PIHA'S POV:
[Two days later] 6th June

I run my fingers over the wooden bed covered with a red mattress as everything in this room reminds me of Roman.

My excited gaze falls on my man, my love, my Roman as he sighs deeply and his back hits the bed, "yay! You're finally in your room."

He laughs and runs his fingers through his hair, "what are you being excited for?"

I glare at him as he passes me a sly smile, "can I not even be happy now? You have finally returned to your room—and now you can talk to me, Roman"

"That does make sense, my heart. But I am so freaking tired, we had back-to-back sessions lined up. These college students are so annoying!" He complains, "I wish you were here, heart. We would cuddle and all my frustration would run away within a second."

I gape at him and my cheeks heat on their accord, "Roman!"

He chuckles and then looks at me sternly than ever, "don't worry. We will, once you come here—to PGI Chandigarh, for your PG, I'll make sure I'm posted here. We'll live together."

He has broken his promises, but I can't. I will make him proud, I will become the best surgeon in the world—so he can be happy.

"Are you my roommate?" I hear a voice and my eyes meet her black ones.

I put on an appealing smile as I turn to her. She looks like those model—with her tall height and hourglass figure. The straight leg jeans alongside the white crop top enhances her curves beautifully and before she thinks of me as an Idiot, I say, "y-yeah. I'm Piha Deshmukh. What's your name?"

She chuckles and I freeze in my spot. Is she going to be like my ex-college mates—embarrassing me and making fun of me?

"Why so formal ha? We're going to be roommates for the next 3 years, kinda excites me because we had single seater rooms in MAMC and now I finally have someone as my companion." She holds her hand out for a high-five—which I awkwardly return.

She continues, "so, firstly, I need to ask you—is it okay if I take the right side of the room as I've already placed my luggage and books there. If you want to take that side, I don't mind shifting it here. So if you have a problem just let me know."

Is it normal people of my age to be so selfless. I mean, she's so kind and friendly unlike my previous roommate who used mock me at every reason possible.

I quickly shake my head as I tell her, "no, no, that won't be a problem."

Flashing me a smile, she taps her forehead, "oh god, how could I forget to tell you my name. I'm Khushi Mehra Rai. You can call me Khush, Khushi, Ushi whatever you wish too—"

Even before she can complete, I break into fits of laughter, "do-do you kn-know what Ushi means—a pillow."

I wipe the tear from the corner of my eye and finally compose myself. Oh no, I must be sounding like a clown.

A chuckle escapes her mouth, "that was so lame, Piha!"

"Oh okay, I am sorry. Are you not from Maharashtra Khushi?" I ask given that she doesn't understand marathi.

Shaking her head, she says, "no ya, I'm from Rajasthan. Jaipur to be specific. Where are you from?"

My eyes go wide at her, "are you really from Jaipur?! It has always been on my travel list." I quickly tell her, "and yeah, I'm from Pune. Maharashtra."

She nods to that and says, "Pune is really beautiful! It must be nice to live there right? As in it topped the most livable places in India—"

Her statement is broken by the ringtone of her very own phone and she presses the lock option—making the sound disappear.

"I'm sorry, Piha. We'll talk later, this annoying ass husband of mine is calling me and maybe I shouldn't make him wait for long. So...?"

"Yeah, no problem, Khushi. Enjoy." I chuckle.

She shuts the door as she leaves and I quickly climb up the ladders to settle on the top of the bunk bed.

Taking my jacket off, I finally lay down opening Whatsapp, and his chat. I attach a few photos of the room—I clicked few minutes ago and type,

You : the left side table and cupboard are mine, and the right side is hers'.

You : Ansh, you know, she seems so kind and nice. I have a feeling that we will be friends soon.

You : How does the room look? It's nice right? I'll decorate it a little once I get time.

You : they have given us the schedule too, Ansh, and it looks very hectic ya. As in OPD and rounds, etc for almost 14-15 hours a day. But I shall manage, don't worry about me.

You : Also, we have orientation today, at around 5 in the evening, it feels as if I'm back to my first year of AIIMS. It is kinda exciting.

You : Okay, enough of me talking. What are you doing? I mean of course you're having mat practices right now, but once you come out, what are you going to do?

I quickly look at the wall clock as it displays 4:00.

As you know, the orientation starts at five and given that, maybe I should start getting ready. I'll get a chance to look around—the place Roman has studied.

And Raghvansh too.

____________________

I clutch onto my bag as I look around. The hallway is not very crowded but the muscular guys and glaring eyes of the girls make me a bit uncomfortable.

Staring into my phone, I ignore the intimidating people around me,

Ansh : Have you reached your classroom, Venus?

I quickly reply to him,

You : No ya Ansh. I'm in the hallway. As in finding the lecture room.

Ansh : In which room do you have your orientation, and also, you like the college right? It's beautiful.

My gaze roams around as I soak in the surrounding. A walkway alongside which the doors to the classrooms lie. It is surrounded by lush green coconut trees—giving it quite a homely feel. I look at Khushi—who walks beside me and continues using her phone.

You : Yes, Ansh. It is really beautiful and it's classroom 4D.

I recive a quick reply,

Ansh : 4D?? We used to have our Plastic surgery lectures there. You'll like it.

As I'm about to type a reply, I feel something bang into me and including my phone, everything in my hand drops to the floor.

Expecting the guy or girl to pick up my stuff, I bend down for formality. Instead of saying sorry the person yells, "get out of my way, crazy bitch."

My eyes widen at his words as I quickly pick up my textbook and look at the light green-eyed man who hovers almost a foot above and glares at me.

I instantly move to the side given to his eyes scream 'do not mess with me'. He looks even scarier that Ansh and the last thing I want to do is go near him.

He picks up pace as he runs in the opposite direction and I hear a worried voice, "Piha, are you okay?"

I turn to her and nod, "yes, I'm okay, Khushi. Don't worry about me."

She spins her neck and looks at me once again, "you should've yelled at him. It was his mistake, wasn't it? How dare he yell at you?"

I shake my head and tell her at with she scoffs, "not like we're going to meet him again, it's alright."

The 4B classroom finally comes into my sight and I drag her in as my eyes roam around the class which is not so filled given the moment.

"Khushi, what's your seat number?" I ask the girl who scans her phone.

"Yeah, I'm just looking for—found it." She places her phone in her pocket, "seat 27."

A frown appears on my face as I say, "then we might not be able to sit together Khushi, mine is seat 12."

"I don't even know anyone here, how can I possibly sit with someone else? Ugh, whatever. We'll meet after the orientation okay? Outside the class. Don't get lost."

I glare, "Khushi! I am not a kid."

She chuckles and mutters a 'you are' as she bids a bye and sits in the middle of the 4th row.

I quickly look for my seat and spot it in the right end of the second corner. Climbing the few stairs, I look place my bag next to the seat that happens to be the last second one.

Taking a seat, I open my phone which is flooded with Raghvansh's text.

Ansh : You there Venus?

Ansh : Hello?

Ansh : Venus.

Ansh : Pihu.

Ansh : Piha.

Ansh : Are you busy? Why have you disappeared all of sudden?

Ansh : I'll assume your orientation has started, and we shall walk later. I'll directly call you after dinner then, given that I have an interview and shoot back to back and phones aren't allowed on the set :'(

Ansh : Enjoy your first day of Post Graduation and keep texting me whenever you're free, okay?

Ansh : I'll buzz off now.

I could've answered him before—all because of the idiot guy who dashed into me. Not talking another minute, I text,

You : Sorry Ansh for not replying before. This guy dashed into me while he was running, it wasn't even my fault. And he told me to get out of his way.

I do not tell him the crazy bitch part as he might become furious and all, instead I just keep it to myself.

I feel a figure settle on the seat at the right—beside me, but I do not care to look at her or him. Typing another message, I send hit,

You : Okay Ansh, I'll go now. The professor or Dean or whoever is conducting it may enter the hall soon. So yes, all the best for your interview and shoot. We'll talk at night!

I cautiously reply as he hates the word 'bye' and slide the phone in my pocket.

I subtly look at the person beside who happens to be a guy and his face is not very visible as he turns to the seat behind his and talks to somebody.

Shrugging it off, I see a few officials alongside the Dean—enter the room and she takes a seat on one of the chairs that face the students.

They then take another 15 minutes to settle down and a muscular tall man from the board of directors comes up to where the microphone stands and greets everyone, "good morning dear students! A very warm welcome to the orientation of 1st year Post Graduation programme. Today, we would like to introduce to you our faculty members, our Dean and all those those who selflessly work for the betterment of this institute. I request you all to co-ordinate and respect the officials, not to forget, your own batchmates too. PGI Chandigarh is India's leading Universities in terms of Medical Post Graduation, and we take the oath to maintain this for our students, ex-students or all those of the future. We hope you cherish these three years and become a better version of yourselves."

"Before we begin this programme, we request you all to switch off your phones and once over, please do not crowd in the corridors."

I look around at the rows filled with students—half of them using their phones, remaining of them either chatting or eating. It feels as if I'm back to my school days.

But why do we even have to know the board of directors or the Dean? Can't we just take rest for the day? I could've called Ansh instead, and now I cannot even do so—given that he must be busy with the interview.

Ugh. What do I do for another half and hour until this gets over?

My gaze lands on the paper that travels from my right side. I snap my head in his direction as he places his intertwined fingers below his chin—pretending to pay attention to the timepass going on ahead. It is not difficult for one to guess that he has passed the piece of paper to me.

I look at the paper which displays,

What's your name?

Shall I answer to that? I mean, it's quite boring here and it would be rude of me to not react. Plus, he might not be creepy given that he's a doctor and also, he looks kind of humble.

I grab the Pentel mechanical pencil from my bag and and write—passing it back to him,

Piha. What's your name?

It makes me realise how untidy my handwriting has become in the past year, it is barely readable.

His neat writing comes into my view almost instantly as I read,

Quadir Bhatt.

How is that even pronounced? Like how we call Qatar as Katar? So is his name pronounced as Kadir?

And most importantly, why does that sound so familiar? Do I know him? I haven't really know many people in my college during Under graduation and he is certainly not from my high school. Ignoring the thought, I ask,

How is that supposed to be said? Kadir?

He takes the paper in his hand and by now the the class becomes noisy enough for the speaker to not be heard.

I feel the Qadir guy's gaze upon me as he groans, "why is writing so annoying?!"

Turning my head in his direction, I widen my eyes and he mirrors my reaction. He can't be right?

Who are you kidding, Piha? It's him. Just look into his eyes—the colour as that day. The same colour as yours.

"The singer guy?" My breath hitches as I blink to reconfirm the scene. Yes, it is him.

The one who was singing at Phonix lmall that day. And to my surprise, he isn't a singer—professionally, but a doctor.

I do feel a little awkward given that he has seen me cry. Not you forget—he has wiped your tears too, Piha.

That is okay, anybody would do that.

Also, he has a really nice and soothing voice, and he seems like a good person too—if I look at our last meet.

"I saw you in Pune that day! You remember?" he says, his voice as sweet as the last time.

I nod at him as he grins and I pass him a smile, "I thought you were a professional singer, I mean—your voice is so melodious and notes are perfect."

A light pink shade appears on his cheeks and he scratches the back of his neck, "it is not that great. I usually play guitar, but that day Haider wasn't with me—so I decided to just sing, without music."

"You play guitar too?" I say as he takes me by surprise. Here I am—talentless, and people like him are good at every goddamn thing.

He nods and asks, "are you from Pune, Piha?"

I mutter a 'yes', "are you not?"

Shaking his head, he leans again the back of the chair, "No no, I'm from Kashmir. Gulmarg to be specific."

Wait? He's from Jammu and Kashmir?? I have always felt curious about the place. There is so much terrorism l in the state since the time of Independence. It is difficult to predict—why people still live there.

"Why do you live in Kashmir, Quadir? It must be scary right—the fights between India and Pakistan for Jammu and Kashmir? Haven't you ever thought of shifting to Mumbai or Delhi or any other place?" Questions leave my mouth and make me worry if I am being very annoying and noisy.

A small smile plays on his lips as he says, "Piha, would you ever shift from Pune and live somewhere else. No right? Because it's your home, you belong there. Even if you go out of town or for college to another city, the feeling of restlessness eats you up. The same way, I belong to Kashmir. Though there is a lot of terrorism in the stage—the army has made it better for us to live our lives in a peaceful manner. Despite of the thousand problems—I can't help but love the city and the state. Because it is where I have been brought up, it is where I have made so many memories. Why would I leave my own land, my motherland? Why would I learn another language, take up another culture and transform my life into something completely different when I love mine? It my city that makes me me. However difficult the situation is—at the end of the day it's my home."

He is not just talented—but sensible too. Home. That sounds comforting. I do feel bad and kind of guilty about asking him the same.

"That sounds so nice. You must be loving your hometown very much, right?"

Grinning, he says, "yup. It's so beautiful and warm yet cold. Have you visited Jammu or Kashmir before?"

I nod in excitement as I recall our little vacation when I was 15, "yes Quadir. I guess I was in 10th class back then, and you know, it was so beautiful. Especially Dal Lake and the houseboats! That is best tour I've ever been on. Though I haven't visited Gulmarg as yet."

He chuckled lightly, "you should then. Our ropeway is very popular, not to forget the skiing there "

Then winking playfully, he adds, "and yes, despite of not being popular—the horse rides are also very enjoyable. Thought I've feel off it a few times."

A soft laugh escapes my mouth, "that sounds exciting and I hope you are okay."

He continues to tell me about his hometown for another 10-15 minutes and then notifies me about Srinagar followed by Pahalgam—which are cities in Jammu and Kashmir.

To conclude—he talks too much, just like I do. But his talks are not boring like mine plus the man seems to have an interesting personality. He manages to sound everything so adventurous.

"We shall conclude with today's lecture. Wishing you all the best of luck. Thank you." The dean/professor says and everyone raises from their seats, then hurrying out of the classroom.

I look around in search of Khushi but she is nowhere to be seen. I reckon that she must be somewhere at the back but she has already exited the class thinking I did so too. My gaze turns to Quadir who is talking on the phone.

"Yes, I'll be there in 5 minutes. Wait for me, okay?" he speaks before hanging up, then turning to me. "Do you have any friends that you are waiting for?"

I give him one unnecessary smile before informing him, "For the fact, I am. But I think she has already left thinking I went outside already. I know only one person here though—my roommate."

By the time I tell him, we are one of the only few ones who are left in the room. "Oh, do you want to join us for lunch? It is just me and my cousin, you can invite your roommate too. Even I don't know anyone else here."

"S-sure."

~√~√

Author's note*

Omg, I can't believe this, Piha's finally in her dream college!! Here schedule is going to be pretty hectic now on given that she's in the post graduation years.

Maybe Ansh and Venus will barely get time to talk to each other.

And with the new guy in the picture, do you think it's going to make a difference?

Do let me know what you think about Quadir and Khushi—the new characters ;-)

Do vote and take care!