"Grandpa, wake up. It is time to open the temple for the evening pooja," Nandini gently tapped her grandfather awake. 

Bhoothnath slowly sat up in the bed and looked around groggily. "Have I been asleep for long, Nandini?"

"For two hours now," she smiled and tugged at a wrinkled cheek. "I've kept your tea here, grandpa. Drink it before it gets cold." 

When she returned to the living room, Prithvi was still engrossed in the book he had been reading for more than an hour now. What secrets of the universe were hidden in that book, she thought with mild resentment. When she had returned from the yard after keeping the flowers outside, she had found him immersed in it, and he hadn't spoken to her at all since then. 

He had finally told her who Indrajit was. But she still didn't know why he was trying to kill Prithvi. Why was he bent on killing his own brother? Try as she might, she couldn't erase the chilling memory of that fight....and even more.....of the anger and hatred in Indrajit's face when he had been trying to strike down Prithvi with the sword. 

But at least he had finally told her something about himself.....almost like a friend. But now she wondered sadly if he was already regretting having told her anything about his private life….

"I'm very late today. People might be waiting outside the temple."

Nandini turned to see her grandfather hurrying out of his room, dressed faultlessly but with his white hair sticking up all over his head.

"Grandpa, you haven't combed your hair," she laughed. 

Prithvi looked up from his book. "Let it remain that way, Nandini. Then someone may actually believe that he has seen a ghost," he muttered.

"What did you say, boy?" grandfather frowned. 

"He didn't say anything, grandpa," Nandini said quickly, looking despairingly at Prithvi.  "Just wait here for a minute, I'll get the comb." She sprinted into his room and came out with the comb before they had time to get into another argument.

She combed his hair into place, and then looked at his crinkly face from all angles. "Now here is the most handsome man on earth," she said affectionately and grandfather smiled broadly. Prithvi snorted, but luckily the sound was drowned by sound of the door opening. 

"Is there a crowd outside the temple, Sarojini," Grandfather anxiously asked her mother who had just stepped into the house.

"No, father. But I think I saw a couple of ladies walking towards it just now."  

"I'll come and help you, grandpa," Nandini offered. "Just give me two minutes to freshen up."

Grandfather agreed and left the house in a flurry.

"Why have you kept those flowers in the yard, Nandini?"  Sarojini asked quizzically while removing her slippers. "I thought you wanted to keep them in your room."

"You kept those flowers outside? But why would you do that?" Prithvi asked in artificial surprise, evidently disappointed. 

Nandini glowered at him.  She knew he had seen her take the flowers outside. But he had pretended to be absorbed in his book when she had returned to the living room, and hadn't said a word about it. And he had waited till her mother had returned to ask her why she had done it. Of course, why would he let go of an opportunity to hassle her….

"I – I found a caterpillar in it. So I thought I'll keep it outside," she said uncomfortably and Sarojini laughed.

"It must have come from some second-rate shop," Prithvi smirked.

"It did not," Nandini said indignantly. "And even if it did, it's the feeling behind it that matters. Isn't it, ma," she asked with good cheer.

"Yes....its always the feeling behind a gift that is most important," Sarojini concurred smilingly and Nandini repressed a giggle at the scowl that marred his face.

"Either ways it's a shame that you had to throw it. That bouquet had really brightened up the place," he said regretfully. 

"Well if you liked it so much, maybe I could keep it in your room," she grinned mischievously, as she made to go upstairs to change her dress. "Then you could look at it all the time." 

"Are you alright, Prithvi?" Sarojini asked anxiously, looking at his pale face. "You look a little sick all of a sudden."

*********************

Nandini pulled her hair back from her face and tied it up with the clip to get some respite from the heat in the classroom. Two lectures were over and the next one was after half an hour. They had decided to remain seated in the class until then.

"Did you look for your cycle everywhere," Vrinda enquired.

"I've searched all over, but its missing," Nandini said dejectedly. She had left her cycle by the side of the road last week when she had been hurrying to stop Prithvi. She had known it would not be there when she returned but had entertained a faint hope until she had arrived at college today.

"Come with us in the car after college. We'll drop you to your house before going home," Nishi said.

"Thanks Nishi," Nandini smiled, "but I won't let you do that." 

"Then I'll drop you to bus stop on the main road at least," Nishi insisted, "no arguments about that". 

Nandini smiled and hugged her in reply. 

"But you know, I really miss my cycle," she said sadly after a pause. 

"Why?" Vrinda asked, rolling her eyes. "All parts of that cycle were still together and working only because of some miracle."

"Hey....my cycle was no less than an aircraft, you know," Nandini said playfully, holding her nose up high in the air with mock haughtiness, "Sometimes it used to almost fly on the road". 

"Yeah yeah. And if you had continued to ride it, one day you would have been flying off it too."  

Nandini started to answer jokingly when a figure entered the almost empty classroom. Suvek spotted her immediately and began to stride towards their bench, a warm smile plastered on his attractive face. Nandini gave a small smile in return, already wary of what he was coming to say and trying to ignore the meaningful nudging and pinching of her friends.

"How are you now, Nandini?" he asked earnestly, once he had reached them.

"I'm alright. I only had a little fever."

"Yeah. But Prithvi was badly injured," Vrinda cut in.

"Prithvi?" Suvek asked curiously, looking from one girl to the other.

"He's Nandini's tenant. Stays just next door to her," Nishi offered by way of information. "He's the one who saved Nandini that day."

"Oh yes. Someone had told me about it. Is he recovering well?"

"Of course he is. It's not like he is old or anything. He is very young, only 19," Nishi said with a naughty glint in her eyes.

"And he is a real genius in his studies," Vrinda chirped. "He's doing his Phd and he has joined our college for it." 

"Doing his Phd!" Suvek repeated, looking baffled. 

Nishi nodded. "In aerospace engineering."

"And he has joined our institute?" he asked with a slight frown.

"Yeah, isn't that cool!" Vrinda smirked.

Suvek didn't say anything and Nandini realized that he was looking strangely disturbed.  

But then he seemed to take hold of himself.

"Yes....that's great," he said at last with a forced smile. "Did you get my flowers, Nandini?" he asked eagerly.

"I did. Thank you so much for them," she smiled.

"You are most welcome. Your family members didn't ask you anything, did they? About me? I realized later that maybe I shouldn't have…I mean…I hope your family members didn't misunderstand my intentions?"

"Actually, your card had fallen down, so no one saw it except me," Nandini said uneasily, not meeting his fervent gaze. "So there was no problem at all."

Disappointment clouded his face for a moment but he recovered immediately. "Oh! That's....that's great. Okay then, I'll see you around, Nandini," he added with a peculiar tilt to his voice. "Bye Nishi, Vrinda."

"Bye," all three girls echoed. As he turned around and walked out the room, Nandini noticed apprehensively that his shoulders were bowed down….as though some terrible weight was pressing down on them.

**********************

Nandini wiped her face with the handkerchief. It wasn't particularly hot, but it had been a long walk from the bus stop, which was on the main road, back to her house. The door was already open. She opened the gate and looked despondently at the spot where she used to park her cycle after coming from college. 

But when she stepped onto the threshold of the house, the scene in front of her drove all other thoughts out of her mind.

Prithvi and her grandfather were sitting on either side of the small round table. A board game lay open in front of them. Prakash was sitting on the floor his face at the same height as the game, and his thrilled eyes moving from Prithvi to her grandfather like a pendulum.

The scene would have been a very sweet and peaceful one....if only the two men on either side of the game had not been glowering at each other. 

"You made that rule up just now!" Prithvi said angrily, breaking the tense silence.

"I did not," Grandfather said loudly. "I forgot to tell you this rule when we began playing the game."

Nandini stopped at the door, and looked at the argument happening before her with rising alarm. She had made Prithvi apologise to grandfather for his earlier behaviour, but now things seemed to have gone back to square one.

She kept her bag aside and hurried over to them to break up the argument before it got worse. 

"I'm back," she called out and walked over to them. All three looked up at her. Grandfather smiled happily, but Prithvi and her brother simply looked irritated at the interruption and returned their attention back to the game.

"Which game is this, grandpa? I've never seen something like it before," she asked cheerfully, bending over to see an antique multicoloured board with some white and blue shells strewn all over it.

"This is a game invented by your grandfather. I don't think there is any such board game in human history at all," Prithvi snapped. 

"There is a game like this, I am not making it up," Grandfather insisted stubbornly. 

"Then this is the stupidest game ever."

"No, it is not. It is a very interesting and intelligent game and I'm an expert at it."

"That's funny," Prithvi snorted. "You invented this ridiculous game and its bizarre rules, and you are still losing."

"If you aren't enjoying this, cant you both play something else," she suggested, worried that this game was going to cause another argument.

All three looked at her again, and this time there was uniform annoyance on their faces.

"Who said anything about not enjoying it!" Prithvi retorted. "Don't you have anything else to do? In case you didn't notice, we are in the middle of a game."

"Yes....Don't interrupt us, Nandini," grandpa declared and Nandini looked at him in complete amazement. 

"Go away, Di," Prakash added urgently. "This game is very exciting."

"And if you have nothing better to do, bring me something to eat," Prithvi said, his eyes on the game again. 

"Yes, that's an excellent idea," grandfather agreed. "I'm hungry too."

Feeling amused and curiously happy, Nandini looked at both the men. "Okay, I'll check in the kitchen and come back with something," she grinned.

Inside, her mother was sitting at the table, writing down the accounts of their income and expenditure for the month. 

Sarojini glanced up and smiled at her daughter. "You're back from college. I'll get you something to eat."

"I can wait, ma," she said ruefully. "There are three people in the living room who have placed an order first. Ma, how long has this been going on outside?" 

"Your grandfather has been trying to beat Prithvi at some game all day now," Sarojini laughed. "He began with chess and lost very badly, and after that he tried – "

"But grandpa is amazing at chess. No one can beat him at it."

"Prithvi checkmated him within two minutes. They played around 16 times and your grandfather lost every game. Then he went into the locked room on top and came down with a very dirty and old looking board game. I don't think even he remembers what kind of a game it is. He has simply made up its rules, but I think Prithvi is defeating him at this game too. And after Prakash came back from school, he just swallowed his lunch and has been sitting watching them since then."

Nandini chuckled and peeped out the door to see her grandfather and Prithvi snarling at each other again and Prakash egging on Prithvi.

She couldn't decide who looked cuter....

**********************

Nandini kept down the phone, and hurried to Prithvi's room. She knocked on the door, but on gaining no response she opened it slightly and peeked in. The room was empty. 

After the marathon games session with her grandfather and lots of growling and muttered insults, he had finally gone off to rest a while ago. She didn't want to disturb him, but this was the third time that Aruna aunty had called since they had left for the US. The first two times she had missed both of them, but this time thankfully Nandini had been able to talk to her. And she wanted to speak with Prithvi now. But where was he....

She looked around the house quickly but there was no sign of him. Ultimately, she was forced to tell aunty that he had probably gone outside for a walk and had handed the phone over to her mother while she continued to search for him. She asked Prakash, who was doing his homework at the table, but he hadn't seen Prithvi go outside. 

She came outside the house and looked around. It was very dark outside as it was close to 8 o'clock and she couldn't see anyone strolling outside in the square either. Had he gone to the backyard....but it was quite dark there too, the only light came from a very dim bulb. She would have to muster a lot of courage to go look for him there, she thought and sighed.

"What are you doing outside? Trying to scare unfortunate people passing by?"

Taken aback, she spun around, and saw Prithvi emerging from the dark shadows and walking towards her.

"I wasn't trying to frighten anyone. But you scared me just now!" she said in an offended tone. 

"What were you so afraid of?" 

"Nothing!" she said, flushing with embarrassment.

"You were thinking about ghosts, weren't you?" he grinned.

"No, I was not! Well....maybe a little," she admitted in a small voice. "Grandpa says -"

"Not that rubbish again," he shuddered. 

"It's not just him, everyone says strange things happen here sometimes," Nandini said uncomfortably.

"Nandini, even if there are ghosts or anything else around right now, you don't have to be afraid at all," he said solemnly, sounding so reassuring that she felt her fear ebb slightly.

 "I don't?" Nandini asked uncertainly, feeling oddly warm and shy. Was he actually going to tell her that she didn't have to worry about anything because he was there....

"They'll take one look at you and never come back to Shamli again," he said kindly.

"What do you mean!" she asked indignantly. 

"Forget it. Go inside and bring the keys of Ayodhya."

"Ayodhya's keys?" she asked, puzzled. "Why do you need it?"

"I saw some movement inside when I was in my room. Someone must have broken into the house," he said casually. 

"What?" she cried out. 

"Don't raise your voice," he said calmly, a mild warning in his tone.  "There is no need to frighten your family. I can take care of this. Just get me the keys." 

"But how did they get in? The front door is still locked." 

"Through the backdoor. The fellow has locked the backdoor from inside or I wouldn't have needed the keys at all. I've locked it from the outside now. Whoever is inside will remain there till I've dealt with him."

Terrified, Nandini started to feverishly think of all the option they had. A thief had entered Ayodhya....nothing like this had happened before now....what would they do.... Prithvi was still recovering, and what if the man inside had some weapons, she imagined fearfully. Her grandfather was too old to deal with this and her mother and brother were as powerless as she was. 

"We should call someone," she said desperately. "You shouldn't go inside alone. I'll inform our neighbours and we'll call the police too."

"No stranger – neighbour or police - is going to enter my house," he said coolly. "The one inside is going to pay for it anyways."

Nandini looked him in despair. Why did he have to be so stubborn all the time....

 "Prithvi, please don't -" 

"Are you going to get the keys or should I -" he asked irately.

Nandini sighed. "I'll go and get it," she gave in, defeated. He had made up his mind that he was going to go in alone, and she knew from experience that nothing would stop him now.

"Wait. Get a torch too. If anyone asks, tell them I need something from my room and that the lights in the living room aren't working."

She made her way back to the house and looked at her mother who had finished with her conversation with aunty and was now sitting with Prakash, making him do his homework. Sarojini would surely notice if they opened the house….

 "Ma, Prithvi needs something from his room. Do you know where the keys to Ayodhya are?"

"They are in your grandfather's room, in the cupboard. But wont it be difficult for him to climb the steps," she asked anxiously.

"I'm going with him, ma. I'll take care."

Nandini went into her grandfather's room and took the keys from the cupboard. Sarojini looked at her questioningly when she picked up the torch from the table, and she told her mother the reason Prithvi had given.

When she came out, Prithvi was already waiting at the doors of Ayodhya, looking extremely impatient. She went through the gate and joined him on the steps. 

"How long does it take to find some keys and a torch," he hissed and held his hand out for the keys.

"I'm sorry," Nandini said in a whisper.

Something in her voice and face caused the irritation in his face to fade a little. 

"Your family will be all right. I promise they won't even know something has happened," he said quietly.

Nandini managed to smile and nodded.

"Now give me the keys and the torch and go back inside."

"I'm coming with you," she said softly.

"No, you are not. You're going back home."

"If you don't let me come, I'll go inside alone," Nandini said firmly.

"That should be fun to watch," he said sarcastically.

"I will not let you go inside alone," she said angrily. "And if you don't listen to me, I'll make a commotion about the thief."

"Keep your voice down," Prithvi snapped furiously. ""All right, you can come inside. The rats in the drawing room will be glad to see you."

"You can't scare me with that," she said coolly. "Sumer uncle had told me there were no rats in your house, remember?" 

"Very well. Believe him, don't believe me. But don't blame me when they come to eat your feet in the dark."

"Don't say that," Nandini wailed. "Because I'm coming with you, no matter what."

In the short pause that followed, she could have sworn he was grinding his teeth in anger. 

"Fine," he said finally through clenched teeth. "But stay behind me and don't come in my way." 

And he turned the lock.

***********************