Ajay let out a quiet hollow chuckle shaking his head slightly.

'You are right, past will always be past, it cannot become present... I don't know why I said all that nonsense' he whispered more to himself than her. Aarushi clenched her eyes shut, gulping down the overwhelming surge of emotions. It hurts, it hurts more than it should; those words and the longing anguish behind them, sliced deep gashes right through her heart.

Hadn't she decided to clear up their past accounts and leave to never turn back? Why was it now that the thought of leaving seemed so unlikely and faraway? Why was it now that she wanted to stay forever instead of vanishing like she never existed?

'I had resolved to get the answers and leave that wretched phase in past forever, why am I having the double thoughts now? Why do I wish to revisit those times when they'll only bring back nothing but more damage, more heartache? No... I can't go back now, I can't return to what it used be, I can't let my blighted destiny play again with him or me, it's unfair, it's frightful, it's devastating... It's better to leave those things in past after we get the incomplete answers, after all that's where they'll always belong', Aarushi revered. She checked the timing and was immediately jerked back to reality. She turned towards Ajay who still seemed to be in some sort of a trance.

'We should get going now', she said turning up her wrist watch for him. Ajay turned his head at the sound of her voice.

His expressions transitioned from lost, to focused and finally to shock like a movie reeling rapidly.

'Quarter past eleven!', he screamed rechecking his own watch for confirmation. Aarushi nodded vigorously hinting him to get moving immediately if they wished to see tomorrow's sun peacefully.

They were standing out of their breathe at the back gates of National University of Medical Sciences after covering half an hour distance in fifteen minutes.

'If...something...happens... you'll be... dead... Ajay', Aarushi wheezed threateningly.

'Something... will... definitely happen... if we... don't... get in now', Ajay retorted gasping for air. Aarushi started walking towards the gates but her steps were jerked with a strong pull from behind.

'What?', her vexed question was met with a "Can you be this dumb" glare from Ajay.

'We are returning after a sneak out madam, do you think you'll be welcomed with garlands at that gate?', he snapped at her.

'If not by gates then how do you plan to get in? Flying?', she retaliated with a similar snap.

'Follow me, and don't do anything stupid', he said rolling his eyes and moving in the opposite direction of gates towards the boundary of campus. Aarushi followed him quietly, nervously keeping an eye out for any sign of warning.

'What are we doing?', she asked after they had travelled nearly halfway around the back wall.

'Scaling the wall', he replied distractedly checking the boundary probably for some unknown secrets, oblivious to Aarushi.

'And why are we scaling the wall?', she asked again.

Before she can get an answer Ajay ran over to some place about twenty meters away, followed quickly by Aarushi.

'Here', he said with a wide smile. Aarushi looked from his prideful grin to the wall, evidently puzzled. She could not make any difference in the wall except the fact that it marked the beginning of iron fences periphery with slightly lowered height.

'We'll climb up from here', the easiness of those words invited a wide eyed shocked expression from Aarushi.

'Climb up? Have you really lost it? What about CCTVs? And what if someone spots us?', Aarushi freaked out over the thought.

'CCTVs at your campus periphery are located at a distance for two hundred meters, standard CCTVs cover a range for about thirty meters, judging from the location of last CCTV this must be a blind spot for previous as well as next one. This fencing opens into the back garden which is under the cover of trees; it would be a nice cover until someone deliberately moves here with torches, which by the look of it seems to be unlikely. Overall it's the safest we can get', he explained logically. Aarushi stared open mouthed at his logical reasoning. How did he manage to acquire this extent of information in just ten minutes or so?

'Are you secretly studying the act of theft during nights?', she asked at the amazing display of measurements. Ajay rolled his eyes at her statement.

'Not everybody is as ignorant as you; besides I am an engineer, we are supposed be master of mathematics. These details are basic if you pay a little attention around you', he said with a casual shoulder hunch.

'Stop flaunting. Do you really think we need to climb over?', she said, glancing nervously at the iron fences.

'If you have any better options share it, I'm all ears', Ajay challenged crossing his arms. Aarushi bit her upper lip lost at words. It really was the only option left.

'Okay, let's do it', she agreed conjecturing some courage.

'After me', he ordered as he secured his one leg in fence while holding the grill tightly with both hands as he heaved himself up with all the strength. In flash of a second he had climbed up the stone wall.

Aarushi inhaled deeply before following the pursuit. Ajay helped her up as she struggled to get the hold of final step. Aarushi could hear her heart pounding inside her as they jumped inside the periphery with a light thud muffled by the debris of grass and leaves lying underneath.

Ajay beckoned her to follow him signaling to stay silent. Aarushi nodded as her steps fell with the lightest sound. They moved quietly hidden in the shadows of tall trees in front and reached the arena behind dorm rooms. Aarushi peeked around for any sign of patrolling staff, to her greatest relief, they were observing the other end at the moment, it would be some time before they returned back. Hopefully by the time they return, Aarushi would be back in the dorm, sleeping peacefully.

'Where are the back doors?', Ajay asked her, his voice was barely above a whisper. Aarushi indicated the direction with her index finger. The back doors of hostels were usually kept open during night for emergencies and warden's work. It was likely her dorm followed the similar rules.

They reached the door absorbed completely in dark while keeping an eye out for uninvited commotion. Ajay turned the handle and as the luck would have it, it opened with a light creak. They exchanged beaming glances as he pushed the door wide enough for her to pass through. Aarushi poked her head through the hall way before stepping in.

'Thank you', she whispered to him.

'I told you, I'll fulfill my responsibility', he whispered back with a smile.

Before she could answer, words stuck in her throat as a faint trace of bright light caught the corner of her eye.

'Warden!', her mind alerted her. She quickly turned the doorknob of nearest door, while pulling Ajay inside with her. She put a hand over his mouth and gestured him to stay silent while listening carefully for any movement outside. The footsteps grew louder and a tiny reminiscence of pool of bright light outside found its way through the slim gap between floor and door. Breathe stuck in her throat as her heart raced rapidly out of fright.

'These girls...', she heard the warden mutter before the soft sound of back door being closed reached her.

Soon enough, the footsteps grew fainter until they were no longer heard. Aarushi let out a relieved breath she had been holding in and finally turned to look at her companion for first time in last many minutes.

Ajay was looking down at her with eyes wide opened with bewilderment, shock and self consciousness. She quickly removed her hand and moved back as much as she could in the constricted space.

'Actually...Umm...I-I', she stuttered struggling to form words.

'It's okay, I am not deaf, I heard it all', he hushed her. Aarushi could feel his slightly ruffled warm breath and light shade of red that climbed up on him as they stood waiting evenly in that cramped up store room. She suppressed a smile after witnessing his uneasiness.

'I-I should leave before anyone else comes this way, or else you'll be in trouble', he whispered quickly, sticking his head out to check for a clear way.

'Hmm, but how will you go back?', she suddenly questioned. They had come here unspotted, but it would be difficult for him to go back in the same way unhindered.

'Don't worry about me, I'll be back soundly. You make sure not to invite any unasked trouble', he said turning to look at her. Even though they were surrounded in complete darkness, Aarushi could still see a reassuringly mischievous smile playing on his lips as he said those words.

'Okay, good night', she bid him with a slight tinge of worry, still not completely convinced by his confidence. She deliberated over whether to ask him to text her as soon as he is back but eventually chickened out and stuck to a formal wish.

'Good night', he whispered back and disappeared into the night outside. Aarushi hurried back to her room as quickly as a cat and quietly as a mouse, not intending to invite unrequited troubles. Opening the door with slightest of sound she tiptoed through the dark room to her study desk and switched on the lamp dropping in her chair.

'Whew! Finally this adventure is over', she thought wiping the beads of sweat off her brow. She clicked open her purse to check upon the amount left after the night time snack. Aarushi scratched her head in amazement when the amount was exactly the same as the one she had before she left for food market.

She precisely remembered giving her share so practically it was impossible for money to remain same. She recounted it few times but every time the figure remained constant, not even decreasing by single rupee. Puzzled beyond imagination, she unconsciously reached deeper in her bag as though expecting to find some reasonable explanation to pop out magically. Her fingers brushed around a thin piece of paper neatly folded in two.

Aarushi pulled out her hand containing mysterious parchment and brought it under lamp, quickly unfolding and reading the text written on it.

'You'll probably kill me after this, but keep this amount for next time. Let this meal be my treat, I won't be spending a penny in future so keep your money safe. Our first night time snack was my treat and so will be the last one, in between, you can enjoy blowing up your funds. P.S. Don't scare me with Sarthak's name, he would himself die before working with me.'

Aarushi refolded the note with light smile hitching the corner of her lips. Placing the note safely amongst her drawer's contents, she fetched out a plain piece of paper and clicked her pen, ready to turn this day from memory to a forever.

Dear Mr. J,

Miracles and coincidences, they are only the fictional fantasies to console our crumbling hopes. But when they blend themselves with reality it becomes difficult to distinguish between actual and dream. Fortunately or unfortunately, my own life has turned out to be one of these strangest combos of fiction and nonfiction, blurring the lines of fantasy and reality.

From beginning itself, it has the strangest of surprises waiting for me in gift wraps. As the time goes by, I realize some of them are perpetual beyond measure while others originate from gloomiest and darkest corners of human existence. This winter night was part of one such stupendous script, written by the quill of destiny.

But still, the fear of losing grips around my every corner, holding back the hopeful desires from springing back to life. The present is beautiful, but past will always haunt it like a raveled shadow, hollowing out the gaiety that adorns it. In the search for answers, maybe I rediscovered the forgotten beauty of times gone by, but beauty never comes without evil, and I am scared of another confrontation with this evil. I am scared of letting my hopes of happily ever after being crushed ruthlessly. I am scared of being lost and heartbroken once again.

Hadn't it always been the same story? The pleasure is clouded away the very next instant it appears. Wasn't it the same tale last time with a picture perfect beginning?

But conclusions of that picture perfect tale left nothing but shattered pieces for me to retrieve. At the end, it was me who lost everything while the world mocked my pitiful existence with critical eyes. This time too, the story has begun with perfection, but what if it again blows up to shards at the end? I don't want to give life to open ended imaginations; I don't want to end up broken and grieving like last time.

Yet, my own emotions betray me, they fail to maintain the unbreakable compose of years whenever those smoldering black eyes search for truth from within my soul. The façade of years becomes undone effortlessly and sizzling burns glow furiously once again. It's true that I had lost the carefree smile that appeared today, but it would be evermore anguishing to lose it again.

The agony of your words slices my heart in million pieces, but fears of what had happened are too strong for me to breakthrough and embrace this happiness easily. Is finding happiness really so difficult, or is it just me grappling against my own fate?

Nothing comes for free; that's what the life has taught me, and the unknown cost for present is frightening me from accepting it. I am exhausted by this ever tangling game. I don't know if it's too audacious to ask the time to freeze and let me steal its ravishing moments. I don't know, if it's right to wish for you to stay with me, always...

Aarushi

Her phone blinked with an incoming message. Putting away her things she picked up her phone with lock screen lit up with the notification.

'I reached safe. Not a soul knows now about the little mischief' it read with a winking emoji. Aarushi suppressed her laughter as she typed back.

'Congratulations on not being beaten up as a thief'

A scowling emoticon shown on her screen as soon as the text was sent making Aarushi chuckle softly. She immediately suppressed her giggles afraid of waking up Harshita. Switching off the light, she huddled inside the warm covers. A broad smile glowed on her face as the sleep casted its spell.

'Phone out of reach, no messages, unexplained disappearance; what were you thinking Miss Sharma?', Anjali interrogated dangerously narrowing her eyes at Aarushi. Harshita and Anjali had arrived at the breakfast only to be confronted by a disheveled Sarthak who recounted Aarushi's baffling vanquishing yesterday night with no prior texts or information. He had been dead worried when she had not returned by late, Anjali's phone had apparently ran out of battery and Harshita's had been switched off so they had only came to know about yesterday's incidences in morning.

When none of them seemed to have any useful info about last night, Aarushi had obviously been pulled into the court of interrogation.

'Your silence is hinting towards some unscrupulous secret', Harshita said in a very detective like accent turning her fingers suspiciously. Aarushi fidgeted with her fingers, biting her lower lip. She had escaped the authorities last night, but this team of investigating officers had slipped out of her mind completely; and now they won't let the matter rest until the truth is disclosed. And this truth would undoubtedly sprout new teasing ideas in their devilish brains.

'Aarushi, we need answers; you know I had been dead worried when your phone was out of reach and these two were snoring away peacefully all that while with mobiles switched off', Sarthak said, rolling his eyes at Harshita and Anjali.

'Ow!', he exclaimed when Harshita hit his arm glaring ominously.

'Do you need us to give you a formal written apology now? How could we know that the impeccable follower of rules would suddenly have a shot of audacity and disappear into thin air?', she pointed out. Sarthak had been severely cross at two of them as well for being too careless. When he wasn't able to reach any of the three girls, he had decided to leave the matter for next morning believing them to be up to some work together. Harshita and Anjali had refused any such speculation, driving out the color from his face. Their refusal meant Aarushi had vanished alone, without any information at the dead of night.

'Leave him Harshita, our main miscreant is sitting right here. Will you speak something now?', Anjali asked glaring at Aarushi. All three hovered over her waiting for a legitimate explanation while Aarushi rejected all the useless lies conjecturing in her mind.

'See, Harshita said just now, I am an impeccable follower of rules, do you think I'll do anything unlawful?', Aarushi said flashing a puppy face.

'I know your word trap pretty well now, so don't try to dodging the question, it's not gonna work', Anjali impeded with a cautioning edge. Aarushi looked around with pleading eyes, while three of them merciless stared back with hard gaze, waiting for her to speak.

'Neither is this going to work', Harshita said, pointing towards her innocent mask.

'Fine... well, I did go out... only for a tiny bit you know', she began mumbling.

'Okay; not tiny bit, maybe for quite some time now', she corrected herself instantly looking at the glare worn by Anjali.

'We know that, come to the point now, where were you exactly?', Harshita commanded her, putting special emphasis on "exactly".

'Food market', Aarushi muttered, looking everywhere except at the three people before her.

'Where?'

'Food market', she repeated, this time a bit loudly. Anjali's jaw hit the ground while Harshita and Sarthak mirrored aghast expressions.

'You went to food market; with whom?', Anjali resumed her interrogation with a widely shocked expression. Aarushi nodded her head as confidently as she could.

'Alone', she answered with definite confidence.

Anjali and Harshita burst out into fits of laughter while Sarthak wore a mix of confusion and shock on his brows.

'Go and check the calendar, there are still five months for April Fools' Day. Let's leave such boring pranks for that', Anjali said through her laughter.

'Where's the prank in this? I really went alone', Aarushi protested furrowing her brows.

'You can fool people like Sarthak with that confidence but we are too old for such jokes, and you breaking the rules alone is nothing but a myth in this lifetime, so now throw this act and tell us who was the mastermind of this thrilling surprise', Harshita said inviting scowls from both Sarthak and Aarushi.

'I am not kidding. I really did go alone, I swear on my books for that', Aarushi tried to convince, mentally praying for forgiveness at her condemnable lie. It's not that life of her books holds no value for her, but her night excursion exposed would be far scarier than seeing her books being burnt to ashes. She pitied her poor books who became innocent victims of sacrifice in this act.

Her words wiped off the mocking grins from their faces and instead installed a horrorstruck bemused expression.

'Are you sure there no hidden jokes in this?', Harshita asked her with slight suspicion. Aarushi's words had done their work; Anjali and Harshita were very well familiar with her obsession with her precious books, there was no chance she would make fake bet on them.

Aarushi nodded her head. Anjali exchanged doubtful glances with Harshita but did not press upon the subject further.

'Very well, if that's the case; we'll let you go this once', she said giving away the final judgment.

Aarushi heaved a relieved sigh on escaping the interrogation session unscathed while mentally appreciating her thoughtfulness about hiding away Ajay's jacket in bag last night out of the reach of the inquisitive eyes of her friends. She looked at Sarthak, who was hadn't spoken a single word for whole conversation. His expressions were a blended tone of qualm and assurance, giving off his inner battle between choosing to trust her words or probing upon the topic further.

Aarushi lightly tapped on his shoulder jerking him back from the ongoing mental battle.

'Mind sharing your thoughts?', she asked with a curious smile.

'If you went alone, how did you manage to return back unspotted?', he finally gave in to his curiosity. According to his study, this girl wasn't really interested in studying tricks for secret night outs, it's nearly impossible she could've pulled this off alone without leaving a trace.

'Jumped over the back wall', Aarushi stated simply.

'And nobody even saw you?', he retorted. Aarushi shook her head in negative.

'CCTVs are at distance of two hundred meters each, there happens to be a blind spot near the iron fencing in back garden, I used that passage to enter inside', she explained calmly. His eyes opened wider in amazement at her detailed description.

'How do you know all this?', he asked her, with a mixture of admiration and amazement.

'Just got a little more attentive lately I guess', she answered with a knowing smile. She enjoyed the flabbergasted look on his face as he thought through her words. Sarthak had known her for over a year, and this was the first time he had seen her talking this easily about something out of the code of conduct.

'I wonder what magical day it was yesterday, our moral woman did something super adventurous; dude if you plan something this extraordinary next time, at least inform us before hand. We'll come to grace you with our presence', Anjali said winking mischievously. Aarushi laughed giving her consent.

She gobbled down her breakfast hurriedly before leaving for café. She was to meet Ajay at half past eight for project discussion. Not wanting to sacrifice another day's wages, she had worked out a more convenient way to save the time taken up by travelling between multiple places. Quills and Coffee had the serene atmosphere required for intellectual discussion; there wouldn't be a better place than a book café for coming up with ideas while enjoying the tranquil surroundings. She wondered why she hadn't thought about this excellent idea sooner.

'Where are you going now?', Harshita asked as she strung her bag across her shoulder.

'To cafe', she replied briefly.

'Will you be going to NTI today?', Sarthak inquired.

'No, I asked him to meet me at workplace itself; it'll save the travel time. What about you all? What's up in the list today?,' Aarushi questioned other three.

'I'll meet Garvit in an hour; Harshita too follows the same schedule. We'll get the primary theoretical work done in next two or three days', Anjali answered for both of them.

'Viraj would message me the destination in sometime. We too will wrap up in next few days, how's it at your end?', Sarthak said.

'Oh, we're halfway down the theoretical assumption of changes in blood composition due to internal clot formation, will get it done by today evening I guess', she said nonchalantly. A clatter of spoon made her turn around towards three faces hanging open with awe.

'It was only two people right?', Anjali asked weakly with undisguised astonishment. Aarushi nodded, visibly confused by their offbeat reactions.

'You both have already done work of four people in five days, respect', Harshita said with a dramatic bow of head.

'I don't know what was I expecting from a scholar duo like you two, but you have exceeded my expectations well', Anjali gave her thumbs up.

'Oh you can expect more surprises like these in future', Aarushi acknowledged with an imperious chuckle exiting the doors of cafeteria.

A/N: 

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