Once in the car, Saanvi kept looking at the place where she was with Saatvik a few minutes ago. Sakshi, who noticed that while sitting in the driving seat, sighs and says, "I thought that the mighty Saanvi would never fall in love with anyone." She looks at her and adds. "As far as I know, you kept saying that you wouldn't fall in love until you met someone from the guys you have seen in... What was that? Ah, yes. K-Drama."

"Stop the nonsense and start the car," Saanvi says, and looked at the bushes when she thought ‌she saw someone. "I think someone I want to kill now is following me."

"And who that would be?" Sakshi asks as she ignites the engine of the car and looks straight forwards to the road.

"Abhay," Saanvi says and clenches her fist in anger. "I never thought that he would do that to me!"

"What exactly did he do?" Sakshi asks, and then Saanvi explains to her everything. From start to end and after hearing that, Sakshi laughed at that.

"Why the hell are you laughing?" Saanvi asks in annoyance.

"I am sorry," Sakshi says and stops laughing. "I just didn't think that a guy would do that to you. But enough about that. Who was that guy with you? The one with whom you had all-time famous rain pose."

"That was Saatvik. Saatvik Sardesai." Saanvi replied with a hint of a smile forming on her face. "He seemed like a nice guy."

"Seemed?" Sakshi asks sarcastically, because she knows that look of love that was plastered on Saanvi's face. "You don't get along with guys at all and all of a sudden you got close to this guy with whom you have met for like what? Twenty Minutes."

"It was less than Twenty minutes and yes, he seems like a nice guy," Saanvi says as she remembered the way he tucked her hair behind her ear. "He seems almost like the guys I have seen in K-dramas."

"Yeah, but you ‌know that type of guy only exists in the fictional world," Sakshi says as she slows down her car towards the main entrance of their housing society. "And who knows, it's just the way he looks like. What if he is a psychopath under that fake facade?"

"Really?" Saanvi says sarcastically. "Looks like you should stop watching Crime Thriller shows when you are not studying. At least your mind wouldn't wander to stupid things like that."

"Hey! That show is excellent. It gives you a slap of reality, you know. At least in that way, I can keep a safe distance from Perverts." Sakshi says while she stops the car at their parking spot. "It's a good show to watch because it sometimes keeps you at the edge of the seat."

"Yeah, I remember the way you watch the show. I have seen it myself." Saanvi says as she takes off the seat belt. "You look at the screen of the television as if staring at the screen will help you with the case."

"Ha. Ha. Ha. Hilarious." Sakshi deadpanned. "Now that you have made fun of me, shall we leave?"

"Yeah, sure," Saanvi says as she gets out with Sakshi.

When she was walking toward her building, she looked up to see her dad looking at her. She knew that look he had on his face. "Does papa know the reason ‌you came to pick me up?" She asks Sakshi.

"Well, I told him ‌you aren't feeling well. He thought ‌it was an excuse. But looks like you will have to tell him the truth now." Sakshi explained.

"Hopefully, he won't be mad at me," Saanvi says, and prays that she doesn't get scolded for not doing as her parents asked her to.

Meanwhile, in the stadium.

Before getting back to the stadium, Sachit stopped and told Saatvik that he wanted to check if Sakshi and Saanvi had gone out safely. He strictly told Saatvik to stay at the same place while he double-checks on girls, and Saatvik obeyed him and then Sachit was gone. Once he stood at the stairs, he looked down and saw the stick that Saanvi used for her hair there. He got the stick that fell on the stairs with a smirk on his face. He now had the chance to tease his only friend, who may have had feelings for his neighbor.

He turned his gaze towards Meshram's car and He saw Saanvi and Sakshi leave the stadium from their car and was looking at the surroundings to see if anyone saw his friend with his neighbor. Unfortunately, he saw a guy with a camera that was hiding behind the bush and stormed towards him. With the way the camera looked, he knew ‌the person was indeed a reporter.

"Hey! Wait a minute!" Sachit yells at the guy. "Where the hell are you going?"

Before Sachit could get a hold of the reporter, that guy ran away. Sachit was afraid of what the reporter would have clicked on his camera. He hoped ‌it wasn't a picture of Saanvi and Saatvik, because if that guy had a photo of them, the media would start assuming bad things about them.

Saatvik never liked media people because they kept pestering him and everyone close to him to find out about the Sardesai family's secret. Sachit knew that if anyone got to know about Saanvi, a big ruckus would take place. He started walking inside the stadium, hoping that everything was better inside, but to his utter surprise, he saw Saatvik fuming in anger.

Sachit got there and stood beside Saatvik; he gently patted him on his shoulder and then asked. "Are you okay, dude?"

Saatvik turned his attention towards Sachit and said. "I am fine." It was a fine lie.

Sachit knows Saatvik inside out and his face told Sachit that something was really bothering his friend. Sachit, who was still in a trance, heard a part of the conversation. that Saatvik heard. He knew instantly that the voice belonged to Saanvi's 'friend.'

"Are you sure there is nothing going on between Saanvi and Saatvik?" One of the friends asks. "Because it seems like they know each other for like what? Few weeks?"

He heard a similar voice that he had heard before, and then he knew exactly what was happening. "Guys! Let's not jump to the conclusions." He rolled his eyes at that nasal voice and he knew instantly that Adhya was going to stir up some misinformation. "We know Saanvi, and we also know that nothing will be going on between the-"

"Obviously, nothing is going on between them. It's so absurd!" He heard Abhay interrupt. "Saanvi is a person who always loves her alone time. And besides, they are worlds apart. Her liking Saatvik Sardesai is almost impossible."

"But they could be like seeing each other, right? Haven't you seen the way he ran after her when she ran away?" One classmate pointed it out, at which Abhay gives that guy a death look. "There's nothing going on between Saanvi and Saatvik." Abhay gritted his teeth.

"But-" That guy was going to say when Adhya interjected him and says, "Do you really that 'The Saatvik Sardesai' our city's heartthrob would like someone as lowly as Saanvi who is a nobody? Please, I am sure that he had a better standard than that!"

"And who is the better one for him? You?" Shruti, who was an acquaintance of Saanvi, scoffed and looked at her. "We all know that he is not someone we should mess with, so why don't you and your obsession with Saatvik sit down and let everything go as it is supposed to be? Saanvi said so herself that she met him once. ONCE! So, can you stop talking shit about her while she is not here?"

"Excuse me?!" Adhya says in astonishment. "I am not obsessed with him."

"Oh really?" Shruti says. "Well, the photos and reels you repost on your Instagram story must have been done by your sister then?" Adhya kept her mouth shut at that and then Shruti added. "Oh, yes! I just remembered you don't have a sibling. Maybe that's why you don't have the knowledge of when to shut your mouth in any situation, correct?"

Adhya glares at Shruti and warns her. "Shut your damn mouth or else-"

"Or what?" Shruti challenged her. "What will you do? Complain about me with your family or what? No, tell me, what will you do?"

Saatvik was going to come between the fights when he remembered that it was not his fight. The way they started making assumptions about her just because she met him says a lot about how much of a friend they are. Backtalk and the one who is double-faced.

To get his emotions under control. He storms his way towards the cricket pavilion room and Sachit follows him. "Saatvik wait?!" he yelled.

Every one of Saanvi's friends looked at them, and Adhya, who heard his name, tries to follow them. Abhay also joined her and they both followed Sachit.

One of the classmates who saw them following Saatvik pointed out. "Are they really going to follow them to his room? And for what reasons?"

"They are fools who have lots and lots of time to pass," Shruti says. "Let them be. They will sow what they reap. I am sure that this will get them into Saatvik's bad side."

They announced that the match would resume once the weather would be clear, but looking at the way it was raining cats and dogs, almost all the people left the stadium. Except for the group of Abhay and Adhya's close friends. Shruti, who felt bad about the way Abhay and Adhya are stalking Saatvik, kind of took a shortcut and informed the guard so that they couldn't get the chance to snoop into the conversation between the duo. And then she finally left.

When they reached the pavilion, Sachit felt like someone was following them. He turned around and saw that two people who were badmouthing Saanvi and Saatvik, were trying to hide behind a pillar. He sighs. They will never learn the lesson, will they?

He ushered Saatvik inside and waited for him, while he still had his eyes on the duo when he saw a watchman approaching their area, and an idea struck his mind. He stood at the place where the duo were in hiding and yelled. "Saatvik is so mad right now, especially after he finds out that someone tried to badmouth him. He will make them pay for the compensation. I will have to call his lawyer and his family friend the police inspector to arrest the guys who made him this mad."

Adhya whimpered. "I don't want to get arrested for this." She whispers to Abhay. "You are the one who decided to follow him!"

Abhay stepped toward Adhya, glaring at her, his jaw clenched in anger after seeing the way she tries to betray him. "You think they would believe you? They know that it was us who were talking shit about them, and I have some proof as well that you were also the one who decided to stalk him. So if I get arrested for this, you will get arrested for this too!"

Adhya looks at him in shock and before she could reply to him, Sachit interrupted them and he yells at the watch guard. "Hey, watchman uncle!" The Watchman came to the place Sachit called him to, and then added. "These two are wandering around at this place and they are not we are familiar with. Please take them away from here."

That watchman guy took a hold of Abhay and glared at Adhya. "Shall we lodge a complaint against them for this?" he asks

Sachit pretends to ponder over that question. He already had decided on what to do with them. "I think we should let them go for now," he says. "But, If I saw you guys 500mtrs close to Saatvik, I will make sure that you guys will pay the price for not listening to me or in simple language, for talking about someone's personal life without their knowledge."

"And are you sure we talked about him?" Abhay asks Sachit. "There are so many people in this world who have the same name as your friend."

"I don't care about that, but what I do care about is how you treat people who are close to me," Sachit replies. "I know people like you. I have seen people like you and all you guys care about is to make sure that the person who you despise a lot shouldn't be happier than you are. In your case, it's Saatvik and me, as his friend would never want him to be surrounded by negative people like you. So, yeah, as long as it keeps him away from you and yours, so-called hatred towards him, I will do anything I can do for him."

Abhay smirks at Sachit and claps sarcastically. "Nice speech, by the way. But I don't think that it will be worth it because I will make sure that everyone will see the bad side of Saatvik no one has ever known," he says. "And when that happens, I would love to see you saving him, then."

Sachit clenched his fist in anger and he almost was on the verge of punching Abhay right there and then. But he didn't because he knew that people like Abhay would get the outcome of his bad doing when the time was right. He gestures guard to take them away, and once they were out of his sight, he takes a sigh of relief.

He turns his back and then walks towards the pavilion. Once he came to the room, he saw Saatvik sitting down on the ground while looking aimlessly in the front, thinking of something. Sachit didn't say anything but the silence in the room was enough for him to understand that his friend needed some alone time. He slowly got out of the room and got greeted by the guard who, after taking Abhay and Adhya out of the stadium, came to inform Sachit about Shruti, who informed the guard as soon as she left. When asked if the guard had got the name of the girl, the guard in return just shook his head and told him that he didn't know her name.

Sachit nods his head in understanding and thought, "Maybe she is one of those girls who supported Saanvi. I hope she is the good girl, unlike the one who was badmouthing her."

Sachit pats the shoulder of the guard and then takes his leave. He decided to stay here with Saatvik until the match was fully over and he had to talk to Saanvi about what happened here while she was gone. He knew for sure that the talk with her wasn't going to be the normal one.

Back in the Meshram House.

Saanvi didn't look straight into her father's eyes, but she felt his glare at her. She knew that she didn't do something according to him and she knew that she would be getting the consequences of that. But in all, she was ready to tell him the truth about why she actually wanted to leave the stadium in the first place.

"Why did you leave earlier?" Sunil asks. "According to the terms, you were supposed to stay there until the match ended, right?"

Saanvi gulps, the lump that had formed in her throat. "I–I, I came earlier because..." she starts, and with an enormous sigh, she tells him the truth. "One of my classmates was making a move on me, and I felt uncomfortable because of that, then I messaged Tai to come and pick me up before and that's why I came earlier than I was supposed to. I as a person have always fought against bad but when someone who I thought was a good person tried to make a move on me, I felt uncomfortable. I was going to give him a punch in his face, but before I could do that, I left." She says in one breath.

Sunil, who took everything she told him, had a change of emotions on his face. It was shocked at first, but slowly that shock turned into a frown and then into anger. Once Saanvi knew that her father had heard everything, she stood up and went to console him. "But nothing happened to me, papa."

Sunil then raises his gaze towards her and asks, "Tell me that bastard's name who tried to do this, I will punch him?!" he almost storms towards the door when Saanvi stops him in the middle and says. "Papa, I am fine, na, now. So let it be! I will give him a lesson when I will meet him again tomorrow, so calm down."

He started looking at her face, clearly, trying to see from his point of view if she was really okay or not, and once he was sure that Saanvi was okay, he took a sigh of relief. He stared at her for a few more minutes. "But that doesn't mean, you are off the hook." He says as he sternly looks at her.

He then started caressing her hair while adding. "We are worried for you. You don't have friends and we don't want you to miss out on the fun of having friends. Sometimes it feels like you will not get along with people and it scares us, that it will leave you all alone, you do get along with people, right?"

Saanvi smiles at her father's worry and replies. "Papa, I do get along with my classmates. Maybe after today's incident, I might try not to be good to some people. God, I hate how they were like being nosey when they got to know that I met Saatvik!"

"Sorry, who?" Sunil asks. "Who is this guy?"

Saanvi then tells him the entire scenario with Saatvik because of which he was a bit confused as he was sure that the name was quite familiar to him. He then realized that the name she was talking about was the guy whose name came onto the news recently. When she finishes, he asks. "Is he the guy whose name is recently onto recent newspaper or news? What was the name again, ah, Saatvik Sardesai, right?"

Saanvi nods her head and replies. "Yes, that is his name." She then ponders. Am I the only one who hasn't heard about him until today? She asks herself, and her unconscious mind replies. That's because you are living your own life, by watching numerous amounts of K-Drama, studying, and then cooking; obviously, you will not notice things like this.

It broke her trance when she heard her sister's words. "I must say, Papa. They were quite close. They even had the iconic rain pose that Raj Kapoor had." Sakshi had a smirk on her face while adding. "ते इतके जवळ होते..." She shows the closeness by showing her index finger, almost touching the thumb finger.

(They were this close...)

Saanvi, who knew how dramatic and exaggerating her sister is, gets up, and tucks her hair in a messy bun while saying. "आम्ही जवळ होतो? बरं, आता मी तुम्हाला दाखवतो की तेव्हा आम्ही किती जवळ होतो, थांब!!" She started running around the house after Sakshi and then when she finally got hold of her, she started beating her on her back. "We were not even that close!" She says.

(We were close, you say? Well, now I will show you how close we were then, wait!!)

Once she was sure that her sister had finally pleaded not to beat her anymore, she stops and then says. "Next time, choose wisely when you say that, okay?"

Sakshi who was annoyed says, "मोठी बहीण ला मारताना शरम नाही येत तुला?" She sighs as she adds. "तुज्याशी चार वर्ष नि मोठी आहे मी!?!"

(Don't you feel ashamed to hit your elder sister?)

(I am four years older than you!?!)

Saanvi glares at her sister and then replies. "तर तू मोठी बहीण सारखी कधी होणार आहे?" She then flicks her sister on her head as she adds. "तू अशीच लहान मुली सारखी वेडेपण करायला लागली तर तुझा भविष्याचा काय होईल?"

(So when are you going to be like a big sister?)

(What will happen to your future if you start acting crazy like a little girl?)

Sakshi flared her nose at her sister. "माझा आयुष्यातला मी बघेल, तू तूझ्या येणारा भविष्याचा बघ! माझा काय? माझा जॉब लागला कि मी निघणारं आहे आणि त्याचा नंतर मी लग्न करून पण मोकडी होणार आहे! तुझ्या सारख्य रिकामं बसणार नाही." she says to Saanvi, at which she frowns.

(You don't have to worry about my future. I will see about my life. You see your own unknown future. I will have a job and then, I will leave the house; after that, I will get married and be free! Unlike you, who will be roaming around like a person who has nothing to do.)

Seeing the banter between the two and also exhausted with the way they both fight with each other, Sunil yells at them. "STOP! BOTH OF YOU!" He started massaging his head in stress. It was almost like they both were born to give him a headache. "You both are adults now, so why don't you act like one? Fighting like this, doesn't suit either of you, can't you understand?"

Saanvi and Sakshi look at each other and then at their father. They both looked down in shame when Sunil adds, "I am not saying that you both shouldn't stop fighting altogether but can you at least try to change your behavior towards each other? It's not good. You both know that if anyone from outside sees this side of yours, they will blame me and your mom for your bad upbringing. I am also not saying that you should fight too, siblings can have a fight but in a decent manner, please?"

"And what is the decent manner of fighting?" Saanvi asks out of curiosity. "I just know that I have to be the one who shouldn't beat my elder sister. It's not good."

"Really? Now you know that?!" Sakshi says sarcastically. "Because when I was saying it, you didn't understand any of it."

Saanvi grits her teeth and says, "Now, that I know of my behavior, I will try to change it. Don't make me regret it by asking stupid questions." She then turns her attention towards her dad and adds. "And besides, as she said before, as soon as she gets the job, she will be leaving the house. So, she doesn't have that much time in this house, right?"

Sunil shakes his head. "You are saying it as if she wouldn't even visit us when she gets married. And yes, even if your sister might get married as soon as she gets the job, you will still have to give her the respect she deserves. She is your sister, Saanvi." He takes a sigh of relief when she nods at his request.

"Okay, I won't fight her." Saanvi pouts but then points her finger at Sakshi while saying, "But she has to comply to that too! She will also try to be a good person and not irritate me."

Sunil looks at Sakshi, almost pleading with his eyes, and Sakshi takes a big sigh of defeat. "Fine! I won't irritate her." She says, and then looks at Saanvi. "But, I am doing this only for papa, because he says so, Okay? Don't even think that I am doing this because I love you, okay?" She lies. Obviously, Sakshi loves her sister; it's a world-known fact, but sometimes for her entertainment purposes, she loves to tease her sister. For her, Saanvi was more like a clown for her who entertains her just after saying a few words.

After seeing that both of his daughters have resolved their fight, Sunil goes back to the kitchen and starts cutting vegetables. At this, Saanvi says. "Papaaaaaa, don't make food today. Once tai's result is out, we could order food from outside."

Sakshi chips in. "Yes, papa. I have a good feeling that I will pass this exam and as soon as the results are out, we will order the food. Please!!!!"

Sakshi and Saanvi started making puppy eyes to convince their dad and it worked. "Okay-okay. I won't be making food today, is that okay with you now?"

"पापा, चलेगा नहीं। दौड़ेगा!" Saanvi and Sakshi say in unison.

(Papa, it will work!)

Once the evening came, and their mom too, almost everyone in the household was at the edge of their seats. Saanvi was keeping their shared laptop and refreshes it again and again so that when they log into the website it doesn't hang up. They all sat in the living room, while the laptop was on the table with Saanvi and Sakshi looking at the screen. Sunil was sitting beside his wife, both chanting their prayer in their minds with their fingers intertwined. When it was only two minutes left for eight; Sakshi also started praying for her. Saanvi who had all the details of her sister for log-in, opens the website and logged in.

Her focus was solely on the clock, and when she saw that it was eight, she started checking the results in the portal they had sent her to and started searching for her sister's name. She opened a document that had more than thirty pages and she started looking at the role numbers. Once she got exhausted by the long method, she took a risk and pressed Ctrl+F for the find search. She write her sister's name and saw that there were twelve girls with the same name who had passed. She started scrolling through the names when she finally found Sakshi's name and she squealed.

All three of them look at Saanvi, at which she says excitedly. "Sakshi passed the final exam!!!!" She started jumping in excitement and dragged Sakshi too. Once the shock of her really passing the exam was gone, she started jumping with Saanvi, too. They both started screaming in excitement when Sunita joins them, too, and all three of them jumps altogether.

All the while, they didn't notice the frown on Sunil's face as he says, "Now, I will have to do what my big brother told me to." It angered him, that he would have to do what his brother had told him to do; but now he can't run away from the question that he was dreading to reply to. As of now, Sakshi's life and her independence will change just because of one promise, Sunil had taken from someone close to the Meshram family. Someone, who also might become a part of their family in the future.

~~~~~~~~~~

Read the first comment that I have written for you guys. It's necessary. Please.

R. S. Gajbhiye