'Wait, aren't these all the same thing?!', Viraj cried while scratching his head with a flabbergasted and puzzled expression. Sarthak controlled the intense urge to roll his eyes as Garvit face palmed himself upon hearing his friend's mindless objection.

'No, I just told you; cardiac arrest means your heart stops pumping instantaneously, while heart attack refers to sudden damage in heart tissues; a person experiencing cardiac arrest has higher fatality chances than heart attack during which mortality usually depends upon location and extent of tissue damage and availability of timely assistance', Sarthak explained for a millionth time.

Before working on the coding and primary model they need to acquaint themselves with basic terminologies and malfunctions. They were dealing with most complex structures of human body which was already a faze mystery of nature's creation, therefore extra effort was expected from their end. Two days had passed since they set on with their work.

Aarushi, Sarthak, Anjali and Harshita had spent last two days teaching boys the high school basics of physiology. Viraj had suffered considerably during this period; as good as he was with tools, his talents jumped down the cliff as soon as he encountered elementary textbooks of Bio.

'Kudos to Sarthak for handling this idiot so diligently; Viraj would be bleeding black and blue if it had been me in Sarthak's place', Hardik whispered to Aarushi with an awestruck ardor. Aarushi muffled a giggle as Viraj let out another exasperated cry.

'But seriously, you people are just incredible to remember all this stuff; I would probably end up stabbing a few people with those syringes', Hardik shook his head at the thought.

'Same goes for you, I can't believe you all still have your sanity in place with those complicated codes eating your head off every day, if it were for me, I would definitely be dreaming of numerical in my sleep', Aarushi praised with a delightful chuckle.

'Wooh! So we are defying prejudices as well, are we?', Harshita cut in with a pretentious amazement. They knew she was referring to the common stereotypes that had developed over time in educational community surrounding two vital pillars of career and society, engineering and medical. Jokes comparing two would often be cracked and hollered on by young age groups, though reality was far beyond the vision of folks.

'Our project director is definitely standing up to the ideals of competition then', Anjali chimed in phrasing the motto of the competition "to develop a cordial relationship between technology and medicine science". Aarushi and Hardik roared loudly inviting a few glares from Viraj, accusing them of having fun when he was stuck with memorizing functions of various nodes of heart.

'Anyway, I won't be joining you guys for dinner; need to run over to cafe', Aarushi told Harshita and Anjali.

'Aashi, when was the last time you had a proper meal with us?', Harshita asked gravely.

'Yeah, if it weren't for lectures and projects, I won't even get to see you; why do you need to work your bones out?', Anjali supported her with a grimace. Aarushi smiled contritely, choosing to remain silent rather than conjecturing another lie.

'Aarushi can you help me out with signal transmission in nerves?', Ajay's voice fell on her ears. She twirled around to face a completely routed Ajay looking at her with haggard eyes.

'What happened to you?', she asked with an alarmed impression. It had not been more than thirty minutes that she had left a perfectly normal looking Ajay to memorize the exchange of sodium and potassium in nervous transmission, and here he was looking like he had been thrown in a wearisome whirlpool for something like a whole century.

'It's freaking mind boggling! I still don't get how the hell these channels opened and closed? It was easier when you explained', he uttered in a single exasperated breath. Aarushi blinked at his vexation admiring how cute and lovable he appeared even when aggravating like a ten year old instead of nineteen year old.

'Girl, you have lost it', her mind jeered sarcastically. She jumped back to real world. Ajay was looking at her with desperate eyes; she restrained a giggle as memories of his childhood ire hit her, everything had changed but his gifted talent to talk people in his favor with that special charm was still intact.

'It's okay, I'll explain it again', she said. Harshita and Anjali exchanged an enigmatic grin mouthing an unnecessary "Oohh!" Aarushi shot them a death glare before following Ajay to one of the stone benches.

'That should be it; I think I made the concept pretty clear?', Aarushi asked with a pretty smile. She had spent another hour elucidating the working of human nervous system to a baffled Ajay.

'Yeah, you made it sound as easy as a pie; I don't even need to revise this now', Ajay said gleefully.

'You again have to work tonight?', Ajay questioned as she put away the thick textbook.

'I guess so, you see, life isn't easy for us medicos when we are constantly surrounded by heaps of books and lessons', Aarushi replied with a downcast smile. Ajay chuckled softly, Aarushi turned to look at him with a "What do you mean by that" scowl.

'It's just that it sounds a bit off coming from Miss Know-it-all; as far as I recall you never said no to some extra books', Ajay said with a playful glimmer. Aarushi laughed a hearty laugh upon hearing such a weird compliment.

'Well thanks for the compliment. Judging from your current situation, I wonder how long would it take you to lose your complete balance of mind if you had joined medicine', Aarushi said with a knowing smirk. Ajay widened his eyes in pretentious horror making Aarushi launch in fits of raucous laughter.

'I am actually glad then, I heroically saved myself from an evident disaster at that time. You remember right?', the elevated glint was immediately extinguished as the realization dawned upon him. He had blurted out words bringing up the events both had been avoiding. Ajay quickly looked away, not meeting the dejected look that fell upon her effusive laughter.

Aarushi never forgot anything; she was perfectly aware of the meaning behind those unmeant words, but revisiting that segment brought a mysterious pain to her heart. She didn't want to open those forgotten scriptures once again when finally life had given her a second chance.

'I-I should probably get going now... Jenny would be waiting for me', Aarushi said in a low voice, cautiously controlling the moisture threatening to fill in her eyes. She didn't wait for a response as she swiftly left the campus.

'If only my life had been normal, I would've happily recalled that memory; I was probably born with the worst luck, my happiest memories are my deepest agony. I cannot even visit them without that aching regret climbing back inside my heart', Aarushi thought with a crestfallen smile.

[Flashback]

Comparison often throws one into turmoil of envy and hatred while pushing the other into darkest fears of disappointing and perfection. The chaos of bitterness often overwhelms the hidden fears of another which go neglected, carelessly accumulating in the heart of one experiencing them. Aarushi's incessant near perfect scores and obedience drove her parents to uttermost happiness and expectations while her peers to a slow burning flame of envy roused as a result of comparison by elders.

This time, felicity came in double bounds for Sharma family when their eldest daughter successfully secured third position around the district academically and managed to land as the state winner while ranking in top twenty at national level in art and cultural competition. The phone call that evening was enough for Raghvendra and Pramila to cry tears of joy and delight when they heard of their daughter's extraordinary achievements. Aarushi had found extensive gratification and contentment seeing her parents so merry.

Her cheery mood though was dropped down by significant levels when she encountered her fellow batch mates the next day. The peculiar emotion hiding behind those fake smiles of congratulations was prickling her painfully. There wasn't a single being who could share that ethereal feeling of elation with her without causing a slight blow. It wasn't the envy that hurt her, it was the façade that damaged her; spite is a non negotiable human emotion but covering it with a false show of happiness is what breaks someone. The school had arranged for a felicitation ceremony for her that morning. She prepared herself for appreciation with a sad smile; she had won the praises but her achievements were lost in front of honesty and acceptance.

'Did you get the results?', Ajay enquired to her. She knew where the question was directed and nodded briefly not bothering to look up to face him.

'How was it?', he continued. Aarushi finally looked him into eye after hearing brimming excitement in his words; she wondered how long it would take for that excitement to fade away into empty exhilaration after hearing her result.

'Overall district third rank for academics; state champion and top twenty in nationals for art', she answered searching carefully for the change in those sparkling deep black eyes, to her immense astonishment she was disappointed in her search. Instead, her words had lightened up his already sparkling eyes with more lamps of relish.

'I knew you would get it!', he sparked with joy. Aarushi gazed at the merry delight lining every feature of his; she could not deny the stupefaction she was experiencing. Eyes are the mirror to ones' soul, and unlike others, Ajay's articulate eyes had become livelier after hearing her scores.

'You know what; I made a bet with my friends this morning that you would definitely obtain highest position! They were all against my view, but I was super confident and see I wasn't wrong! I almost forgot to congratulate you, congratulations', he raved gleefully. Aarushi could not conceal the smile that appeared after witnessing his genuine outpour of content.

'Thank you!', was all she could come up with though her heart was betraying her words by swirling in the golden pool of brimming ecstasy. The former despair was instantly washed down as she discovered someone who could appreciate her gaiety with satisfaction.

The award ceremony came off with a smooth start. Aarushi was soaring with high spirits when she ascended the steps to receive her trophies and certificates. The next few hours passed in a blur as she acknowledged every other greeting and curiosity of people around her. Finally the bell for a long awaited recess rang across the school. Children filled out into the campus rejoicing over the momentary yet cherished freedom leaving behind quiet and empty classrooms.

Aarushi stretched her arms as she sat in her desk accompanied by strange desolation of wooden tables around her. She could not be more grateful for this vacant moment after a herculean struggle of keeping up with those acclamations most of which came with a concealed selfish purpose. She closed her eyes allowing herself a few moments of solace.

'How come you are abandoned by everyone this soon?', sound of his voice brought her back to reality. She turned her head in Ajay's direction with heavy effort. Being all worn out after handling all the spotlight she wasn't really in a mood to entertain another episode of his notorious remarks.

'How come you are discarded by your friends at this hour?', she retorted capriciously with an eye roll.

'Well, I don't feel the need to welcome the back biting company, so you can call intentional relinquishment', he replied in similar offhanded manner.

'I thought we only knew how to get on each other's nerves', Aarushi said with a small according smile. Ajay chuckled at her statement. Aarushi didn't mind the silence that surrounded them; the white washed walls around them deserted the room from worldly chaos outside bringing about a strange yet soothing stillness.

'Are you not spiteful like everyone else?', she asked him the first question that popped up in her mind. Somehow it wasn't arduous to share her honest thoughts with him; their conversation flowed easily with her true words filling up the spaces.

'I am', he answered too easily. Aarushi was slightly taken aback by his straightforward honesty, anyone else would have denied immediately but this guy had actually accepted a fact which even adults struggled to face at some point.

'I am envious of you, your grades and every other thing; but...', he gave a dramatic pause in between. Aarushi was scrutinizing his every attribute for any sign of nervousness or duplicity. She didn't find a single trace of them; she wasn't someone who would be putting in blind trust in people, but she couldn't convince herself to not trust him.

'I don't want you to fall down like everyone else', he completed his sentence with a genuine smile. Aarushi was staring at him blankly; her words had vanished in thin air as she unscrewed her own tangled feelings.

'You want to become an IAS right?', his out of the blue question caught her off guard. As far as she remembered she had never mentioned this detail about her future plans with anyone at school except on the first day of their middle school when they all had been asked to write about their future aspirations. Aarushi gave a small nod, trying to recall any other fragments of related memories. There was no chance he could remember something so trivial for almost two and a half years.

'Dreams are blessing only fortunate ones receive and having the soundness and flair to pursue them is the gift to only worthy ones. Luckily, you have these sought after presents. I believe in you and your ardor, you will achieve those dreams even if the whole world says otherwise.'

The warmth and intense belief behind those words inscribed itself in her heart for what felt like lifetime. The emotions felt by her were too pure and heavenly to be expressed in words. In that moment, her resolve unknowingly found another purpose to strive hard for the ambition.

'Ajay what do you dream of?', she asked in a small voice.

'I don't know, maybe stars', he said dreamily. Aarushi looked at him incredulously, waiting for an elaboration.

'There is a universe beyond us; I want to explore those faraway stars and powers through logics of science', he replied.

'You want to be a scientist?', Aarushi asked. Ajay smiled approvingly.

'I believe, you will reach to your stars one day', she said with a warm smile.

'If I don't manage it I'll probably switch to becoming a doctor then, I don't want to waste my talent in science', he commented jokingly.

'Hell no, you'll probably book a few free tickets to heaven with your extraordinary skills', Aarushi said, widening her eyes with pretentious horror.

'Am I that bad?', he challenged.

'Bad is just too superficial to describe someone who cannot differentiate between arteries and veins', Aarushi snorted. Ajay glowered at her making her laugh robustly.

'What's your motive behind IAS though?', he asked with a slightly sulky expression. Aarushi struggled to keep a straight face as she thought about the question.

'Umm... I want to do some good for the people, I know it sounds pretty basic but initially it was for power and advantages; they are still a part but very small one. Now that I look around, there are miseries everywhere in everyone's life; extent maybe different but deprivations haven't left the society. I cannot relieve all of them of their sorrows which are an integral part of life but I can at least put myself to some use to lessen them', she said with a small smile. Ajay gazed at her with scribbled expressions.

'You are worthy of your dreams', he said with a faint smile.

'So are you', Aarushi broke into a generous smile as the clock chimed end of a perfectly memorable moment.

[Flashback ends]

It was already past fifteen days by the time all had equipped themselves with required points. Viraj had eventually managed to survive through the torturous episode shedding infinite buckets of tears while learning. Aarushi was still doubtful regarding the unnatural coincidence of them landing together for the project. She had been searching for a perfect opportunity to voice out her questions which hadn't seemed to arise so far. In this half a month's time, they had spent almost half time at medical school and half time at NTI making them fairly familiar with each other's personality.

Sarthak, ever since his last encounter with Ajay, maintained a lukewarm response towards him unlike his affable self with others while the latter too did not seek much opportunity to develop a cordial relationship with him. Their passive attitude came as a relief to Aarushi who had been fairly taken aback by their last conversation.

The coding work had been taken up as soon as they wrapped up textbook knowledge. The difference in field of expertise compelled a distribution within the group. Aarushi had suggested pairing up in twos for convenience and easy progress. That way it would be much more practical for two people to decide upon working hours together for themselves and individual works can be discussed freely by all according to the allowance of time.

'I think she has a point here, we all cannot afford to gather easily in future due to various personal arrangements', Garvit stated the fact.

'So let's do it by her rules then; pairing up in twos; I'll go first, Harshita and me', Hardik said looking around the group. Harshita smiled enthusiastically.

'Anjali?', Garvit asked her as she nodded approvingly.

'That leaves me with Sarthak', Viraj spoke up before anyone else. Aarushi raised her eyebrows at his pumped up quick response.

'What? I don't want to encounter bouts of supercilious stares between these two besides you are ruthless and scary when working', he said with a whining pout. Aarushi bit back a smirk at that look. He wasn't exaggerating the facts; she could actually be frighteningly serious when working on something significant, and Sarthak teaming with Ajay was nothing less than an invitation to cold war II.

'So it is you and me', Ajay said with a warily modest voice. Aarushi nodded slightly practicing a faint smile. In past days, she had cut their interaction to bare minimum, surrounding topics related to project. It could be called as an unintentionally made intentional move. After the last time he had ruffled past, she had desperately wanted to reduce their range of conversation for some time so as to keep away from unnecessary awkwardness, opportunity showed itself too easily when Jenny asked her to run some urgent errands in return for an overtime pay. Aarushi had enough money to pay off the amount for this month, a bit of extra money wouldn't hurt her; she had happily accepted the offer. The ring from her cell phone brought her out of the scene.

'Who's it?', Aarushi spoke in the receiver attending to the incoming call.

'It's me, Miss Sharma', the bone chillingly sweet voice answered from the other end. Aarushi's eyes opened in wide surprise as she took back frozen steps from the group.

'What do you want? I had wired the amount this morning', she snapped in the receiver, directly cutting to the chase.

'Do you really take me as that much despicable? After all, I had been your father's most reliable employee for more than a decade; can't I call you for some casual chat?', the man tsked at her crabby words.

She closed her eyes, biting inside of her cheeks; she so wanted to scream "Shut the fuck up, you two faced mongrel", but rationality and her current situation didn't allow for it.

'I don't think I owe you anything beside money which have already been sent to their respective creditors', she replied shortly.

'You don't, but your dear father does and have you forgotten, indirectly, you had been the reason behind everything that fell upon your family', Aarushi could hear the sneer behind that voice. The words hit her right at her sensitive spot driving her into an agonizing silence.

'I'll be in Delhi for a few days in following month, I hope I can see you', he turned the conversation back casually. Aarushi's eyes turned glassy still in shock, what does he want after all these years?

'I'm sorry, I might not be available to meet strangers for quite some time', she cut back, a vein was throbbing in her temple as she kept a tight control over her voice.

'That's pity, I hope I'll see you soon then', the man said with a fake disappointment. Aarushi cut the line without the delay for a second. She squeezed her eyes shut pinching the bridge of her nose. She needed to retain her former calm composure before facing her peers.

'What a freaking mess my life has become', she sighed mentally at her own never ending troubles.

'Aarushi will you accompany us to dinner or you again have some job?', Ajay interrupted her thoughts. Aarushi turned around to face him standing a few feet from her. She hadn't heard him moving behind her; the thought of how long he had been there and how much he had heard made her numb on the spot. She checked his features for any out of the place sign but it seemed to be glazed in a still composure not giving away any of the thoughts or feelings.

'Oh- I... I won't be joining in', she muttered brokenly. He gave a brief nod and moved away without a second word.

Aarushi wasn't fully convinced of the fact that he had not heard anything, but if he had heard why not ask her about it? She brushed aside her skepticism. It didn't matter even if he had heard as long as he didn't bring it up before her, besides who was she to him to make him bothered by her phone call, for him it must be another trifling conversation he came across in that day.

Aarushi scorned at her ridiculous imaginations.Her life was already blown up to worst regard, she couldn't escape herresponsibilities; that was the only way she could mend her present and futureas her past had already been detonated to irreparable shreds.

A/N:

Thank you to all the lovely readers for giving this chapter your time!! I am sorry for keeping their past still in a mysterious light. Rest assured, in just a chapter or two vital elements about Aarushi's life would be revealed!! 

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