A young goat outside wailed like a wee child descending from a home afflicted with penury; despite the monotonous and unpleasant sound that was rushing in through the open window, Mayank seemed to be rather unaffected. His eyes were greedily devouring the little tube resting on his right palm. A bit of its content was dealing with the fresh cuts on the left arm, which was concealed under his long sleeve.

He let out a long sigh. Although holding the container was not serving any visible purpose, he could feel a pleasant warmth locking him in a soft embrace. The mere thought of the fact that it had been held by Aanvik several days ago seemed to take advantage of his ingenuous senses, convincing them to believe that he was present before him, within him.

Mayank was dragged back to the physical world by the sudden traces of movement beside him. He turned his head to the right. The boy who was conquering the space blocked a yawn and checked him out with his sleepy gaze. Half a minute went by before he got up to sit.

"Hi," Fayzan said as he fought back yet another yawn. "What's up with the baby goat? Why is he crying?"

Mayank did not reply. He put his focus back into the container.

Fragments of the incident from the previous night began to assemble in Fayzan's mind. After a period of attempting to put the pieces of the puzzle in their proper place, he introduced his eyes to the sight outside the window. With the bright rays of the sun bursting in, the pictures soaked in rain inside his head appeared to be gathered from a long-lost nightmare.

"Are you mad at me?" asked the boy with his eyes on Mayank.

There was no response.

"Well, I am also mad at you."

The all-rounder maintained silence.

"What is it?" asked Fayzan as the tube caught his attention. He stretched an arm and grabbed the object. Mayank did not protest.

"Ointment," said the kid as he curiously examined it. "Did you hurt yourself?"

Mayank smirked.

"Where did you find it?"

"Aanvik." He offered a moment-long pause before carrying on, as if to deter the pleasant taste of his friend's name from abandoning his tongue. "Aanvik gave it to me."

Fayzan raised his eyebrows. "Where did he come from now?"

Mayank did not reply.

"Oh, got it. You brought it along. But the goat... What happened to the goat?"

"Why don't you go and check it out yourself? I am not in charge of your friends," replied Mayank bitterly as he claimed back the tube from his hand.

"Friends..." Fayzan muttered before letting out a sigh. "Don't you miss the people you left behind?"

"People? Humans? There's nothing that I hate more than humans."

"Aanvik Bhaiya is a human too."

Mayank raised an eyebrow. Aanvik? A human? Certainly he walks on his hind feet and produces comprehensible speech, but is he a human? "Aanvik is just Aanvik," he said a minute later. The flavor in his tone claimed he was not adequately satisfied with the answer his mind offered.

"Wow." Fayzan frowned. "So, you are not going back?"

"Not until I am ready to send your cousin, that worm, to hell."

The boy punched his thigh in frustration. "You have been singing the same song since forever. Worm worm worm worm worm! I will kill you, worm! I will kill all the worms! I will kill everyone!"

Mayank flung a nasty glare at him.

"What has Waseef Bhaiya done to you? What has he done to anyone?"

"I will not find peace until I take revenge. He is a thief."

"What did he steal from you?"

"My reason to live."

The boy shot an annoyed look. "You have said it earlier."

"Why do you ask, then?"

Fayzan's face went under his palm for a moment. "What's your reason to live?"

"Nothing."

A mild cry of exasperation from the kid followed. "You are such an idiot, Mayank! I will join the goat and start screaming at the top of my lungs now."

"Go ahead."

The boy groaned and flattened himself against the bed surface. "No, no, no, no, no! I want to go home!" He howled as he slapped the pillow in range. Mayank seemed to be unbothered.

Following a minute of whining, Fayzan got up to sit once again. "Why did you bring me along?" he asked with new-found patience. "What have I done to you?"

"You certainly aren't innocent. You are an offender, and your offense is grave. You don't deserve to be pardoned."

"Why?"

"Because you are not who you could be."

"What?"

"Never mind."

"I remind you of your baby brother, don't I?"

Mayank swallowed the lump that formed in his throat. He offered no reply.

"Why don't you go back to your brother if you miss him so much? I bet he misses you too," added the kid.

"Go back to him?"

"Yes."

"Go back?" Mayank muttered. "Go back?"

Fayzan sighed.

"No. You can't live. I won't let you live. The worm must watch you die."

The kid shook his head. "Fine then. Keep blabbering. Nobody cares," he said before hopping off the bed. The very next moment, following a thud, he found himself hugging the floor.

Fayzan turned around and got up with a brief cry. "My knee! It's all your fault! I fell down while chasing you last night. Now it's stinging!"

"I hope it breaks the next time."

The boy screeched.

Throwing another annoyed glance at Fayzan, the all-rounder shot the container in his hand toward him. It hit the boy squarely on the forehead. "Shut up and check if there's an abrasion or something," he said before abandoning the bed and walking out of the room.

Fayzan frowned as he picked up the object and looked out of the window. The goat was not crying anymore.

**********

Waseef sat still on the corner of the bed while softly rubbing his palms against each other, as if to supply his mind with a little heat to generate a few words suitable for the situation. Aanvik was sitting barely a couple of inches away from his friend, while Shranav keenly observed the two from the sofa kept at a distance. His sharp eyes seemed to be particularly interested in penetrating Waseef, who had always been an object of unpleasant mystery to him.

"Reet is way wiser than I expected him to be," said Waseef in a low voice. "He told you everything."

"I made him." Shranav interfered. He did not like the idea of watching his credit being snatched away.

Waseef offered him a quick glare in reply.

"You haven't answered my question yet," Aanvik said impatiently. "Why would you do something so ridiculous? Roy is over the moon!"

The criminal under interrogation sighed. "That's exactly what I wanted."

"What?"

"Let me explain."

The Indian captain pursed his lips. "What else do you think you are here for, boy?"

"Remember the day we pissed Roy off?"

"Vividly."

"Well, I won't deny that I got a little carried away. He was furious. It did not take long for me to figure out that sooner or later he would seek revenge. So—"

"So?"

"So I deliberately got myself into a mess before he could cause any harm to us, especially you. I didn't want you to suffer for something I did."

"What?" asked a perplexed Aanvik. "Are you crazy?"

"I gave him what he wanted: the pleasure of watching us in trouble. I was fined and shamed for my behavior, and you definitely did not look very happy about the incident. I just hope it will be sufficient to hold him back from coming after you."

"I know it sounds preposterous, but I wasn't really in a position to think of a better way," added Waseef. "I have already caused enough pain to people I care about."

"Do you even realize what an idiot you are?"

"Maybe. Or maybe not. My entire world is a broken mess. I am trying to fix one piece at a time, and I am too tired to consider its effect on another. I did what I felt was the right thing to do. I informed Reet beforehand because I didn't want to scare the poor kid."

Aanvik shook his head. "And you didn't even think of telling me once? Just once?"

"I am sure you wouldn't have let me do it then."

"We could have figured out another way!"

"It's alright. I don't regret what I did. I don't regret calling Roy off, either. He got what he deserved, and I want to believe you are out of trouble, at least for now."

Aanvik rested his forehead between his thumb and the adjacent finger. "How stupid you are, boy. It won't stop him from tormenting me in the future."

"He won't be doing anything horrendous in a while, I hope."

Shranav's eyes were cold, while his limbs were heavy with grim stillness. He was not enjoying the show.

"I'm sorry, Aanvik," said Waseef.

"For trying to save me? No way, gentleman. How dare you expect me to forgive you after you have committed a sin as heinous as this? Go find a mountain, sit under a waterfall, and repent for the rest of your life."

"Sounds fascinating."

Aanvik could not resist a grin. "Jokes aside, buddy, if you do anything like this ever again, I'll push you down from a cliff."

"Waseef." Shranav finally broke his silence. "I have a question."

"Yes?"

"What's Fayzan's full name?"

"Fayzan Ahmed."

"Isn't he your paternal uncle's son?"

"Yes." He took a moment to reply. "Why do you ask?"

"Then why don't you two have the same surname? Are you guys named after your mothers?"

"I am not sure how that's relevant, but we don't maintain this surname thing in Bangladesh. So, five members of the same family may have five different last names."

"That's weird."

Aanvik shot him a look of disapproval.

"We are used to it." Waseef shrugged before getting up from his seat. "So, I guess we are good now, Aanvik."

"I bet we are."

"Alright then. Goodnight. See you around," he said while heading toward the door.

"Goodnight. Be a good kid and don't do any mischief."

"Not until I find a way to put the blame on you." Waseef turned around for a second to offer a wink.

Aanvik smiled. "Best of luck with that."

Shranav spoke once again as Waseef vanished from the site. "Oh, he is gone? Thought you were going to invite him to stay over tonight. I could have slept in the hallway, you know."

"Go ahead. I'm sure there's enough space to accommodate an elephant."

"I am serious."

"I still don't understand what you have against him," said Aanvik as he slipped under the blanket. "C'mon, boy, he tried to save me by putting himself at risk. There aren't many people out there who would do that."

"That's exactly what makes this thing more complex. Seems like he is ready to kill you one day and kill for you the next."

"Your point?"

"I'm sure there's more to this story. He is holding something back. I have asked you before, and I'll ask again: beware of this guy. He is way more complicated than you realize. The only son of a filthy rich businessman—they are all alike."

"Waseef isn't just the only son of a filthy rich businessman anymore. He has his own identity now."

"You can't unspoil a spoiled egg."

"If you are done, please switch off the light. It wasn't nice of you to bring up Fayzan, but I'll lecture you on that tomorrow. I need to get some sleep now."

Shranav rolled his eyes. "Do consider dying in your sleep."

"You too, pothead. Switch off the light."

Darkness invaded the room in no time. Shranav picked up the captain's dearth of interest in carrying on the argument and walked toward the window. With sheer reluctance toward fighting against the cacophony inside his mind, he looked up at the starry vastness. After a period of time, he headed toward the bed and gently claimed a place beside Aanvik, who seemed to be lost in deep sleep. His eyes grew softer as he continued to observe his friend in the meager light.

Releasing a sigh, Shranav let out a murmur as he affectionately placed his palm on Aanvik's arm. "Too precious for this world. Aren't you?"