My inconsistent sleep schedule finally catches up to me and I end up sleeping till noon.

I wake up to the pitter patter sound of raindrops crashing down on our rooftop like arrows from the sky.

The curtain in my balcony is left open and I can see the heavy downpour outside. Someone must have come inside my room to see if I was awake.

Freshening up and going downstairs, I find Aleesha curled up on the sofa, her gloomy gaze fixated outside the window.

Hreedhan is in the kitchen tinkering around with utensils.

He turns around at the sound of my footsteps and gives me a small smile.

I nod my head towards Aleesha and frown , asking him the reason behind her sour mood.

He points to the rain outside and mouths the word "beach".

I raise my eyebrows in realization before walking towards Aleesha and sitting beside her.

"It's okay Alee, we still have two more days left. We'll definitely go to the beach tomorrow. "  I try to pacify her. She's been the most excited about going to the beach and I can tell she's feeling disappointed.

"Yeah , I checked the weather forecast and it shows the weather will be sunny tomorrow. " Sehar adds , walking down the stairs with a wireless headphone hung around her neck.

" I hope so…" Aleesha finally whispers , still looking outside.

Hreedhan joins us in the living room with a tray filled with hot chocolate mugs.

He hands one mug to Aleesha and hugs her and she finally smiles.

I smile seeing their interaction and accept another cup of the steaming mug of drink which Sehar hands over to me. I take a sip and realize it needs more sugar. I always want extra sugar.

Getting up and walking towards the kitchen I take out the container filled with sugar and put one more teaspoon of it to my mouth watering drink. Stirring the spoon inside the chocolate milk I watch as the liquid swirls around as the sugar dissolves. Then I take another sip of the chocolate milk and this time it's perfect.

~★~

It stops raining in the afternoon and we decide to take a walk down the streets and visit a famous bakery. Aleesha's mood brightens up seeing the aesthetic and cozy shop .

While Sehar helps Hreedhan and Aleesha take cute pictures I wander in front of the counter , browsing through the available treats. It all seems so alluring, I feel like ordering them all.

"Stop drooling on the food, I won't pay if the shopkeeper charges you extra for damaging his goods. " Hreedhan comments , lightly slapping the back of my head.

I straighten up and rub my head, giving him a killer stare. " You'll never grow up ! " I whisper-shout at him.

He counters by sticking out his tongue in my direction, " Where's the fun in that ?"

I stand there glaring a hole in the back of his head and start plotting numerous tactics of revenge.

But I have to shove them to the back of my mind for later when he arrives back with our food and hands me an extra bag of my favorite red velvet cookies.

~★~

After we are done eating we start walking down the street . Just chatting and observing the locals.

An old man sitting on a bench with a newspaper opened in his hand smiles in our direction.

On the corner of the street, a lady sits with a truck of goodies and announces loudly, " Buy one get one free ! Special offer for couples only !"

Aleesha grabs Hreedhan's hand and  drags him towards the cart.

"Must be nice." Sehar remarks as we watch them race over there.

A preteen boy walks up to us with a bunch of flowers clutched in his hand. He looks up at us with a shy smile and proceeds to pick out a rose from the flower arrangement and hands it over to Sehar.

She gasps lightly and accepts the gift with a wide grin, " Aw thank you so much! " She pats the boy's head.

"You're so pretty." The boy says softly before hiding his face behind his hand and running away from there as if his life depended on it.

"Yeah. Must be nice. " I repeat Sehar's previous words back at her with a teasing tone. She rolls her eyes and bumps my shoulder with hers and offers the flower to me.

" It's ok , keep it . You know I'm not that fond of flowers anyway. " I say, closing her hand over the stalk of the flower.

" Yeah , the only way a guy can win over your heart would be by giving you a story book. " She retorts with a knowing smirk.

" Exactly. " I grin back at her.

She takes my arm in hers and we start walking towards Hreedhan and Aleesha.

But as we walk I can't help but compare myself to my friends.

Aleesha has always been an ethereal kind of beautiful. With her milky white skin and large doe eyes she looked like a cute fairy. She had a hijab wrapped around her small, round face and always smiled at everyone radiating joy wherever she went.

On the other hand , Sehar , true to her name, was as pretty as dawn. With long , smooth , golden brown hair cascading down her back like a straight waterfall she was the epitome of beauty. She had plump red tinted lips and her cheeks always seemed to be naturally bathed in pink hues against her pale complexion. Sehar carried her slender body with grace and confidence, turning heads wherever she went.

It wasn't that I didn't consider myself pretty. I knew God crafted each of us perfectly.

But growing up in a judgmental society I was always self conscious about how my skin tone was more on the brown side and how my stomach jutted out a little wearing the same type of clothes in which other girls seemed to fit into perfectly.

I never bothered about keeping up pretense in front of people and just dressed however I felt comfortable. But sometimes people's gossip managed to weave their way from my ears and struck my heart , making me wish I could be a certain way.

Even now Sehar had taken the time to put on light makeup and wear a cute outfit. Whereas me on the other hand had just left my shoulder length black hair falling messily without a care and put on jeans and a Gryffindor themed oversized t-shirt.

It's not as if I didn't want to doll up, I just didn't have the energy to do that on a daily basis. The only time I bothered taking care of my appearance was if I cared about where I was going and who would be there.

My mother would be appalled seeing me if she was here. I know exactly the words she would have uttered ,
" Haye Yara! It wouldn't kill you to take care of your appearance a bit more . Look at Sehar, she's gotten ready so nicely. At least wear some jewelry baccha. "

I snort, thinking about the times my mom expressed her dismay at having a daughter who is least bothered about fashion and spends all her time lounging around in sweats , reading story books.

" What happened ? " Sehar asks without looking in my direction.

" Nothing…just remembered something funny. " I reply with a small smile.

" Oh , let's get some ice cream! " She tells and drags me towards a stall in front of us.

We get submerged in a crowd of people who were headed in the same direction for the same purpose as us. I lose Sehar's hold and we get separated.

People start pushing and shoving from all directions and I suddenly feel someone reaching out to my hand and pressing a small piece of paper into my palm . Before I can react, the stranger closes my knuckles over the paper and disappears among the crowd.

I manage to squeeze out of the crowd and stand to the side . Opening the paper , I see some words written in neat handwriting which says " I like your t-shirt. Ten points to Gryffindor. "

For some reason a huge smile forms on my lips and I laugh out loud.

My mood instantly gets better but I can't help but think that no matter how cute this incident is , it's also  strange and honestly a little creepy.

                           ~★~

We arrive back at our bungalow's compound just as the sun is setting.

Aleesha still hasn't managed to finish her ice cream and is pestering Hreedhan to help her before it melts. But he refuses to have more sugar intake .

When we pass by the red bungalow before ours , I look at the porch and sure enough the food parcel is gone.

I halt Sehar and point in that direction, " Look, the food is gone ."

She looks at me in exasperation. "And ? I told you, they must have delivered it at the wrong address and now they've taken it back. "

" Sehar, I saw someone on the balcony of this bungalow last night. Maybe he took the food inside. "

She looks at me as if I've finally gone crazy. " Yara…you really haven't been getting proper sleep. I'm sure you must have imagined it seeing some furniture or something. "

I know it's pointless trying to convince her without any evidence so I sigh and nod at her , " Maybe you're right. "

She gives me a soft smile and squeezes my hand before continuing forward.

I hold on for a few seconds and look back at that porch. Steeling my nerves , I walk forward towards its door and halt right in front of it.

My eyes fall on the piece of paper lying around the corner and I bend to retrieve it. Looking at its contents my eyes widen.

I quickly run back to my friends and Hreedhan looks back at me with a worried gaze.

He lifts up his eyebrows asking if I'm okay and I just nod back in response.

As I'm about to enter our bungalow's door I look up at the opposite property's upper window.

Everything is closed and dark but my skin seems to be crawling with a feeling that someone is watching me.

Shuddering slightly, I tear my gaze away from that window and sprint inside , closing the door and following my friends inside.