She didn't turn back.

But if she had, she would have seen a dark-haired boy fist-pumping at this small victory. Her laughter had made his day would be an understatement. 

Man, that boy was whipped.

***

And she didn't turn back.

But if she had, she would have seen the boy hiding behind the cupboard, holding his breath as she read the letter, gauging her reactions, hoping she will like it.....

***

And she didn't turn back. But if she had, she would have seen the boy with the messy hair just laughing like a maniac while sitting on the lunch table with his friends, as she bought the Kit Kat.

His friends looked at him like he was crazy.

Maybe he was.....

***

And she didn't turn back. But if she did, she would have seen him conversing with his cousin, the junior she had helped in the library. The only thing he asked for was to borrow the book after his cousin was done.

***

And she didn't turn back. But if she had, she would have seen the boy with the messy black hair go to Jia and her gang and tried confronting them about their general bullying. When that didn't work out too well, he threw ice cream at everyone in the gang, before running out of there like his life depended on it. At first his friends were mad with him for ditching them at the ice cream shop. But once they came to know he was responsible for the ice cream disaster of Jia and her gang, they were impressed and even promised to help him out of any trouble in the future.

What they didn't realise was that he had done it all for a girl........

***

And she didn't turn back. But if she had, she would have seen his crazy grin on his face as he put the papers down on the table and sat down, letting Arun do all the talking, and just grinning at her until Arun nodded at him, and he passed her a paper, careful not to brush hands...

And when they all left except Karthik, it was him who asked his best friend Pankaj's and Deepak's help in saving her from Karthik's clutches, still remaining in his cocoon of cowardliness.

***

And she didn't turn back. But if she had, she would have seen the boy with messy black hair, in a black suit, the cute dimples on his cheeks on display, his eyes never leaving her saree draped form.

And when he saw one of the juniors hitting on her which she didn't even realise, he simply made his way through the crowd to the boy, tapped him on his shoulder, and told him how much fun they had had together, steering him away, and luring him away for a group selfie. And when he looked back at her, he grinned because now she was surrounded only by her girl friends.

Man, this guy was jealous, and yet remained a coward......

***

And she didn't turn back. But if she had, she would have seen him laugh and run like a crazy maniac, hug Karthik and run around again like a fool in affection.....

She had after all told him that the letters were from someone she liked. She liked him.

He was on Cloud 9, and almost nothing could bring him down....

***

And she didn't turn back. But if she had, she would have seen him scowling as Arun pulled her in with the others. He wanted to talk to her, get to know her more, but all he could do was wait. And hope......

And write her a letter! Aayush quickly ran back to his room as he decided to write her one more last letter, to remind her of him....

***

And she didn't turn back. But if she had, she would have seen the longing in warm brown eyes, the inner turmoil plain on his face as he debated whether to tell her or not...

***

And she didn't turn back. But if she had, she would have seen the boys in the back fighting, two of them fighting for her, while Aayush sat there glumly, hating himself for not telling her his identity. 

"Aayush write's letters to Meera under the pseudonym of Shaitan.", Pankaj suddenly told the fighting boys, and everyone except Pankaj and Deepak(his 2 best friends) gaped at him.

"Tell them everything. They need to know how much you love and deserve her.", Deepak told Aayush, just when he received death glares from the two fighting boys.

All this and more, only for Meera......

***

And he didn't turn back. But if he had, he would have seen tears streaming down her face, her thoughts screaming at her to go to him, beg him for forgiveness, hug him and never let him go....

But she had to. She had to do it to save their friendships, and their futures. She had to do it only so that she knew it wasn't just teenage infatuation. 

She needed to be convinced it was that love that was worth throwing everything away. All consuming, beyond life and death, worthy of all troubles and pains - love.

That day, there weren't 3 broken hearts, there were 4......

***