Aditya awoke to the sound of crying. He opened his eyes and could see only darkness.

"It's most likely midnight who the heck could be crying?" Aditya thought to himself, annoyed.

He rolled over on the couch and turned to his side where a few inches below him Nera was sleeping. Or it seems, where Nera was crying. She was on her stomach crying intensely into the pillow Ben had provided. Aditya widened his eyes in surprise and stared at Nera for a short while, not quite knowing what to do. You see, he was never quite good at comforting people when they cried, since he rarely ever saw his dad cry. Except for when his mother passed away. But, Aditya, finally, decided to do something and figure out what happened to Nera and why she was crying.

Aditya placed his injured hand on Nera's back and whispered, "Is something the matter, Nera?"

Nera immediately turned around and faced Aditya. She didn't know that someone had actually heard her crying.

Nera quickly cleared her tears away and said, "Everything's fine. What-what're you doing up this late?"

Aditya furrowed his eyebrows, confused at Nera's answer and said, "I-I heard you crying. That's why I woke up."

Nera acted confused, and looked around as if he were talking to someone else. "M-Me crying? What? I don't cry." Aditya, finally, realised what Nera was doing. She was trying to hide her tears from him. Nera was trying to hide her pain and hurt from him. By acting. By quickly wiping her tears away. Aditya's heart began to ache for her.

"Why're you lying to me, Nera?" Aditya asked, tears starting to well up in his own eyes.

"I'm not lying. Why would I lie to you?" Nera lied once again with no hesitation, as she he had done her whole life . Aditya looked away from Nera, miserably. He let a singular tear roll down his cheek and, then, wiped it away.

Then, Aditya slid down, off the couch, and onto the ground, right beside Nera. He swallowed and blinked rapidly. Finally, he stared into Nera's golden eyes as he had done many times before. Nera tensed up slightly, when she saw how intensely he was staring at her. So she looked away but Aditya's gaze followed her everywhere. Nera tried to make him drop this gaze, but he didn't. He never dropped his gaze from her.

Until finally Nera said, "Stop looking at me like that, Aditya." Aditya didn't stop and instead inched closer to her.

"How else am I supposed to look at you?"

Nera swallowed, not knowing how to answer his question. She looked down at her muddy dress and began playing with her fingers. Aditya swallowed as well and finally did drop his gaze. He stared at her hands and finally wrapped his injured arm around her. As his palm touched her back, both Nera and Aditya felt a tingling sensation run through their bodies. Nera wanted to move away from Aditya, but at the same time she liked the feeling he brought her. It was a feeling of relief and comfort she hadn't felt with anyone else. Sure, Alani and Jaddua loved and cared for her, but it was nothing like what Aditya gave her.

"Hey, Nera. You know you don't have to hide anything from me, right?" Nera turned to Aditya and stared at him for a long moment.

The next thing Aditya knew, Nera was hugging him tightly as if she didn't want to let go. Her face was smushed into his chest and she was crying her heart out. At first, Aditya was surprised and sat there, his hands open straight. But, finally, he wrapped them around her and relaxed a bit. He rested his head on hers and rubbed his palms in circles on her back.

"Shh. Shh. It's okay, Nera. It's okay." Aditya said, trying his best to comfort her even though he had no experience. Nera continued to cry into his chest, soaking up his shirt. Aditya didn't argue and allowed her to finish letting her feelings out. Finally, Nera pulled away from Aditya, her eyes puffy and red.

"I'm so sorry, I made your shirt wet."

Aditya cupped Nera's face into his hands, and said,"There's no need to apologise for something so small. It doesn't bother me in any way possible." Nera swallowed and smiled at Aditya kindly. Aditya smiled right back at Nera.

They smiled at each other for a while, until slowly Nera's smile began to droop into a frown.

"What's the matter?" Aditya asked worriedly as he continued to hold her face in his hands. Nera bit her lip and looked away from Aditya.

"Does this have anything to do with why you were crying?" Aditya asked as he pulled Nera's shoulder so she would look at him. Nera resisted and continued to not look at Aditya.

"Nera, please answer me." Tears began welling up in his eyes again and Aditya was sure he was going to break down soon. Nera noticed the change in Aditya's voice and finally answered him.

"It's about this dream I had."

"A-A dream? What happened in the dream?" Aditya asked as he kept trying to get Nera to face him. And finally Nera did. She turned around and stared deeply into his caramel-brown eyes. He stared back into her golden eyes.

"In my dream, you-you were shot."

Nera immediately burst into tears and she huddled into a sort of ball. Aditya was left speechless. He didn't know what to do or think. He didn't know what to say nor how to say it. But, Aditya came back to his senses and reminded himself how improbable the chances of a dream coming true were. Once Aditya got that thought into his mind, he turned to Nera and hugged her round, ball-shaped body.

"That'll probably never happen. First of all, the chances of a dream coming true is low. Very low. And second, I've got you to protect me. You're the strongest person I know." Aditya had built Nera's pride back up and slowly, she unravelled herself from her little cocoon and looked at him, curiously.

"Do you really think so?" She asked.

"Think so? I know so!" Aditya exclaimed, smiling widely. Nera smiled to herself, happily.

"Now, it's time to go back to sleep." Aditya said, glad that he had cleared up all her tension and built her pride back up.

Nera rolled her eyes, acting like her old self, again, and complained. "But I'm not sleepy!" "I don't care if you're sleepy or not, it's late and we have a long day tomorrow." Aditya said, strictly, as if he were her father. Nera leaned her body against Aditya's and looked up at him, innocently.

"Can you at least tell me a story? Pwease?" Nera asked, sweetly. Aditya rolled his eyes, obnoxiously but finally gave in.

"Fine. But only one story."

Nera immediately moved off of Aditya and straightened her back, ready for the story. Aditya swallowed and thought of a story to tell. Then he said,

"It won't be that good of a story but I'm sure you'll enjoy it a little bit." He paused, swallowed and finally began his story.

"There once was a princess. She lived in a huge castle. One day she went to her castle's garden and met a boy who was stuck in a bush. She pulled him out and they became friends. The two grew older and soon enough they got married. They had a bunch of children who then grew older and got married. They stayed with each other and one day when they were both a hundred years old, they died. The End."

Nera hated, absolutely hated, the story Aditya had just told.

"What kind of story is that?"

"What? You didn't like it?" Aditya asked, surprised by Nera's rude response to his story.

"It was horrendous. Who would tell me such a weird, romantic story?"

Aditya opened his mouth wide and said, "Romantic stories are the best!"

Nera rolled her eyes and said, "Yeah whatever. I'll tell you a real story, alright?"

"Go ahead," Aditya responded, bitterly.

"I will." Nera said, immediately. She took a deep breath in and began.

"There once was an orphan boy. He had lived in the same orphanage his whole life. No one had ever come to adopt him which made him very sad . All he ever wanted in life was to be taken to a home and be loved and cared for. But it never happened. So he spent his whole life reading and trying to be the best him he could be. One day, while walking to the library, he met this homeless man. The man began blabbering what most people would call, "nonsense," but the orphan boy understood it as a story. The man spoke of a place known as Utopia . It was magnificent. There the people didn't suffer. The people of Utopia were able to choose their leader. The leader actually helped his people by creating new learning centres and medical facilities. The leader, he or she, actually helped the people who were living on the streets by creating homeless shelters and providing them with the proper care. The leader helped businesses which weren't doing so great by lending them money. The leader also arrested people who were doing wrongs no matter if they were rich or poor. Bribery didn't exist in Utopia. The man who was talking to the orphan boy, then handed him a map of sorts and left. The orphan boy opened it and tried to understand it but it had the name of places which he'd never heard of. He slowly got older but he kept trying to understand the map. The orphan boy took over the orphanage he had previously lived at, but he changed it up. He made it an all girls orphanage and he made it a better place to live. He shared his love for books with all of his students and gave them a better education by hiring better employees. But the orphan boy, who was now a man, never gave up on the Wonderland map and finally, one day, solved it. He left his orphanage in charge of two of his employees and set off to find Wonderland. And he did. The orphan man had found Wonderland and he never returned back home. He didn't need to since Utopia became his home."

Nera finished her story and turned to Aditya who was amazed.

"That-That was an awesome story. I-I loved it. I agree it is way better than my story. By a landslide."

Nera smiled proudly and said, "I know it's better than your story 'cause it's true."

Aditya furrowed his eyebrows. "What'd you mean?"

Nera smirked at Aditya and responded. "I mean it's a true story because my ex-headmaster, Albert, went to Utopia. He told me this whole story, except for the end part since that bit is about how he doesn't come back to Wasa from Utopia."

"Really? So Utopia exists?" Aditya asked, still a bit confused.

"Of course it exists! As a matter of fact, I'm gonna go there one day." Nera answered, confidently.

"Really? Do you-Do you think you can take me with you?" Aditya asked, nervously, his eyes hopeful.

Nera was a bit surprised by Aditya's question, but answered almost immediately. "Sure you can come with me. As long as you're ready for a long, painful ride."

"I am! I'm ready for anything!" Aditya said, eagerly.

"Alright, alright, chill. First we gotta go to sleep, buddy." Nera said.

"Okay!" Aditya hopped onto the couch and looked down at Nera, smiling widely.

Nera chuckled to herself and laid down as well. But before she could go to sleep, Aditya mumbled something to her. "I hope I get to see Utopia soon."

Nera smiled to herself and whispered. "Me too, Aditya. Me too."