The sun rays scattered throughout the tiny room of Sanvi, making her scrunch her nose in sleep and turn away in order to avoid the disturbance caused by the light.

*beep beep*

She turned to get a hold of the alarm clock, ticking its way, to half past seven.

*beep beep*

Wriggling her hands on the side table, she attempted to shut that buzzing little disturber of hers. With her eyes still closed, finding no other option to shut it up, she threw the alarm clock away in some sad corner of the room and it stopped buzzing that instant.

Huffing a sigh, she dunked her head into her warm comfortable pillow and the next second she was reminded of the shenanigans of the other night. She sprang upright on her bed with a jolt.

"Damn!" She groaned annoyingly gazing the wall clock which indicated her time for school in the next half hour.

~Sanvi's POV~

As I recollected the incidents of the previous night, I couldn't help but feel a sharp cringe in the pit of my stomach. My neck warmed up at the thought of having lost my first kiss to that jerk.

Regardless of what he said, he might have kissed other people with that filthy mouth but it was my first kiss. It was supposed to be special. And I shouldn't have had to feel so weird about it as I did then. The kiss in its essence was good but I had too great an ego to admit it to myself.

Okay, it was mind-numbingly pleasurable but the person, not so much.

Rishabh Singh Rathore.

The name would have previously made me scowl but right then, all I could picture was his glorious body glistening in the moonlight and his rosy lips and his flirty gaze that had made me shiver countless times last night and...

I patted my cheeks hard, as the thought of meeting his gaze again made me extremely nervous for some reason. My stomach churned and I felt giddy all of a sudden.

"No, no! I need to keep away from him.. Yes, I'll avoid him for the rest of the year and keep my head down in every form of activity that might include him!" I tried to convince myself thoroughly but deep down I knew that it was practically impossible to not cross paths with the genius brat and make a terrible nervy joke out of myself in the very last year of school. I wanted to stay quietly but the proposition seemed far from reality right then.

Shoving off the thoughts, I got up from my bed as my mom entered the room.

"Sanvi?!" My Mom's shriek made me turn towards her in a jerk.

What, what now?

"What mom?!" I tried sounding as normal as I could, gazing upon the mirror and tying my tresses into a messy bun.

"Whose clothes are you wearing?" Mom bellowed. And that is when I remembered my idiocy.

I had forgotten to change after coming back. I was so sleepy that I wanted to simply crash down on the bed and wish for the covers to engulf me into the land of nothingness.

I groaned internally, kicking myself in my mind.

"I am asking you something.." Mom narrowed her eyes at me.

"Um..Maa..." I had never lied to my Mother before. I just didn't have to, owing to my own closed off nature.

Right then, I forced my brain to weave up a story within seconds and I sputtered out the first and foremost name that crossed my mind and that actually had, in the first place, landed me in that messy situation.

"Veronica! Mom... These are Veronica's.. Do you remember I went for a sleepover at her house once? She gave me these to sleep in that night..." I really hoped that it was convincing enough for mother because I hardly stayed at the house and I didn't want Mom to get any other idea that would cost me my only channel of freedom: my apartment. Besides, she wouldn't have noticed if I really did go for a sleepover.

"You didn't tell me you went for a sleepover. When did you go over to Veronica's?" Mom furrowed her brows at me in interrogation. I was in serious trouble.

"Ah, a few months ago..." I tried to sound as non-chalant as I possibly could.

"Sanvi, you do know how worried I get when I know you could just run off to anywhere without my knowledge when you stay alone in the apartment. You shouldn't stay there anymore. Come back to me." Mom held me by my shoulders and looked at me with those eyes that I usually found really gloomy.

I winced. She had struck the forbidden chord, and that too this early in the morning.

"Maa, am I really that kind of girl who will just run off leaving you behind to suffer like this?" I couldn't help but choke up all of a sudden.

My mother didn't trust me at all, did she?

"No, Sanvi look. I am not talking about that right now. Believe me, I do trust you... But I also do not want you to suffer like me." She always had this ability of reading my mind at all times.

"That's why the apartment... I've not stopped you from running off to that place because I understand how difficult life is for you here. Had your Grandparents been alive, I wouldn't have been so apprehensive about it. But now I can't help but feel worried about your safety, all alone in that dingy apartment. It has been years, Sanvi." I smiled bitterly through my tears as my mother sighed while cupping my cheeks.

"Mom, I am safer in that apartment than in this house." Mom closed her eyes in pain. She knew she was powerless in this prospect. And I knew she hated herself for that. I didn't want her to hate herself.

"Do you think I want to stay there all alone without you, Maa? I just want to have the peace before I lose myself in the daily drudgery of this house. That apartment is the only thing that gives me that peace. I can study, read for as long as I want and just be with my thoughts without the fear of getting thrashed any second." I inhaled sharply.

"Besides, don't you want me to become independent and get you out of here? That apartment is the only thing that is going to become our safe haven once I am independent, hand in hand with you. You do want to live with me, don't you?" My Mother didn't reply. She released her hold on me and turned back.

I hated this passive nature of Mom. She always did that whenever I requested her to come live with me in my apartment. She had always been weak when it came to leaving this house. Even after all those years of pain and suffering. And she used to tell me I wasn't the mature one here?

"Please do inform me beforehand if you go out to your friends's house from now on.." Mom uttered in a stern tone, masking her emotions and began making my bed.

Friends? Plural? Mom didn't have the slightest idea of how her socially inept daughter had already shut herself off from the world.

"Yes, I will."

All I felt the rest of the morning was anger. I couldn't direct the anger towards the specific person referred to in the discourse I shared with my Mother. So I directed it towards the nearest being whom I hated to the core.

Bloody Rathore and his stupid clothes.

Why did I even borrow his clothes when I knew was returning to the main house and might be caught red-handed by my mother? I could've just rode in my wet clothes in the cold wintery breeze and risked pneumonia rather than engage in the depressing altercation I had with Mother. Well it was partially my fault for not changing upon my return but who was it that got me wet in the first place?

Bloody freaking Rathore!

I stomped my foot on the floor and turned towards the bathroom door and closed it with a thud.

My mother, stunned by my behavior, exclaimed out,
'What's gotten into this girl?' before picking up the broken alarm clock and storming off towards the kitchen.

*************★★★**************

After handwashing Rishabh's clothes and using the blow dryer to dry them up, I finally allowed my body to get drenched by the warm droplets of the shower. I felt the anger melt away as the water washed off the remaining fatigue of last night. I closed my eyes, lathering my body with soap and the accident kiss clouded my memories once again.

It would be a terrible lie if I said I didn't like the intimacy I shared with Rishabh last night. I was shocked at my own take on the matter.

But that jerk had to go out of the way to destroy that feeling by literally forgetting that he had caged me in his bathroom for hours. On the top of that, he had the audacity to scream out that I was naked under his dress at that time of the night right in the middle of his neighbourhood!

Also, why was I even thinking about that right then?

But what was up with that dubious peck on my cheek outside? That snarky little piece of shit mocked me for crashing his party by thanking and kissing me?

Rishabh Rathore wasn't a guy known for his playfulness. He had always been reserved in his haughtiness around the school. Except for when he hung out with his friends, Dhruv and a few others. To this day, I couldn't decipher how a decent guy like Dhruv could be that jerk's best friend.

I turned off the shower's knob and draped the bathrobe around my nude frame. That is when it struck me.

He must have realised I was naked under his clothes when he had pulled that stupid prank on his balcony. I was basically pasted to his frame when he had pulled me up against the wall.

Argh.

I scrunched my nose up when I saw my face reddening in the mirror. Why on the earth was I blushing at that thought? The guy was a pervert!

Then why did you feel butterflies in your stomach whenever he came near you last night?

Have you ever felt that before when you came across him all these years? What did the kiss change between you two? Are you still sworn enemies? Can you handle being close to him in school? How will you avoid him for the rest of the year?

With the championship around the corner, you're bound to lock horns with that genius haughty brat at least once. What if you show that you're being affected by him? What if he plays with your sudden change towards him?

I found myself thinking about Rishabh throughout the time I performed my morning routine. I was brought out of my daze by my mother's call from downstairs.

"Coming..." I almost hopped towards her bag, and managed to pack it according to the routine of the day.

That is when I noticed my time table.

"Oh no."

"Why on the earth do these school authorites have physical education classes and that too COMBINED?" It was just the beginning of the day and I was already frustrated.

As my mom's voice rose, I grabbed the bag, stuffed Rishabh's clothes in it and stormed off downstairs.

***********★★★★************

"Mom... Did he return in the morning?" I sat on the dining table, looking out at the disheveled living room. Cushions were lying here and there, Mom's treasured glass vase was scattered in front of the TV table, the daily newspaper was sprawled across the living room. The storm had just passed right before I came down.

"Who else would do this, doll?" I could feel Mom's voice crack while serving me breakfast.

I sighed.

That had been a regular scene to come down to for me since I hit puberty. Waking up in the morning, coming down to see mom and that man screaming and insulting each other which sometimes even lead to physical altercations. If I meddled into one, I was barred from going to school or perhaps be too mentally drained to attend the classes.

Not a day went by when I wasn't reminded of my old neighbour's comment that love marriages didn't have clashes and were more successful than those arranged by blind dates. I chuckled bitterly at the irony. My parents were a living instance to debunk that myth.

Everything was fine. I had a healthy joyful childhood, with my mom and dad madly in love with each other. They adored their only daughter. I was one heck of a pampered kid. Lovely life, lovely parents! Then where did it go wrong?

I was fourteen years old when the first clash came down between my parents. My Mom had always wanted to work. She wanted to give her best in everything she did. She nurtured her kid with utmost love and worked hard with dedication. She barely left any stones unturned in pampering her husband and daughter.

One day, out of nowhere, my father asked her to drop her job and take the part of being a housewife. According to him, she was neglecting her marital responsibilities due to her work.

Mom refused to leave her job, leading the family to fall apart with time. My father started spending more time in his law firm, returning late at night or even in the mornings. He was sucked into the vortex of mental deterioration when he had to take up the case of a monster, defending a murderer who killed his own family. Mom, while she tried doing her best supporting him all throughout the process, the trauma that the case caused my Father was an enormous one.

From then on, whenever he returned home, he only came to snatch away our peace of mind.

These morning fights had become regular occurences for me. At times, it grew so much that Mom even tried to divorce my father, but couldn't go through with the process. Her daughter's face reminded her that she, being an innocent soul, deserved both her mom and dad's love.

I still hated to think that I might be the only reason for her misery. And I was too much of a coward to share her sorrow.

All I did know was how to scram into that little apartment of mine and worry for her well-being the entire day.

I was really selfish, wasn't I?

I could sense the gloomy state of my mother's mind as a kid, and at times, I would weep alone, sitting in a lone corner of my room in that miserable house when they fought crazily downstairs.

The situation at my home, made me fall apart from the social ties of school. I isolated myself. Scooped myself up in a hard shell. All I learnt from this was that showing your weakness to people was never a good thing. They're bound to play with it at the whip of a chance.

I quickly gobbled up my toast before any of those thoughts could jumble my mind anymore.

"Will you be returning home today?" This question haunted me every morning eversince the day I walked out. It did more so because I had to stand back and look at her miserable face.

"No.." I was truly heartless, wasn't I?

I gently kissed my Mother goodbye for the day and ran out of the house without looking back.

I was working towards a better future for both of us and I knew I had to endure a little more of that torturous gaze. Mom made her choice and I was free to make mine.

My weaknesses should only remain within myself. And I knew I would only be endangering myself if I ever put myself in that position.

***********

To Be Continued.