The morning sun rays fell upon Sid's head, who was sitting on a campus' bench. Birds chirping voices were soothing, but it wasn't enough to uplift his spirit. He was still morose.

Although he set foot in the college in time, something made him procrastinate—or rather he purposely skipped the first lecture. His eyes moved towards the first floor at the classroom and thought about Raj who was in the lecture. Then his eyes moved towards the gate and thought about Ravi who was still probably sleeping in his home. Why is that sometimes your friends aren't there for you when you want them the most? At least they are not there when you want to pour your heart out to them.

Sid ran his fingers through his hair and heaved a sigh—

A cute looking girl headed towards him. She stood right in front of him, and raise her hand forward to greet him. "Hiya there!" she said while placing the other hand on her hips.

Sid's mind was observed in his phone, so he didn't notice Sara was standing in front of him. It took a while for him to realize someone was right in front of him. He looked up and set his eyes on her. Her fair complexion glimmered as a bright sun ray caressed her skin. Even a little blow of wind made her hair fly. If Sid stood up, her height would reach up till his eyebrows. She was wearing a white top and denim sky blue dungaree shorts.

Sid forwarded his hand for the greetings and whispered, "Hello."

"Hey, I need to make an urgent call, can I borrow your cellphone?" Sara asked. She clutched his hand like a soft cushion. Then he did remember she was a girl from different division of class, and he had noticed her once or twice.

"Sure." Sid handed her his cellphone with a pressed lip smile.

"Thanks!" The smile on Sara's face widened in a grin. "Just allow me a minute with your cellphone."

Sara did make the call but the interaction with Sid went on. She sat right next to Sid, not even waiting for him to move up aside. Her bare thighs touched Sid's. She sat very closely—surmise it to be her open nature.

When they started gossiping none of them realized how time passed so quickly. Sid and Sara talked with each other like long lost friends and didn't care to take notice about the commencement of the second lecture.

Till now they'd become good friends. Sid also added her on Whatsapp and Facebook. What he liked about her was, she was a super friendly girl and has no tinge of attitude (unfortunately which some girls do have). They both accompanied each other to the third floor of the college since they were pursuing the same degree course but in a different division. They waved hands at each other—which was a see-you-later sign—and parted to walk towards their classroom.

"Hey, Sid." Sara turned around, her voice loud enough to travel across the corridor. "I forgot to ask during our gossip. Who is your favorite teacher of our college?"

"My favorite teacher?" Sid scratched his temple and flashed a tight-lipped smile at her. "Never thought about it."

*******

"Teachers." Students were attentively listening to the economics lecture. Although Prof. Khera finished his duty, still fifteen minutes were remaining. So he decided to give some uplifting talk to the students.

He began his discourse, "In every field, there is a requirement for teachers. It is impossible to learn anything by ourselves. No matter in whichever field we are. Guru/teacher is that captain who takes our boat (life) towards a proper destination, learn to respect Guru." He paused and adjusted his thick framed spectacles since it was sliding downwards from his droopy nose.

"Just recently I'd visited my native place. There I came across with an old man; he was in a wheelchair. Perhaps he was counting last months of his life. I went towards him and touched his feet and told him." It's a tradition in India to touch the feet of seniors; out of reverence. Every student's attentiveness increased a great deal because curiosity filled their to know who was that old man. "Sir! You were my maths teacher, back then in my school." 

Prof. Khera paused to have a look at the student's reactions. "Can imagine how happy his face was? The current generation, however, I don't think students have any respect for their teachers. Anyway, the overall thing is, try to understand the value of a teacher. Guru is in need."

The recess bell rang, and Prof. Khera walked away from the classroom followed by many students who were on their way to have lunch.

******

Ravi was scrolling down Facebook's Newsfeed in his tablet, and then an ad popped up on the screen. It was an open invitation; a bestselling author was going have a seminar on his new book "The Middleman." Ravi's eyes glittered like fiery orbs when he glanced at the location which wasn't that far away. He thought to forward this ad on Sid's Whatsapp.

Ravi's absorption in his tablet, however, broke when he caught sight of Sid and Raj set foot into the cafeteria after listening to that beautiful moral talk delivered by Prof. Khera on "Teachers." It was indeed heart-touching.

Raj and Sid sat on remaining empty chairs and placed their bags on the table.

While Ravi and Raj started up their casual conversation, every now and then Raj observed a cold look on Sid's face, who didn't take an active part in their gossiping. He understood, it was because of that embarrassing defeat; he gestured Ravi to look at Sid.

Most of the time—just for gags—Ravi had poked fun at Sid a lot, but this time he couldn't stop himself from cheering his best friend up. "C'mon, get over with it, man! You can't live with that face lifelong."

Sid's brows knitted together. "I won't. But thanks for the concern."

"Price of concerning is ten dollar," Raj said.

"What!?" Sid chuckled since he figured out they're pulling his leg.

"Because you were saying thanks." Raj grinned, "As friends, we are always concerned about you, Sid."

"Alright, my bad. Actually, I'm just, um, I'm feeling," Sid adjusted himself to sit up straighter, "deprived pf something. Don't worry I'll come around."

Just as Sid entered his house, he hit with a chasm of giddiness. His eyesight became blurred. His mom asked him for lunch, but he said he had it in the college canteen. Somehow other Sid reached to his bedroom by taking the support of walls and ladder's fences. And when he came into his room, he dropped on the bed like a stick and fell asleep within seconds.

Of course, just by chance wasn't the answer. It was due to a forced intrusion of a philosophical dream. But there was something unusual, like as always, this time Sid didn't see a story or philosophical parable. He just had a constant vision of fake currency and real currency. The doctor who cheats, the doctor who treats. On one side, people spending millions on their entertainment and luxuries; on the other hand, there were poverty-stricken people—

Again the sweet sound of the flute caressed his ears, and it calmed him down, just like how a computer works smoothly after an anti-virus scan. And then emerged same visuals which he saw during competition: two beautiful hands holding a flute. But still he wasn't unable to see the face of this mysterious person, and all of a sudden he got disappeared from Sid's eyesight.

Coming back to gross sense, Sid slightly opened his eyes and woke up. Several hours passed. He immediately took out a notebook from a desk and jotted down everything that he eyed in his dream. Who is that mysterious person? Now for the third time, he came in front of me in the same way. What he's trying to convey? He thought.

Sid's trance only broke when his phone started buzzing. He picked up the call. "Do you know about the author, Nitin Kushwa?" Ravi asked on the other end.

"Uh-huh, the author of ten bestselling books."

"Yeah! Exactly. He has come up with a new book titled as 'The Middlemen.' It's on Godmen of India."

Ravi's voice described how excited he was to attend this book launch and Sid knew what to say next. "Well then, try to book seats for us. We gotta check it out."

******

Next day Sid and Ravi prepared themselves to attend the book launch of "The Middlemen" by Nitin Kushwa. As both of them sped across the street in an Uber cab. Miraculously whenever Sid cast his eyes at something through the window, he only watched teacher and student relationship. He wondered what to call it: a miracle or coincidence, but his gut feeling told him that something interesting was going to happen.

After a long hour of travel, finally, they reached the place. Both of them eyed the building and made a move to enter in the seminar hall.

*****

An: I'm sorry if you were expecting an action scene in the beginning lol. So I have introduced new character name, Sara. She's going to have a significant role in upcoming chapters. This chapter is very crucial to understand next one, don't forget to listen to the song of this chapter. Please vote, comment, and share your thoughts.