calls as she didn't want to disturb me during my practice.

While taking out my phone from my bag, I found an unknown paper bag in it. I took out that paper bag and found the same crepe bandage and glove I had returned to Tejas. Alongwith it, there were some study notes in beautiful handwriting.

When I emptied the paper bag, I found another single note stuck inside it. I took it out and read it; it was also from Tejas.

"Why did you return the things when I didn't even ask you to?" the note read.

I crumpled the note in my palm as the memories of Ayzere fighting with me flashed in front of my eyes.

I took Tejas's stuff and went to his practice room. My left foot was aching, but I wanted to meet Tejas at any cost. He was doing some dance moves with one of his teammates, but I didn't care. I went to him and forwarded his things to him.

"Take your stuff back. I don't need it," I told him sternly.

He stopped his dance for a second. "Throw it if you don't want it," he said and continued dancing.

He ignored me, and as I stared at him in both anger and confusion, his teammates teased me that I was just making excuses to come here and check what kind of choreography the boys were creating to defeat the girls.

The boys kept accusing me of finding ways to spy on their choreography, so I got annoyed and left. On my way back to my practice room, I saw a dustbin.

"Throw it if you don't want it."

Tejas's words repeated themselves in my mind. I felt like throwing his stuff because he had himself told me to, but my body was refusing to do so.

Even if I didn't want to keep his things, all of the stuff in my hands was really expensive and useful, especially the notes because they were actually very efficiently prepared.

I grumbled under my breath and took that stuff with me. I kept them back in my bag, reminding myself that I shouldn't forget money's value and shouldn't throw such necessary things in anger.

Everyone was done for the day, so the studio started getting empty as the trainees and mentors left one by one. After a long time, I also got the opportunity to leave with others.

Suhana joined Akshay when his team filed out of his practice room. Behind him, his other teammates followed, and I looked away when I spotted Tejas.

I am going to ignore him. I don't want to get involved with him because it is not good for my mental peace.

I proudly walked past him, acting like I didn't see him at all. I noticed him looking at me, but I didn't stop even once.

I praised myself as I walked forward, but after a few seconds, Tejas called me. I ignored him.

Is he going to irritate me by talking about Ayzere again? No chance.

"Hamster!" he yelled.

I kept walking happily, limping on one leg.

"You forgot your phone!" Tejas yelled.

I don't care what he is saying. I will just- wait! My phone?!

I looked back and saw Tejas holding my phone in his hand. I felt a huge wave of embarrassment wash over me. Gulping down my pride, I started my walk of shame and reached him.

"Are you still angry with me?" Tejas asked.

"I am not," I lied and took my phone from him.

"Don't put too much pressure on your left foot. The swelling will just increase if you do," he adviced.

I should have guessed it was him who had bandaged my left foot. Why would he do that? I can't let him fool me with his acts.

"Thank you very much, but you don't need to bother with me. I am capable of taking care of myself," I said with determination.

Tejas smiled. "I know how much capable you are, Hamster."

Again with his smile. He is doing this purposely, right? He knows how much effective his smile is. I won't fall for it again though.

I huffed and turned around confidently to leave like those heroines in movies, but I twisted my left ankle. I would have kissed the floor if Tejas hadn't caught me in time. The second wave of embarrassment drowned me.

Why do I always fall in front of him? Who am I? A soap opera's heroine?

Tejas helped me stand straight. "You don't need to prove how capable you are," he taunted, his smile becoming brighter.

Focus, Bhoomi, focus.

I thanked him, but he didn't leave me. He ignored me when I told him that I could stand by myself.

"Are you going to your event management job?" he asked.

"No," I lied.

"Are you lying?"

I glared at him. "Aren't you busy? You should worry about your friend instead of random people."

Tejas shrugged. "You are busier than me, Hamster. And why do you call yourself a random person? Aren't you sure about your identity?"

"I know who I am, but I think you are having trouble deciding who means what to you," I retaliated.

Just as the words slipped out of my mouth, I regretted saying that to him. I sounded jealous.

I thought Tejas would get angry at my loud voice, but he nodded after what I had said.

"You are right about that," he said, his tone getting serious. "I am indeed having trouble understanding why someone is meaning a lot to me these days."