Dhun sat up and grabbed her clothes. She began to get dressed up. "How can you not remember?" She asked. "That was one of the reasons that I started liking you. Though it did not work, you did not hesitate in giving me your most priced possession. So in the nine years, whenever I thought back to you, I could only remember that moment, and your honest care and concern for me."

"I have no idea what you are talking about," Rithvik said. He was getting dressed too.

"I always feel bad that I did not return it to you." Dhun was going on ignoring him. "But with what was happening...in all that mess... It slipped my mind. I was not in the right state of my mind. Losing mom once was enough shock for me. But..." her voice went low, "The fact that I could do nothing for mom was even more..." She sat down on the bed again. "I could not save her." She wiped the traces of tears that came to her eyes.

"It's okay, Dhun," Rithvik was by her side. He touched her face, "It was an accident what could you have done?"

"How do you not remember? And Rithvik if this is a prank I am not going to forgive you."

"You stop pranking me. I seriously have no idea what you are talking about with the time turner and all."

"On my mother's funeral. You gave it to me. The time turner. Telling me to save my mom. You can forget little details. It's been ten years. But to not remember its existence at all?!!! You said you used to use it for every single thing before. You should remember it."

Rithvik raked his childhood memories, but it was of no use.

"Wait a minute," Dhun said, and she got up and went to her bag. She searched throughout the bag. "I always keep it with me. In case I misplaced it somewhere."

She took out the small pocket watch from her bag and came back to Rithvik Here you go. She placed it in his hands. Rithvik's eyes fell on the small pocket watch. And then, memories began to rush back to him.

Flashes of his childhood. When he used to use this time turner. And the games and pranks and cheating in the exam he used to do with it.

Rithvik dropped the time turner at the impact of memories. It fell with a cutter to the floor. But did not break. "What happened," Dhun asked picking it up. Rithvik fell back to the bed. His head hurt a bit by the rush of memories.

"This is insane," He said.

"So you remember now?" Dhun asked.

"Yes." He was so shocked that he could not remember the thing he used to use every day as a kid. It was a major part of his life.

"So you did not remember till now?" she asked.

"Yes."

"How can that be?"

Rithvik took the time turner from her hand and lay down to his bed. "How do I know? Maybe it is part of the magic."

"Magic?" Dhun asked sitting beside him.

"Yeah. Earlier, I mean when I was a kid, I used to wonder if it was science or magic that is involved with this watch. But I guess it is indeed magic. Not science. It feels like the memory loss is a part of its magic." He looked up at Dhun, "Maybe only the owner of it can remember it. If the ownership is transferred to someone else, the previous owner forgets all about it. Something like that?"

"Wow!" She uttered in wonder.

"I mean to keep the owner safe. Or else anyone could slit their throat to get their hands on this, right? It is that precious."

"Yeah. Makes sense." She said. "Clever."

"Yeah." He turned the little watch in his hands. "It's really freaking. To remember everything all of a sudden like this. How could I have lived forgetting that for nine years? "

"Yeah," Dhun said.

"It's really freaking. To remember everything all of a sudden like this. How could I have lived forgetting that for nine years?"

"Why?"

"You turned back time and went back to past, right? So...I gave this to you in an alternate timeline. You went back in time. So it's obviously not in my memory. Because that thing never happened for me."

"Oh..." It had never occurred to Dhun before that.

"I feel a bit irked now." Dhun looked at him. " You like me for something I did in an alternate time. Something that actually does not exist in my past."

"Is that bad?" she asked.

"I don't know. Just feels...It feels a bit intangible. Superficial. Like maybe you fell for that Rithvik in past and I am not him. So I feel irritated. And possessive."

"You feel possessive? Like against yourself?" She laughed.

"It is not funny."

"Dude, why are you complicating it so much? You are just you. And I like you. Why do you have to feel irritated over that?" He set the time turner aside and pulled her close to him.

"I want you to have fallen for me." He said. She smiled and gave him a kiss. "Don't overcomplicate it. I have fallen for you." He moved a hand through her hair. They kissed again.

Rithvik pulled Dhun to the bed with him and cuddled her. They lay like that for a while. "So who is the owner of the time-turner now?" Rithvik asked.

"I wanted to give it back to you for a long time. It was originally yours. All these nine years I wanted to return it to you. So it's yours now." Dhun looked up at him.

"It's okay though. I lived fine without it for nine years. You can keep it if you want."

"No. Now it's yours." She turned to him.

"Okay," he wrapped his hand around her tighter. "but can't we have co-ownership or something?" He was asking rhetorically.

"Will that work like that? Since the previous owner forgets about it, I think it works only for one person. You had said it can bring only one person back in time."

"Yeah. That's what grandpa said. Only one person."

"Then I guess co-ownership won't work, either, right? Anyway, I don't need it. I meant to give it back to you. It's yours."

Rithvik looked at the time-turner and then at Dhun and nodded.

Ansh ran to the elevator and pushed the open button as the door was closing. The door opened again and he saw that Roli was inside. He hesitated.

"What? You won't get in the same elevator as me now?" She asked him.

He shook his head, adjusted his shoulder bag and walked into the elevator. The door closed. Roli pressed the button to their floor. As the elevator was going up, there was tension in the air.

Roli was silent. Bt there was such a bossy air to her that Ansh could not find his voice. The elevator stopped at their floor. The door was about to open and Ansh stepped forward to get out. But Roli stepped in front of him and she pressed the close door button of the elevator. The door closed. Ansh looked at her nervously. But she did not say anything. She just stood, looking at him and pressing the close button with a smart smile.

Ansh could not stand this. His leg was becoming weak. He breathed out in defat. Roli had a triumphant smile, she let go of the button and walked out when the door opened.

Ansh rubbed his head in tension. He was not sure how much he can handle these taunts from her.

*

Dhun was writing some assignments in a hurry while sitting on the college grounds and Rithvik sat with his back leaning to her side/hand.

"How come you guys don't have so many assignments?"

"We are Mec."

"Lucky you..."

She looked up as some people in white shirts and id cards walked along in groups. "The seniors are having campus placements."

"Hm..." He casually took out the time turner from his pocket and began to play with it in his hands. Dhun turned to look at and she gasped. Rith turned to her in shock because of her loud gasp. "What happened?"

"I can't believe it. I forgot about the existence of that thing." Rithvik turned to her in amusement. " I seriously forgot about it. Until I saw it in front of my eyes. Until I looked at it, I did not remember. How can that be?"

"It's fascinating, right?" Rithvik asked.

"Yeah."

He lay back to lean on her shoulder.

" So, did you use it yet?" Dhun asked him.

"What do you think?"

"Just tell me."

"Well, I may have kissed you five times this morning."

"Well, you could have just kissed me five times normally," Dhun said and he looked at her. "Now you wasted it over that and I don't remember five. Just one. And that's annoying."

"Is your stupid assignment done?"

"Why?"

"Coz Ashwin said he can lend his hostel room to me."

"You said you don't want to take me to the boys' hostel."

"Well, I may not have been this desperate the first time. Now I can't stop thinking about it, and it's like the only thing I want to do."

She smiled. "Give me the time turner so as I can pause time to finish the assignment." He handed it to her with a smile.

Latter, Dhun and Rithvik sat, snuggled together, leaning to the bedpost on the bed after sex. Dhun had her undergarments on. Rith had his pants on with no shirt. Rithvik was again playing with the time turner in his hands. "You know all that we could do with this..." she looked up at him. "God, I was such an idiot when I was a kid. I could have made millions." Dhun is casually listening. "I could like totally know the number of a winning lottery and go back in time and buy the same. Or know the status of the stock market and make millions..."

"But that's illegal." Dhun turned to look at him.

"Who cares!"

"I care," Her eyes were genuine. "Don't do bad stuff." He stared into her eyes. And he did not want to disobey her. He nodded. "Hm. Okay. No bad stuff." She smiled. He kissed her forehead

"You had this for nine years. What did you do?" He asked.

"Nothing. After not being able to save mom, I didn't really want to touch it even. It felt eerie or ominous to me." Rithvik looked at her, interested. "I could not change the one thing that I really really wanted to change. There was nothing that I especially wanted to change in my life after that. Not that desperately at least."

Rithvik moved a finger through her hair. "I am sorry about your mom. I feel like I made it harder for you." She shook her head. " If I had not given this to you, you would have accepted it and moved on. But now there is always an 'if only', right? You said you could not save her. I made it harder for you."

"It's okay, Rith. You were trying to save her only. You loved her too."

"Yeah. Yeah, I did." He said. Dhun smiled. He paused and added a bit hesitating, " I love you". She looked at him, surprised. "I wanted to say that first. Before you say that to me. At least in that, I wanted to be first."

"I love you too." Her smile was wide.

*

Ansh, Rith, Dhun, and a few friends from Mec and CS class were sitting together, talking. And Rith had his hand around Dhun's shoulder casually. And sometimes he supported his head on her shoulder.

"Can you guys cut with the PDA?" Ansh asked, annoyed.

"Hm. We can't. So you mind your own business." Rithvik said.

Ansh frowned and his mobile beeped. He checked it. It was a message from Roli. She had sent him a photo of her. Just a selfie photo. And she has said 'Coz it came out well. Don't I look pretty in it?' Ansh did not know what to reply.

"Who is it?" Rithvik leaned in seeing Ansh's troubled expression.

"nothing. No one. Just spam," Ansh quickly hid his phone before Rithvik could see.

*

Dhun was searching for a book on one of the shelves, she walked over to go to another shelf, but she got pulled into the space between two shelves suddenly by Rithvik. She is startled but happy to see him.

*

Ansh who was walking back to the apartment see Roli and he paused. He hid behind a parked car. He emerged from behind the car only when Roli has walked away.

*

Meanwhile, one-day Dhun came to meet Rithvik's family. She was welcomed into the house with much love and everyone had lunch together. The day went pretty eventless. Rithvik dopped by Dhun's house while he dropped her home, and stayed to play cricket with Dhun's brother and his friends.

*

Ansh and Rithvik were working on some lab record book when Rith's mobile starts ringing. It was Dhun. But there was a heart symbol at the end of her name. Ansh gave him a stare. "What?" Rithvik asked.

"Nothing, I just don't recognise you anymore," He said,

"Get out," Rithvik told Ansh taking his mobile.

Giving him privacy, Ansh stepped outside the room.

Roli was on the balcony hanging laundry. She noticed Ansh. Ansh looked at her nervously. "Can you come help me?" Roli asked him. Ansh looked back, unsure. "Come on. I won't eat you or anything, Can you please stop avoiding me? It's hurtful," Her voice sounded sad.

Ansh walked to her. There was a bucket full of her washed clothes on the floor. He started picking up one and began to put them on the drying rack/stand.

"Can I tell my friends that we are dating?" Roli asked Ansh. He looked at her. He was getting really really affected by all these. His resolve was failing each day. "Ansh?" She called.

"We are not dating though."

"Are we not?" She asked smartly "Really? I really just like to think of you as my boyfriend though. We kissed twice already."

Ansh sighed and look away... "You know your brother won't approve."

"Is that the only thing stopping you? My brother?" Ansh did not reply. "Stop being a coward, Ansh."

Ansh looked away from her and without checking picked up the last thing in the bucket. And it happened to be Roli's bra. He dropped it back immediately in shock. Roli giggled. She got the bra and hung it and stepped close to Ansh. "You don't have to be so shocked over it. You can have it if you want. I can give it to you."

"Shut up," He was on his verge now.

Roli laughs. "You are really cute and perfect to tease." She then reached up and kissed Ansh's cheek. Ansh's hand curled to fist as he drew back a breath.

" I can give you one more kiss," Roli said. "But you will have to ask for that. So tell me, do you want me to kiss you again?" She looked into his eyes. "No? Yes? No?" Ansh was at his limits. "Say it Ansh." She traced a finger through his hand looking into his eyes.

"Don't do this to me."

"I want us to kiss. You know, like that night's kiss at your college festival. I want to feel it again. But I can't go kiss someone else, right?" Ansh looked at her. "Also it's not someone else, it's you who I want." Ansh is breathing heavily. "Please, Ansh..."

Ansh looked around. Rithvik's room's door was still closed. He looked back at Roli.

"Ah, that asshole of a selfish guy." Roli cursed, "I am going to go tell him that we are going to date." She began to move. Ansh held her hand. "Don't."

"Ansh..."

"I will tell him."

Roli stopped and look at him. Ansh continued, "I will find a right time and tell him later. Till then..."

"Till then?" She looked into his eyes with hope.

Ansh pushed a lock of Roli's hair to the back of her ear, looking into her eyes, and settled his hand on her cheeks. "I love you..."

Roli smiled. She stepped closer for a kiss. Ansh hesitated. "What?" Roli asked a bit offended.

"Can't we wait?"

"Huh?"

"I want us to wait till you are 18 for us to start officially dating. I won't touch you until then."

"We have already kissed."

"I know. But your brother has planted a seed of guilt in me saying you are a kid."

"I am not a kid."

"Eh..."

"Ansh..."

"I want to wait till you are 18. Till you are legally an adult. Till I can convince people in an argument that you are an adult and can take your own decision."

She gave up. "Fine. Okay..." Ansh smiled. "But you are my boyfriend for now. I am not giving up on that. You can't look at other girls. And I get to tell my friends that we are dating."

"Hm... Okay..." He looked nervous.

"And you have to choose me over Rith if something wrong happens."

Ansh looked at her.

"Nothing wrong will happen. I will talk to him. Make him understand. His view about us may be different now that he is in a relationship. He and I don't even hang out as much as before as he is always with Dhun. SO he may not mind it now."

"Hope so," Roli said.