Krish's POV

It's been a whole day! Why did she lock herself in her room? What work does she have? Argh! It's frustrating! How am I supposed to tell her that we are leaving? Forget about her, how's Ma and dad gonna react to it? Better, why don't we just run away?

It's 6 pm, four more hours to go. I hate countdowns. I once again checked if the bags were packed correctly or not. Bored, I took a nap. I had dinner and came back to my room. I swiftly once more checked and counted the bags. The clock struck at 10, thank god I persuaded my parents to sleep early. If not I don't know what tale I had to come up with.

It's been fifteen minutes since I've been knocking on Mahi's door and still she hasn't opened it. Is she really asleep? Maybe I should kick the door if she doesn't come out...oh wait there's a spare key! No need to do that. Ah! Finally the sleeping beauty had graced this peasant's presence.

"What happened?" she asked me, leaning on the door frame.

"Put on your glasses and come with me," I told her as she was yawning.

It took her an eternity to come out meanwhile I thought of leaving a note for my parents but meh that's so not me. Let them notice our absence and enquire. Mahi was in no state to walk. If I just leave her, she'll sleep on the road. There's no doubt about that. How is this girl even going to take care of herself?

I gently dragged her, it was tough, as I was carrying the luggage. The taxi came and we were off to the railway station. She's still a kid trapped in an adult body. It was 10:45 pm, according to the schedule the train should arrive in 15 minutes but it never does. Mahi leaned on my shoulder and was murmuring something.

"Did you say something Mahi?"

No reply. Uff... I tried hard to not fall asleep as I was exhausted. Hearing the announcements and staring at the display boards was not much help either. About twenty five minutes later the train arrived. The passengers rushed to the train.

Now how am I gonna board with all this luggage and Mahi at the same time? After thinking for a minute or two, afraid that the train would start moving, I first took the luggage and went in search of our seats.

Coach B3...seat number 60 and 66... Ah! Here it is! I ducked the luggage under the berth not before taking back the bag that had the camera and went to get Mahi. Hoping that none would steal as it was empty I didn't have the chance to ask someone to look over. I lightly pulled Mahi inside as she was half asleep. How can she sleep like that amidst all these noises?

I draped the blanket around her and sat on the opposite side. I counted to check whether all bags were there or not. Later I slept on the middle berth. Around four in the morning, I was completely awake due to the snores of the passenger on the upper berth and partially because of the jerks that are caused by the train.

At 7 o'clock I lowered the middle berth and comfortably sat down on the seat. A aged man and his wife sat beside me. He tried to initiate a polite conversation but trailed off when he heard a ping from his phone. I guess he was busy forwarding good morning messages. Soon I heard my phone's ringtone ringing somewhere. I searched my pockets, nope it's not there. God where did I keep my phone? Finally I found it in the snacks bag.

It was Ma.

"Where the hell are you? Did you go somewhere last night? Where is Mahi? Is she with you? I thought of filing a missing complaint if you would have not picked up your phone! Is it a hurdle to leave a single message?!" She yelled.

"Ma, calm down. Yes Mahi is with me and we're far away from home"

"What do you mean by far away from home Krish?" asked my dad.

"Five hundred kilometers away"

"Stop talking nonsense and tell me where you are exactly?" screamed my mom.

"Dakshin express, just crossed Sevagram"

"What are you doing there?"

"Ma, what do you mean by that? What do you think I'll do on a train? Of course travelling"

"Why didn't you inform us?"

"Ma, stop nagging me. I told you that I'm going on a trip"

"I thought that's next week"

"Plans changed"

"Fine, have it your way. And yeah you're fired"

"What do you mean by fired, Ma?"

"What do you think it is? Fired means fired."

"But why?"

"Stop nagging me Krish, I'm your boss. I can fire you," she used my words against me.

"Dad, why don't you say something?"

"You're fired kiddo," he replied. I can imagine my mom being smug.

"Let me talk to Mahi. Video call me," she ordered me.

After showing Mahi who was peacefully sleeping, she enquired about the bookings, our stay etc etc. The call was hung up due to the poor signals.

We were near Ajni when Mahi woke up from her slumber, it was around 8:50 am.

"Awake, sleepy head?" I asked her as she was rubbing her eyes.

She blinked her eyes, realizing where she is and yelled

"WHAT?!"

"Huh?"

"Krish, why am I on a train?" she asked slowly, avoiding the glances of the fellow passengers.

"Because you're coming with me"

"Where?"

"To the trip"

"You never told me about it"

"Cause it's a surprise!"

"You didn't even tell me once!" she complained.

"I told you it's a surprise"

"Argh! Stupid! Because of you I am in pyjamas" she whined.

"What can I do you were sleeping like a log, don't worry about it no one's gonna write an article about spotting you in pyjamas now"

"Krish" she said in a warning tone.

"Yes Mahi" I sang, playing along with her.

"At least tell me where we are going," she requested.

"How many times should I remind you that it's a surprise?"

Sighing, she searched the bags.

"The tickets are with me," I told her as I thought if she was looking for it.

"I know"

"Then what are you searching for?"

"I'm hungry!"

"We'll reach Nagpur in fifteen minutes, we can get breakfast there. And here's your toiletry bag," I said, handing out her bag.

"Great! So you were planning this for a long time?!" She asked, tying her hair up in a ponytail.

"Yep" I replied, giving her my dazzling smile.

She washed her face and came back. Munching on the Haldirams Bhakarwadi, she uttered,

"I'm the only passenger who don't know which train I boarded"

"Don't worry, fellow toddlers are there with you"

She scoffed and asked,"How did you convince our parents?"

"I didn't... you can say we ran away from home"

"Not me, more like you kidnapped me," she said pointing at herself and then at me.

"You're not a kid Mahi, to kidnap"

"That's the lamest thing I've ever heard. If I had known about this before I would have come with you. And when are we going to reach our destination?"

"By tomorrow early hours, how come? If I knew this I wouldn't have gone through the struggle."

"Cause I'll never let you do anything stupid alone! I'm already exhausted listening to it. I just wanna be there in a jiff!"

"Wait and see, it's worth it! You won't regret, I promise"

As we were bickering, the train halted at Nagpur.