《Short Recap》

"Vinay, I..." I called out.

"Don't, you don't have to say anything. It's not your fault." Vinay cut me off rudely.

I followed after him, my hand coming up to brush my lips. Despite being so wrong in more ways than one, the kiss had felt blissful and I craved to feel his mouth against mine again.

I just hoped that one taste would be enough.

●○●

"You did what?!" Roshni exclaimed, whipping her head round to face me.

"Keep your voice down, idiot!" I whispered loudly, widening my eyes in warning.

"I am, you're the one attracting attention." Roshni huffed quietly, looking around us.

It was a free hour, before our lecture on the internet of things and we were sitting in the small college canteen. The blistering heat outside had both of us suffering from severe cases of boob sweat, yet we ordered our usual cutting chai.

I watched irritably as Roshni whipped out her phone and dialed Neel's number. When I said this was a secret it apparently meant that Neel had to be included too.

"Ok, can we please go somewhere else? I don't think I'm going to be able to finish telling you the entire story without either one shrieking." I begged, dragging her out of the crowded canteen.

"Ok Akira, stop ranting," Roshni said, just as the call connected, "Hello Neel? Where the hell are you? Akira's having a mid life crisis."

She narrowed her eyes as she listened to him, "What, no! She's not hurt. She'll explain everything."

I snatched the phone from Roshni's hand and shouted, "Neel just get your ass here."

"Ok woman, calm down. I'll be down in two minutes." He replied.

I disconnected the call without saying anything and handed the phone back to Roshni.

Neel met us near the amphitheater and we sat down. There weren't many people there at this time of the day and I was relieved.

The siblings trained their eyes on me expectantly.

Taking a deep breath, I started, "Vinay kissed me."

Done, I just put it out there. There was no point in beating around the bush.

"The fucker did what?" Neel clenched his fists, "Tell me he didn't force himself on you."

"No, of course he did not!" my eyes widened in alarm looking at Neel's aggressive stance.

"Oh my God! Did you hear that?" Roshni interjected, "My heart just broke."

"Shut up, Roshni!" I seethed.

"Fine, calm down. Stop blowing out steam like a raging bull," Roshni said calmly, "Just tell us everything."

And so I did; Everything from what happened after we left the club to our outing yesterday. I omitted the details of the part where I slept in his bed and the events that followed the consequent morning. I don't know- it felt weird to tell them that.

"You owe me five hundred bucks." Roshni flashed a lopsided smile at Neel.

He grunted in annoyance and said, "Later."

I narrowed my eyes, "Are you freaking kidding me? You bet on this?"

They shrugged.

"We just wanted to know how long it take for him to make a move on you." Neel replied, looking at my irked expression.

"I'm glad that my life is such a joke to you guys." I scowled.

"No it's not like that Akira!" Roshni reasoned with me, "It's just that on Sunday after you left your house, your hotshot called Neel at least twenty times throughout the day to ask if you'd dropped by our house."

"He's not my hotshot!" I objected.

"That's all you picked up?" Neel raised his brow questioningly, "What we're trying to say is that whether you know it or not, Vinay cares for you."

"That's why I asked him to go and get you from the hospital." Roshni admitted.

"Oh my God! I knew you sent him on purpose that day." I said accusingly, "Because you certainly aren't the kind of person who doesn't help their friend in times of need."

Roshni sat silently.

I got up to leave. "I'll see you guys later."

On my way to my next class, I saw Vinay leaning against the veranda, his arm slung around a skinny girl's waist as they talked. He started rubbing small circles on the skin that was exposed just under her cropped top, as the girl whispered something in his ear as she giggled.

I swallowed slowly as he leaned in and whispered something back to her, brushing his lips against her ear in the process. The same lips that had kissed me yesterday.

I felt strange feeling of hurt wash over me as I realized that I was just another girl that Vinay had almost scored.

"I can see just how much he cares." I muttered under my breath furiously, marching down the corridor before I did something outrageous.

I was the first one in class and Professor Murthy hardly looked up when I greeted him.

I took my usual seat in the second row, it wasn't right under the teacher's nose but close enough for me to listen to every word he said.

Slowly the entire room filled up and Professor Murthy got up to shut the door.

"Good afternoon everyone," he started, clasping his hands as he addressed us, "Now I'm sure most of you have heard of the app designing project you'll have to complete for your final grade in my class."

Dead silence settled over the class, as everyone sat up to listen to the professor. As I had mentioned before, this assignment was one of the most sought after projects of this semester and obviously many people were looking forward to it.

"So each one of you will be divided into groups of three based on a lottery system and unless you have a valid reason, your groups shall not be changed." Professor Murthy continued.

A quiet murmur travelled through the class.

"Ok silence!" Professor thundered, "Now, the detailed explanation of the project requirements shall be mailed to your personal ids. The group segregation will happen today."

He motioned to a large bowl filled with neatly folded chits that he handed to the girl sitting on the far end of the first row to pass around the class.

"Each chit has a number. After each one of you has picked up a chit you will find your respective team members and proceed with the project."

I opened my chit to find a large green two written on it. Shoving the chit into my binder, I uploaded my number onto the class online chat and began looking for other people who had got the same number as me.

Harsh Singhal and Neel Kabra.

I let out a relieved sigh; at least I had Neel with me. And the other name rang a bell but I couldn't quite remember who it was.

"Remember class, that you have until the end of the semester for developing your app. Make it count," Professor Murthy stated, " I will not appreciate overused ideas copied off Quora, and trust me I'll know if you have."

My head was already brimming with ideas and reference books and people to talk to. This was after all my chance to prove my caliber and land a permanent job at TYCHE in the process.

●○●

The day slipped past rather quickly. Neel, Harsh and I had met up in the library after college and had set up meeting dates.

Harsh, I finally remembered, was the same boy that Vinay had punched at the club. He was actually a pretty decent guy. Well, he was an Elon Musk fan like me so I instantly took a liking to him.

Vinay didn't come home after basketball practice. Honestly, I wasn't even worried after he went AWOL last time. I was glad to have the house to myself. The solitude was necessary to help me clear my head.

Not having Vinay anywhere near me for most part of the day was instrumental in forgetting the kiss. As surreal as it had felt to me, it was nothing but a terrible mistake and I was glad I had stopped it before things escalated.

I only saw Vinay in college the next few weeks, usually smoking a joint in the parking lot or on the basketball court since the game season was drawing near.

The unexplainable ache in my chest slowly disappeared completely and I stopped worrying about him.

I started spending more and more time at work, almost forgetting what it felt to be free.

I found myself back at square one.

●○●

Dun dun dun, I'm sorry for being AWOL for so long myself...

Thank you for reading!!❤

Hope you enjoy this chapter because there's a lot more coming and I'm excited!

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