There were many things that I wanted to change about that situation but weirdly enough, Rishabh Singh Rathore being in my room in the middle of the night wasn't one of those things. I knew I'd be slapping myself for this in the future but him just being there, sitting on my bed beside me, caring for the wound on my arm made me feel things that I didn't know I could feel.

But I wasn't going to cloud my mind with that superficial warmth. Things had been hard for me and I didn't want to complicate my situation anymore. I had to be mature. I wouldn't allow my mind to fall for those petty weird feelings.

"I should get going..." To my relief, I felt him stand up and my eyes followed his movement from the bedside to the table.

"It's already late and you should sleep. Maybe get your head and erm... body straight before the practice begins tomorrow." I hummed as he scribbled something quickly on that school group photo and stood up abruptly from the chair.

"Wait...how do you suppose I get out of this house?" His confused tone  made me chuckle.

"I don't know. Maybe ask you genius brain to forge another ridiculous plan of getting out just as it did while you were getting in. Now that you've already broken the one ladder, climb down the wall like a spider for all I care. " He squinted his eyes with a hint of disapproval at my jest before throwing the picture on my lap.

"A present for you." He added before haughtily strutting right out of my door. I could barely stand up from the bed to stop him before he had vanished amidst the darkness outside my room.  

I scrambled to run behind him in a jiffy and caught hold of his tee-shirt in the nick of time before he could step further down the stairs.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" I whisper-yelled as he jerked his head back.

"My poor back would very much prefer it if we now go out through the front door rather than climb twenty feet down the window." He whispered back as I stood a step above him in the pitch-dark stairs. The light out of my room remained restricted to the upper landing and all I could see was the faint glow of the porch light through the main door a few feet below us.

"I don't give a damn about your back. Who asked you to break into my house at the middle of the night with your damn back? Do you even know how loud your damn elf-feet sound banging on the floor right now?" I tried to keep my whispers as low as possible but that guy was just getting on my nerves with his absurd ideas.

"I asked you to suggest me any other way but you had to go all Sanvi and insult my genius mind. And elf-feet? My feet are perfectly shaped!" He sounded really offended. Well, I was going for offence.

"Okay okay okay.. Our whispers might just wake them up now. Come with me, I'll sneak you out the kitchen door. And step where I step. Not an inch away from that. Ours is an old house, if you haven't noticed, Mr. Bigshot."

"You know. Bossy Sanvi isn't really a good look on you.."

"How can you say that when we can barely see each other's faces in this darkness?" I enquired restlessly.

"Exactly. How am I supposed to know where you step on, Miss Genius?" His words dripping with sarcasm made me scoff at my own idea.

Ridiculous.

"Ugh. Let me get the flashlight. Stand here. Don't move!" I walked back to my room and fetched it out before joining him in the middle of the stairs.

"Stay behind me..." I whispered and held his right arm, guiding him through my very squeaky house. I was cautious not to knock onto any of the furniture laid haphazardly throughout the rooms.

Once we were in the kitchen, I sighed in relief at the idea of being at a proper talking distance from my parents' bedroom. I dropped his hand and walked upto the kitchen door to let him out when I was suddenly wheeled back by my arms to face Rishabh.

"Will...will you be able to come to school tomorrow?" The streetlight seeped through the kitchen window, illuminating his weirdly bright and sympathetic eyes as I stood there grasping the flashlight to my breast.

"Uhm yes. Yes, I will." I didn't know why but I felt a sudden hollow dip in my heart.

"And you'll register your partner for the Championship as...?" I sucked in a whiff of air when he came dangerously close to my face with that question. A childish anticipation worked in his voice. Why was he being so damn insecure about that? I did agree to partner with him; albeit half-heartedly, but I did!

"Rishabh Singh Rathore. Yes. Now get out before I throw up from your nonsensical behaviour..." He moved away quickly with a satisfied smile on his face. I was so over that night. As much as I wanted it to end, I couldn't help but feel a little dejected then. What the hell was wrong with me?

"Prepare to win the Championship for St. Louis with this nonsensical man then." I scoffed as he winked at me once on his way out. So cringy. 

I kept staring at his back through the kitchen window as he walked down the stone path wrapped around the house. He was already out of my sight when I suddenly heard a knock on the glass window of the living room.

What the hell.

I ran to inspect if he was having any trouble with the rusty gate. But there he was, standing outside the window, with his cheek smushed against the dewed glass, looking on expectantly at me to open it.

Ugh, troublemaker.

I tip-toed to the window and carefully slid it up.

"What? Have you finally gathered the courage to tell me that you've been kicked out of your house?" I remarked sarcastically as he poked his head halfway in. 

"Yes.. please take me in. I have no one to turn to expect for you in such a bad situation... Will you let me share your bed with you? Don't worry, we'll just sleep." He spoke with a dead-on blank face, making me roll my eyes at him.

"No, you can have the damp shed in the backyard lawn. The mosquitoes can keep you company." I sniggered and gave me a 'really?' look. 

"Shut up. Look, I have to tell you something and I don't know how you might take it. But I just can't leave without saying it." He whispered in such a seriously brisk tone that it immediately cut the humour out of the conversation. Uh oh.

"What more do you have to sputter out?" I whispered back with restlessness.

"Look, you see, I...I mean, we.. I know.. ugh..damn it." Rishabh definitely was struggling with his words and needless to say that was the first I had seen him struggle with something.

"Just say it, Rishabh." I was getting worried.

"See, I think... And to clarify it first that in no way am I the person that should advise you or anything...but I think you should live in the apartment from now on. And I am saying this only for the sake of the Championship ahead. I know I shouldn't meddle, but I... This whole thing... Damn." I could clearly understand his insinuation even if he was struggling to find words to express his thoughts. Hell, I was waiting for him to address the elephant in the room eversince he had barged into the house like that and heard the ruckus firsthand. Especially after he had nursed my fresh wounds with his own hands without asking a single question. But he hadn't. He hadn't until the very last moment when he had to leave. I didn't know how I should take all these.

"I am sorry, I wouldn't have come down here if I knew this would trouble you so much. For god's sake, the only reason I broke into your room was to apologise for kissing you in the parking lot. And now...you had to go through so much shit for me." He spoke in an alien tone. Mellow and calm as his eyes slid down to my wounded wrist. I felt a jolting dip in my stomach as if I was accidentally sliding down a slippery slope at warp speed. 

Warmth embraced my cold shivering palms as he stood there, shielding me from the harsh chilly breeze through the window.

He still wasn't  addressing it.  He still wasn't. What was up with him?  He would usually  jump on any situation to insult me or make fun of me if he was handed the string. And there, he was handed the entire rope.  Why wasn't  he tugging at it?  To maintain the peace for the Championship? Yes,  that must've been it.  He didn't want trouble and I was the epitome of trouble for him right then. Why didn't he then revoke the plan of partnering with me after seeing my state?

"I just think that you should stay in that apartment during the Championship days...and I don't say this for any other reason but for my own selfish desire of saving the petrol for my bike. It's almost a day-trip to reach this part of the town, Sanvi! I would very much prefer that you use the apartment since it'll be too hard to catch you here in case of any emergency. There's also the thing with your health and stuff and mind you, it'd be better for us if we stay in high spirits during this period. It is going to be as hard as it is, with juggling studies for the exams and the Championship... it'll be way easier for you in the apartment and I know that. But mind you, I am not trying to advise you, okay? It's all upto you... If you want to take up on my suggestion... " I scoffed as his usual Rathore tone returned sooner than it had surprisingly disappeared. I looked up to see a faint guilty smile playing on his lips. He was talking as if he was planning on moving in with me in that apartment. He was going to speak some more when I briskly placed my finger on his lips, shutting him up for good.

"I get it. I'll think about it. I wouldn't want St. Louis to suffer for my own personal problems." He stared at me with such appealing eyes that it almost made my heart flutter.

No, no. Don't sway, Sanvi. He is just worried about all the troubles you might cause him through the alliance.

Mind. Almost.

My heart was fortified. Nothing could enter it. Not his eyes. Not his words. Not his weirdly sympathetic intentions.

"I'll send you a copy of the clauses I've written down. It's a contract and we got a deal. I'll keep my side of it, and I hope you keep yours too." I said before sliding the door down and turning my back on him as he kept standing there, staring at my back for half a minute. 

By the time I turned around, he had already vanished into the night-fog outside our little gate.

And he had come down all the way to my house in cold to apologise for his misbehaviour or coax me into partnering with him? I didn't know which and I honestly didn't want to know. I was indifferent either way. Or wasn't I?

As I scurried up the stairs before I could wake anybody, it suddenly hit me. I couldn't believe I was such a brainless knob that I let him go without asking him not to talk about my weird living situation with anyone. I had always been keen when it came to things like this,—mostly because I didn't have any other choice. It was embarassing and I feared the attention I'd be showered with if any of those gossip mongers get a hold of this piece of information.

But Rishabh wouldn't tell anyone, right? I practically saved his ass from falling two storeys down that night! He better be grateful. I could have just pushed him off after what he had done that evening.

He did ask Dhruv about my address before coming that night. What if he said anything about it to Dhruv? Hell, what if it became the hot topic of the school after vacation?! Those vultures would eat me alive! I didn't care if they gossiped within my earshot but what if I became the topic of their gossip for the year-end?

What if...he wouldn't. Rishabh, wouldn't right?

The Championship was his first priority so he possibly  wouldn't indulge  in something as petty as that,  right?

He was a jerk, of course, but would he go to that extent of blabbing about my miserable plight to everyone? Weirdly enough, my brain eagerly intercepted with a big no at this question.

Wow, did I trust him now?

While I was still thinking about the sudden change in Rishabh's behaviour,  my eyes fell on the year-end picture of the previous  year placed on the bed. It was the same one where I had taken ill with chicken pox and the one Rishabh was doodling on ever since he had arrived in my room.  He had thrown it on my face proclaiming it to be a present of some sort. What did he mean by that?

I picked it up to inspect it and that was when I was presented with yet another masterpiece of Rishabh Singh Rathore. I swore I snorted so loud at the sight that I heard my parents stirring with the sudden sound in their sleep downstairs. Soon,  I found myself muffling my giggles with my palm as I laid on the bed on my back and admired the picture. 

Apparently, Rishabh had a knack for sketching as was evident from the very questionable figure of mine that he had drawn, standing on the last row and a step above where he stood in the actual photograph. He had made it  appear so as if I was looking down on him with a sneer. The two googly eyes that he had drawn on his own face seem to make him appear scared of my stringy hands coming down to strangle him.

Hah,  that jerk. 

I didn't want to kill him, although he did do stuff that made me want to make that a reality. He had to go and do that, didn't he? Include me in the class photo and make it appear like I committed homicides on the regular?

But what cracked me up the hardest  was the miserable little figure of Aakash sitting on the right of our class teacher in the photo with two gigantic horns coming out of his head and he appeared to be flipping the teacher off.

Well now that I knew his actual face, he might be capable of doing that,  who knew? 

But Rishabh being this petty with his caricature of Aakash went to showed that he had perhaps attempted to pour down all the wrath he had against him right on that plastic paper.  And it simply made me laugh.

So silly.

I hadn't laughed so hard in days and I just couldn't help but smile gratefully when I thought about Rishabh Rathore after recovering from my giggles. He had, in his own way, managed to tunnel in a ray of light amidst the brooding darkness that had shrouded my heart.

I felt relieved and I figured it must've been at the idea of someone...even if the despicable Rathore, atleast someone knowing about my miserable situation at home. I have been burdened with the knowledge of my own abuse for way too long, without a single soul to turn to.

It was a far-fetched thought but I did feel heard and that made me feel so relieved that I didn't even realise when my eyes began fluttering close and I slipped into the darkness with the photo clutched to my chest.

**************

TBC