A/N: Happy birthday to my bestest friend in the world, Thanvi🎉🎊. This chapter is dedicated to her, the loveliest creation of God. Many many happy returns of the day Thanvi.

       So, I'm continuing from Amaira's POV again. She doesn't remember what happened last night. And..........that's the end of my note lol. Dive into the chapter :)

         Next morning when I wake up, there was Rahul beside me!!!!!!

          I scream out loud, waking up Rahul in the process. He gets up, rubs his eyes, sees me shouting like I had just met the devil. Then I see that there was a huge gap between us and he was sleeping at the edge of the bed. And no surprise ladies and gentleman, Rahul falls from the bed.

         He gets up muttering an 'Ouch' and asks,"Why do you have to shout like that? I almost thought you again had........."

       He stops with a sudden realization on his face.

       I ask him,"What did I have?" 

       Did I have another nightmare and he knew all about it? No, no chance, I couldn't even tell my mother about everything. If he asks, I'll just tell that all this rainy and no-power atmosphere created a ghost dream, the reason of my shouting.

      He says,"Ummm...nothing. Right, I completely forgot to inform my dad about me staying at your place. Can you give me your phone? I'll call my dad and tell him not to worry."

     I give him my phone and say,"Please don't tell that you stayed over at a girl's place. It would be awkward for both of us. By the way, what happened to your phone? Is it's battery down? Do you want to charge it? What's your phone? There's a plug point for oppo, nokia, and iphone phones at our home. Oppo's is at....."

      He covers my mouth with his hand and says,"There you go being cute again."

     That shuts me up, leaving me blushing like a pomegranate. 'Does a pomegranate look like it blushes?', my conscience mocks me. I shut it with an imaginary zipper and give Rahul my phone. He takes it and goes to the balcony. He finishes the conversation with a few 'yes dad's and a few 'no dad's and comes into my room. 

      He hands me my phone and says,"Thanks." I just nod.

     We both stand there awkwardly, me intertwining and releasing my hands, Rahul rubbing his nape. Finally we both start at the same time.

     "You....."

     "You....."

     We both laugh and I say, "Go first"

     He replies,"You can go and handle your issues. I'll go back home."

     I ask,"How are you going home? Did you book a taxi?"

    He replies,"No, I do a morning run daily. The distance can be easily covered by me", with a smile.

    I say,"Ohh." We both walk to the front door and stand for a few minutes, me looking at anything except him. I still couldn't gather why he slept beside. I berate my brain for almost what feels like an hour before he speaks.

    "So.....see you at school then", he says with a tight-lipped smile. I give him a nod and close the door. I stand against the door, breathing rapidly. Phew! The situation almost felt like a one night stand. And I wipe the imaginary sweat off my forehead and go ahead to bath. 

    While closing the window of my room, I accidentally see Rahul starting to run. He might have done his warmup before the running. I began to admire the way he ran. You may say, "Stupid Amaira! People admire the way their muscles flex, not the way people look like when they run. Mostly they will be sweaty bodies, with millions of germs and trillions of bad smell." But I am weird that way. It would have been a great caption, added with a 'rofl' or 'lmao' or 'roflmao'. Laughing to myself, I bath and reach school after feeding Freddy and having my breakfast.

(A/N: Smell can't be measured in numbers, I know. It just sorta came out lol.)

     First two periods went away in a blur. Finally, it was break time. I feel hungry today as I just had some  bread for breakfast. I really should ask my mom to stay with me for at least three to four days a week. It had been almost two days since I saw her and so much has happened. And my cooking skills aren't great, I just have to adjust with bread and eggs every morning if I ate at home. And there's this weird habit which I recently developed, reasons unknown, but I can't talk to my family as freely as before. I just shut up and do my work. Even when I call, it gets awkward after a few minutes of 'how are you?', 'how was school?' and 'how is grandma?' 

     Anyways, I go to the canteen and order a pav-bhaji. It is one my most favorite snacks of all time. 

     (A/N: Below is what a pav-bhaji looks like. I simply love it)

     While I was eating the second piece, I heard the chair scraping and I looked up from my plate with annoyance written all over my face and the piece hanging in the middle. 

     "Am I not welcome here?", Rahul asks with a smile on his face. 

     I reply,"Nothing like that, I just hate the sound of metal chair scraping against the floor. They should either change the chairs to plastic or people should learn to move chairs without making that sound."  

     He chuckles and says,"I'll keep that in mind next time. By the way, do you like pav-bhaji?"

     I say,"Yeah, that's one of the finest creations of mankind. Why are you asking? Don't you like that?"

    He replies,"Nothing like that. Just wanted to know more about you."

   I say,"Hmm", with my mouth full of the bun and curry.

   He asks,"Do you know that the word 'Hmm' is a conversation ender?", by air quoting the word 'Hmm'.

    I say,"Do you know that I usually don't talk to people while eating. You've got to enjoy the feel of food while eating. The crispiness, the softness, the tastefulness, the appetizing, the lovely, the wonderful, the pleasant, the delicious, the appealing, the enchanting, the charming, the savoriness, the sweetness and all others adjectives out there were all invented for food."

    Rahul says,"Do you know that there are also adjectives such as bitter, salty and disgusting? That's my opinion about this food."

    Saying so, he scrapes the chair again and storms off. What's up with him? I'll just go and find him after I finish my food. First, lemme finish this.

    The next class was English. Ms Chopra asked us our assignments and we handed them to her. And to no one's amaze, Aarav didn't do the assignment.

    His words were,"Oh mam! I have just done my homework this morning. But then my cousin thought it was a sweet, due to my very sweet and handsome handwriting, and ate it. I had to go to the hospital because of this. I still have the bill, I can show it."

   To which Ms Chopra replied,"I take it you have been watching too many English movies?"

   And he winked at her. Like, he literally winked at her. You know wink? The process where you close your one eye, keeping open the other. He had done it. Oh My God! That guy really had guts. Ms Chopra couldn't do anything except glaring at him and hitting her book on the table, shouting,"SILENCE!"

   She ordered the class to do their own works silently while she graded our assignments. When it was almost the end of the class, she paired us up. Rahul was paired with Sadhvi because they both had contrast opinions and could work out very well. Ms Chopra's words, not mine.

   And she paired up the entire class except me and..................Aarav. But he didn't do the work, so there's no chance I would work with him. Deep down, I was disappointed. Anyways, was I supposed to do it on my own? It wouldn't be much burden, but I don't like sticking out. Maybe I didn't give her my work. I search my bag totally. Once I was assured that I had indeed submitted mine, I let out a sigh of relief. But, why didn't Ms Chopra pair me up? Was it because my work was too astonishing and she felt she had to take some tips from me? No, I was just being a narcissist. 

    After the bell rings, Ms Chopra says,"You guys discuss with your partner about the work, after I assign the books to you."

    Someone asks,"Ma'am can we choose our books at least this time?"

   Ms Chopra replies,"If I leave it to you, you'll definitely make that work as a monkeys circus." 

   To which Aarav adds,"There's nothing wrong with a monkeys circus ma'am. They are our long lost descendants, you know?"

   Ms Chopra loses her temper again and shouts,"Aarav, to my cabin. NOW!"

   I think to ask her about me before she leaves, but decide otherwise. I'll just go to her cabin and ask her there. And I can also maybe talk to Aarav there. Hehehehehehe.

   After the class disperses, I swing my bag over my shoulder and start to leave for Ms Chopra's cabin. 

    But Rahul stops me and asks,"Why didn't you get a partner?"

    I reply,"So you noticed, huh? Thought you wouldn't give a damn about me, after all that fiasco in the canteen."

    He rubs his nape and says,"Sorry for that. I just had a person in my life who used to love it the most, just like you."

    Shit! Did one of his family member love it? Or his first love? And they were no longer in his life, and I might have reminded him about them. 

   Scolding myself internally, I say,"Sorry about that, I didn't know."

   He says,"No, no, no, I just overreacted. How about I treat you to a meal as my apology?"

   I reply,"You don't need to do that. And, I am a bit busy right now. Can we talk later?"

   He says,"Yeah, go and do your work", with a vague expression in his eyes.

   I nod and go to Ms Chopra's cabin.  

   When I reach there, I hear Ms Chopra shouting at Aarav.

    "............didn't know the situation your mom is in, I wouldn't bother to correct you Aarav. But both you and him are starting to get on my nerves. Though he stays calm in my class, I've heard other teachers complain about him. And no more excuses Aarav. I am saying it for one last time. If you both ever again create any struggles in this school, you both are going to be detained to the last class again and again until you learn to behave properly."

   She might have stopped for a breath. How could she say all of that? Till now, I thought I was a great monologue master, but she beats me. After my internal ramble, I knock her door twice, gently, afraid of her wrath.

   "Come in", she shouts.

   I go in meekly, afraid of making any sound and stand before her. Seeing me, she cracks a smile.

   "What do you want Amaira?", she asks.

   I reply,"Ma'am the thing is you haven't assigned a partner to me. So, I came to ask if......."

   She cuts in the middle and says,"Yeah, good thing you reminded me. I forgot to say it in the class. I read it and you amazed me Amaira. Even though it's just a children book, you implicated it with the real life situations and I liked it very much. And, you are going to partner with Aarav. You just have to guide him, he writes the essay on his own. And don't worry, your marks will not be affected by his sloppiness."

   As she was saying the last lines, I swear my jaw could have hit the ground. What world's logic is this? I write a good essay and she asks me to guide a guy, that too a guy like Aarav. Will he even listen to me? Or most probably he might ask me to write that essay and go his own way. Me being me would do it for him.

   Just as I think of saying 'Okay Ma'am', she says,"And I will definitely know if Aarav hasn't done his work."

   We both nod our heads and come out, me saying a 'Thank you Ma'am'.

   Then Aarav turns to me and says,"Happy that you got a chance to work with me, eh? And don't even dream of doing anything inappropriate to me."

   I scoff and say,"In your dreams." 

   I don't know why but narcissist people turn on the anger me. So, even if it's Aarav, I'll be angry.

   He then smirks and says,"I can read you darling."

   Just then, I don't know from where it came, a punch comes and lands on Aarav's face.

       SO ANOTHER BEAUTIFUL CHAPTER JUST FOR YOU BEAUTIFUL AND KIND GUYS. I PERSONALLY FIND NARCISSIST PEOPLE FUNNY. SO, HOW DID YOU LIKE THE CHAPTER? AND, WHOM DO YOU THINK AMAIRA ENDS UP WITH? AARAV OR RAHUL? COMMENT YOUR VIEWS. AND ADD WHAT MIGHT BE A GOOD SHIP NAME FOR THEM TOO. AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, DON'T FORGET TO VOTE, SHARE AND FOLLOW❤❤