Meera fell on to the rock, folding her legs Indian style and dug into her lunch with such gusto, one would have thought she was having an expensive gourmet meal, and not a hastily-cooked-in-large-quantities meal.

"Eat slowly and chew gently.", Leah reminded Meera.

"Screw gentle and slow.", she said, a few rice grains falling off from her mouth.

Then Meera choked. Leah had to perform an alternative version of the Heimilch manoeuver. It was gruelling, but Meera finally stopped choking.

"Thanks for saving my life, Leah.", Meera spoke weakly after she had drunk lots of water.

"Just don't screw slow and gentle, yeah?", Leah smiled back.

"Come let's take few photos. The view here is magnificent!", Leah said, after a few minutes of serene silence.

"Yeah! I'm sure you would have sketched it out on paper if you had some.", Meera replied.

They went to the nearest volunteer, took the photos, and made sure that the photos reached their parents on whatsapp.

"Lunch is done! Get back on your feet and keep walking till the end!", the guide called.

And the relaxed atmosphere and the happiness from the girls, just ebbed away......
________________________________________________________________________________
"Hey Anitha, you okay?", Meera enquired, looking at the girl who looked like she was going to collapse.

"No she's not okay.", answered Anitha's best friend, Shea, who was carrying both their backpacks.

"Can I help you in any way?", Meera asked, instinctively.

"N-no, I'm fine.", Anitha protested weakly just as Shea told," Support her weight."

Meera went towards Anitha, then strode there awkwardly, not knowing what to do. 

"Just help me navigate this ground, Mimi.", Anitha requested, using a vague nickname of Meera's name. If this were normal circumstances, she would have corrected her, but she decided to let it go. "She has anaemia. She gets pretty tired after too much walking.", Shea explained to Meera, and thanked her for helping.

And so the group trudged forward. Some went faster to catch up to the earlier group to walk with their friends, while others walked at a snail's pace, heat from the afternoon sun escalating to unbearable levels. The water supplies dwindled, cheery conversation stopped, just mindless walking, side stepping stones, navigating through bushes, bending below low branches, jumping over sharp rocks...

Finally after what seemed like eternity, Meera finally caught sight of the buses.

"Look! The buses are here, yet far away from us!", someone grumbled.

"Those who had a stroke or something can take a van for the next 3 miles to the buses!", the guide answered and immediately, Meera helped Anitha and Shea(carrying both their bags) to one of the vans before bidding them farewell, and continuing on the way to the buses.

"Why did you help Anitha and Shea? You know they will never be grateful or even acknowledge you!", Leah asked when they were semi-alone.

"I don't need people's gratitude or acknowledgement. I help only because I want to.", Meera answered, vaguely. 

Finally, duo reached the bus and collapsed into the bus seats.

Tired would have been understatement.

It was only after the buses had started when Meera realised, Shaitan didn't reveal himself.
_____________________________________________________________________________
Well then. 

Who did not expect that?

Well I certainly didn't!

It was pretty unexpected even to me!

I was all "OMG, so cruel!", when I typed this chapter.

I gotta admit, I kinda like making cliffies. But to make this one cliffie, I had to keep rewriting the story in my head at least a few times, until I felt I hit upon the right note.

So, I'm pretty excite for the next chapter. I'm yet to write it, but I know how it goes down.

Shaitan Reveal is next chapter!Yay!!!!

***

Okay fine. Let's be reasonable and logical for a moment. If this book blows up into a huge popular book (I wish it does....), then that means, people will read it after it's complete.

Hence, bringing us the biggest danger known to author-kind: SPOILERS.

As my fellow wise authors and readers, you may understand the position I would be put in if someone who reads the next few chapters, might come back to put a comment in the previous few chapters, thereby killing the suspense I tried so hard to build. This may be a huger problem when I'm editing my work.

The Solution: Privatising the chapter. The next chapter is going to be privatised, and I'm hoping it won't be that huge a problem. You, my current readers are pretty understanding, and I hope you don't mind. According to Wattpad rules, you guys must be 18 or above of age. And you should be following me.

I hope the following thing doesn't drive you guys away from the books.....

Any other problems, please comment below, and I'll try my best to resolve it. 

Thank you!

Vote, comment, fan and share!

Over and out!

P.S: I miss Ciao.

So Ciao.