The loud and oddly eerie clamours from the large speakers echoed and fluttered the surrounding which delighted the entire crowd in excitement. Random melodious songs were played in the background whilst setting the speakers and orchestrating the crowd to stay circularly, for the people to dance in the middle.

I was tranquil in my astounded state after Shaym left saying about his flash mob. He appeared in front of me out of the blue which was wholly unexpected and remarkable. The bewildered plight in me just nodded and joined the mob instead of going to the cafe to have our favourite refreshing juice, which I and my friends planned whilst marching out of the classroom.

Surely, nothing happens as per our plans.

A huge truck loaded with tremendous drums and another truckload full of people dressed in the same blue coloured t-shirt came in to view. They parked the trucks near the parking lot and the people resembled as they belonged to a remarkable troop.

"Are we also having drums today?!" Anna frantically exclaimed.

"I think so." Replied Jina.

Woah, this day is getting more and more exciting.

Within no time, those people from the truck descended leisurely, took out their large war drums and hung it around their shoulders. This was a special type of drums known as war drums, which was large, should be hung around the body to play the drums with the mallets.

Drums were the driving force behind the percussive din that characterized the ancient art during the time of war. During that time, people either dance or fight in the war according to the rhythm. The main aim of this type of drums for the war was to energize your troop whilst terrifying your enemies.

Shaym along with his friends went towards the troop that just arrived and saw him instructing them something, showing actions with his hands.

Aww, he looks even cuter when he is serious.

The speakers were stopped abruptly, the drummers took their position opposite to where speakers were located, the dancers positioning themselves in the middle as they were ready to start their flashmob.

On spur of the moment, the music hammered, the person standing in the middle was none other than Shaym. The pop song made them dance with their full power, expressing their emotions through dance moves.

In an abrupt, the song ended and Shaym kneeled on the ground, devising a silent atmosphere. The next melodious song shortly made him incite the dance, gently getting up from his posture, whilst everyone stood still in their position.

The song being played for his dance was Bezubaan Kab se main raha from ABCD (Anybody can dance).

Woah! He is swirling contemporary dance and that too individually and on my favourite song.

Everyone's eyes were stuck now on him as he was expressing every single step on the dance elegantly according to the lyrics of the song and the rest of them joined with him after a few steps.

Fleetly, the song ended and so was the flashmob. I never expected their dance would be this magnificent and it came to an end so fast. We all got stupefied by their dance which gave literal chills.

In that mesmerized state, I even forgot to take his dance video. Why do I always forget to capture such heartfelt moments.

I was about to nag on my forgetfulness to my friends to express my distressed state. But, my disappointment soon vanished when the drummer's troop took their position, and Shaym came with his friends holding one big blue flag, with the college Palliative group logo.

The booming tartar from the drums reverberating through the vicinity, creating a wavering on the ground. The moment when the mallets touched the surface of the war drums,  the sounds it executed was tumultuous, making our heart beat faster as a reflect reaction to the drum beats.

Without wasting a second, I grabbed my phone from the sling bag and started to record the video and capture photos as I couldn't stop myself from taking them.

Every individual in the crowd started to dance according to the rhythms of the drums, not minding that everyone was watching them. So, I self-assured myself that, taking his video was not a bad idea as everyone was doing the same, holding their phone up and capturing the moment.

He wouldn't mind taking his video secretly right?

How is it secretly you fool? We are in public. My subconscious mind mocked.

From the grimace of each person in the mob, it was very much evident that they were felicitous and copious emotions were seen in their expressions. With no doubt, Shaym was dancing according to the rhythmic beats whilst carrying his pleasant smile, his eyes became small and cute, jawline curve with his beard. He danced as if he was in his world, not bothered by the people surrounding him.

Guess dancing gives him some super energetic powers.

In a swift, he was lifted in someone's shoulders, still carrying that magnificent smile, whilst being comfortable on that person's shoulders. Surely, he was easy to place on someone's shoulders as he was light weighted and short. The flag which he previously brought was now on his hand, gently swaying it in the air. The scene was worth to capture a picture, Shaym swaying the flag on top of someone and he being the visible one among the crowd.

I captured pretty good snaps and then decided to swiftly take a video before he gets down and gives back the flag.

The sky was getting darker, succumbing the sparkling glow from the sun, which indicated that it was getting late. But, we decided to stay there till the end as this would be the only flash mob we could witness this year. As, next year's Palliative group flash mob, Shaym would not be here to dance and I won't be getting a chance of gawking at him shamelessly like this as this was his final year.

•••

I reached back home extremely late, as the program ended pretty late. Yet my mom did not scold me or lecture me for being late as I beforehand called her and informed, I would be late on behalf of the program.

Throwing away from bag and phone on my bed, I decided to take a shower to refresh myself as I was extremely tired by all the events at the college.

I beamed, reminiscing on the incidents that happened today. The time when I and Mr. Cute took each step in the stairs together, the moment when I read out the slogans which turned out to be in a nursery rhyme tone and Shaym snickered out loud when he overheard me and then when he asked me to stay back as he was going to dance. Undoubtedly, today was a great day for me.

Nuhma appeared in front of my bed and inquired what happened when she observed me grinning like an idiot. Therefore, I described her about all the events that took place today; the campaign and the flash mob, excluding the part related to Shaym and on how I got perplexed by him.

After performing my Maghrib prayer, I grabbed my phone and opened the WhatsApp group, saw that everyone was discussing today's events. All those who took the photos and videos on their phone during the campaign and flash mob shared them in the group for us to see.

Straightaway, I opened my Instagram to upload the video of Shaym where he was dancing solo among the group in the middle. I deemed that it was not a problem to upload it as a story on Instagram practically because everyone took videos, and I was sure even they would be uploading the videos as it was that transcendent.

Without even contemplating twice, I uploaded the video as a story on my Instagram account. Waiting for him to see my story, I scrolled watching the stories others uploaded. Anna's story came in view and it was Shaym's photo which I took when he was swaying the flag high in the air. Even she started following him a few days ago. I instantly replied to her story saying,

"Why did you upload this picture? Delete it."

Within a second she replied back as she was online.

"The picture looked good. That's why I uploaded it."

And then, like a good girl she deleted and uploaded another picture from the campaign.

Precisely after fifteen minutes, I got a reply to my story and I was vaguely aghast to see the name of the person who replied. It was Shaym, the great Shaym, replied to my story.

WOAH! HE REPLIED! HE REPLIED!

To inform this shocking news to my friends, I took a screenshot of the message which was still in my notification bar.

"Wow."

"He replied?"

"That's so great!"

My group was now filled with responses from my friends as even they didn't expect him to reply to my story.

I didn't want to delay the message so, quickly opened his message which read,

"Do you have the video? Please, send it."

The ultimate reason why I uploaded his dance video in my story was to get a reply from him, and I got it. My plan was a huge success, which I never imagined I would achieve, a reply from him.

My friends told me to just send him the video without giving a reply message as it may seem like I want to chat with him. Likewise, I thought about sending him just the video as a reason I was literally out of words. I selected the video from my gallery and sent the video to him. Instantly he replied,

"Thanks."

I didn't know what to text back at that time, so I asked in my group, and they told me to simply send him a smiley. So I sent it,

"😊"

That was all I could send and no other emoji seemed good in my eyes. The frequent emoji I use is the laughing one but, in this situation that emoji doesn't fit. I patiently waited to see what he would reply but as I predicted, he did not reply. He just opened my message and left it just like that.

Who replies to an emoji. You fool. I muttered.

I don't know why, but for some unknown reason, I was baffled. I already knew he doesn't relish mingling or chatting with girls, yet I expected that he would ask something, to get to know each other or anything. I gave up staring at my phone anticipating a reply back. Therefore, I took out my diary and merely wrote today's date with a heart at the end and darkened that date with borders.

I wanted to pen down each and every little thing that happened today, but if I get overexcited and content, I plainly could not find the proper words and become wordless as some of the emotion could not be described in words seldom. Some things are meant to be kept as a memory in our heart. If I look at today's date later, I was sure that the events would rewind in my mind instantaneously.

I repeatedly took out my phone to check whether there were any message or if anyone posted a new photo. The screen showed Shaym's profile in my feed as soon as I opened, indicating that he has uploaded a story. I quickly viewed it, got startled and delighted at the same time by seeing what was on his story.

He uploaded the video which I sent to him!

I was beyond ecstatic, and I took a screenshot of the story, shared it with my group to see their happy reactions. I drifted off to slumber shortly after praying Isha salah and having the dinner as I was damn exhausted. After all, today was a beautiful long day.

•••

The next day, as usual, I was late for college. When I was on the bus, Anna called and informed me that she too was late. Henceforth, she would be waiting for me near the main gate, and we could skip the class as we were not going to get our attendance.

When I reached the college, I saw Anna waving her hands at me with a sparkling smile showing off all her thirty-two teeth. I paced towards her and inquired about her cheerfulness.

"What's with the good mood so early in the morning?" Actually, not so early but still was early for me.

"Naiza, Farhan is at the Cafe house, so he called and asked to give him my scooter keys," Anna stated, still smirking whilst exhibiting her teeth.

"Okay, but why are you so happy about that and why does he need your scooter keys?" I inquired being little perplexed, pondering why he wanted her keys.

"Yesterday, during campaign time, Jina and I walked with him, so while  talking, I told him that I come to the college by scooter. You definitely did not see him or us talking as you were too busy looking at someone else," she answered and winked at me.

I just stuck out my tongue and made a scrambled grimace, still not understanding why he needed her keys and on why she was happy about this.

"Farhan wanted to go to town for some purpose, his bike keys were with his friends, and they all are in the class. So, yesterday, I even told him that you and I always reached our classes pretty late, therefore he somehow managed to get my number."

"He called you? How did he even get your number?" I asked, stunned.

"I don't know-how. He called and asked for my scooter for a few hours. He said he would return it on our interval time," Anna replied and now that smile was getting a little more diminutive.

"Okay, but my biggest confusion is why are you smiling like an idiot? Do you have a crush on him?" I urged her because that was the only resolution I had by seeing her behaviour.

"No, you fool." She facepalmed and added saying, "Never! Shaym is with him! They both are going out to town together." At the mention of his name, I got bewildered, content and my mouth opened on realisation.

I shut down my emotions immediately and told her, "Okay, let's go and give the keys quickly and come back."

"Oho, looks like someone is now eager to see someone else," She spoke in a taunting tone, and I just smiled back at her as I knew that If I reply to her she would just continue her teasing, so I closed the topic with a smirk.

We reached the Cafe house, which was in the western area behind our college. Just before we were about to enter inside, I saw them sitting on the right side table in the third row. It was easy to see the people sitting inside even before entering because of the glass door.

Anna enrolled first and I followed behind her. They both did not notice us entering as they were so indulged in their conversation whilst Shaym was stirring his coffee mildly.

Anna greeted them by saying, "Hi," and two heads instantly snapped glancing towards us now. I inadvertently stared at Shaym and imperceptibly smiled at him like what we do when we see the people we know.

In the next second, he smiled back at me, still stirring his coffee. What the-?! I immediately stared down, and now Anna was done talking with Farhan. So, she asked  me in a whispering tone.

"Let's go?" To which I slighlty nodded  and we walked out.

"Annaaa, he smiled at me! Like really, he smiled at me! Did you see it? The great Shaym smiled at me or was it my imagination?" I told Anna in a repulsive pitch.

Assalamu Alaikum my lovely readers😍

There will be so many mistakes cause editing is not done so thanks for bearing.

I updated a chapter in between my exams cause i just love you guys and wanted to make you happy with a update.

So in return make me happy by showing some love by VOTE & COMMENT.

Pls do share your views and even share the book to yours friends if you liked the book.

Lots of love💕
Thatabayagirl.