Two of the jokes used in this chapter are not mine. Credits to the owner.

---***---

"No Shravu. I can't put your schoolbag in washing machine. We don't wash bags like that." This little devil spilled soup on his backpack. He smuggled it out of his house, hiding from Santa Claus aunty, and brought it to me for cleaning.

"Miser. I brought Surf Excel too. You don't have to use your detergent." Shravan extracted a fistful of detergent from his shirt pocket. "Here, take this and wash my bag. Don't let grandma know." He handed it over to me.

I looked at the schoolbag in my left hand and the detergent in my right hand. "Shravu?"

"Yes" He settled down on the couch.

"Please don't tell anyone that we are neighbours. I don't want to get beaten up for being your friend." 

"Don't disturb me. I'm reading newspaper." As if he understood the words.

I brought a wet cloth, lemon and salt to remove the stain. I obviously couldn't put it in the washing machine. 

"Deva. Good morning." I heard someone scream from the main gate. It was Uttara.

"Hello. what are you doing here?" I tried to smile.

"Aunty asked me to search for Shravan."

"You could have messaged through WhatsApp now that you have free Wi-Fi. Why come here?" I expected Shravan to laugh at my joke. But he was engrossed in reading.

"I wanted tomatoes. And you obviously couldn't have sent them through WhatsApp." She replied. To my utter dismay, Shravan burst out laughing. Traitor!

"In the fridge. Go, get them." I gave her permission.

"Why? What are you doing?" She saw the bag before I could hide it. An evil grin spread across her face. "Okay. I'll get it myself." She went into the kitchen. "You ordered a pizza? Awesome!" I heard her exclaim after a while.

What have I done! My precious pizza. I didn't want to share it. "This pizza is specifically made for patients with cuts and bruises. Healthy people shouldn't eat it."

"Who said I am healthy?" She emerged from the kitchen with the whole box. I sighed and gave her the smallest slice. She looked dissatisfied. "Okay. I'm going. I'll come back later."

"Feel free not to." I said. She didn't seem to hear me. I got back to work. 

"What is the meaning of accused?" Shravan asked me. 

"A person who is charged with a crime." I replied. He read newspaper everyday to learn new words. A very good practice, in my opinion.

He kept asking meaning of words and I answered everything I could. "What is claus- claustrophobia?"

I heard this word several times. But never bothered to know its meaning. "Does it say claus in the beginning? It is, er, fear of Santa Claus."

"Who fears Santa Claus?"

"I do. I'm dead scared of Santa Claus aunty. Honestly, who wouldn't? I mean she just has to narrow her eyes and I will get nightmares." I chuckled. He chose to remain silent again. "What's wrong with you? Why are you not laughing to my jokes?"

I turned around to see Santa Claus aunty standing by the door. "What are you two idiots doing?"

"He is reading. And I am cleaning stuff." I replied.

"What stuff?" She moved forward. "This is Shravu's schoolbag."

"He said you would punish him if you saw this. That's why I was helping him. Sorry."

"So, you are okay with him lying to his grandmother? You are okay with him covering up his mistakes instead of rectifying them? I didn't believe this when Uttara told me." Aunty scolded me.

"I knew it! She brought you here. Didn't she?" I glared at Uttara. "I hate you." I mouthed in her direction.

"Tell me something I don't know." She grinned shamelessly.

"Hey! It is a song by Selena Gomez. I love it." Shravan, the idiot, blurted out.

"Is this what you do in your free time instead of studying? You both have become exceedingly irresponsible." She started scolding both of us, while we stood with our heads hung low.

"Excuse me?" I heard a sweet voice I could recognize anywhere. It was her. The Social Studies teacher. 

"Hello. Good morning teacher." I greeted her. Except, I wasn't the only one to greet her that way. Shravan uttered the exact same words simultaneously. It was like greeting our teacher in our classroom. I felt stupid.

"Is there any problem? I could come back later." She offered.

"No, no, please. Come inside." I invited her inside, pushing Uttara out of the way. Gently, of course. "Please sit down."

"Thank you." She sat down. "Hello ma'am. How are you?" She spoke with aunty, who introduced her to Uttara.

"Oh! You are the lady who helped the kids from the school bus? Shravan has been speaking about you since yesterday. You have been so responsible and kind." Uttara sat down next to her. I had to squeeze in the single seat with Shravan.

"It is Devansh garu whom you should praise. What he did was really heroic." She replied.

"You know my name?" I was delighted to hear it from her. It sounded much more beautiful with her sweet voice.

"It is written in your driving license." She extracted my license from her bag. "You dropped it in the hospital." She handed it over to me. I realized how ugly I looked in the picture on the license. Would she have seen it? I hoped she didn't.

Before I could speak, Uttara went into the kitchen and got the box of pizza. "Please have some pizza, ma'am."

The teacher politely declined at first. When we insisted, she took the smallest slice. What a well mannered woman. I was about to grab a slice, when the teacher said, "I don't think you should be eating this. You should have something healthy for a few days. Until your wound is healed."

"No, you are mistaken. He ordered this for me and Shravan. He vowed not to eat unhealthy food until he is normal." Uttara stood up with the box in her hand. "You both keep talking. We have some work at home." She left with aunty and Shravan.

I gritted my teeth and smiled. My precious pizza! All gone. 

"It's a nice house, Devansh garu." She said, looking at the well-furnished interior.

"No garu please. Call me Devansh." I wondered whether it was the correct time to ask her name. Would it look creepy I if asked? No. Why would it? I gathered some courage and spoke. "May I--"

"Do you live alone?"

"Yes ma'am. My parents died long ago." I replied. 

"I'm sorry." 

"It's okay ma'am." I shrugged. "What about you? Do you live alone?" 

"I live with my aunt and uncle. Few streets from here."

"Ohh. I'm so sorry about your parents." I said wholeheartedly. I knew how it felt to have no one. I empathized with her.

"No. They are alive." She said in a panicky sort of voice. "They stay in Delhi. They're not de--, I mean, they are very healthy."

"Oh! I'm sorry once again. No, I mean, not because they are healthy. Of course I'm glad that they are healthy. I'm sorry for my behavior." What the Thanos did I just say? So awkward. 

I guess she sensed my discomfort. She changed the subject. "I informed the school authorities about what you did yesterday. They would like to personally thank you."

"Okay. I will go and meet them when the school reopens."

"No. Don't trouble yourself. We will come and meet you here. If you don't mind."

"We? Are you coming too?" I asked excitedly. Oh God! I might have sounded desperate. 

"I won't if you don't want me to." She looked amused.

"No. I didn't mean that. You are always welcome here. I mean, aunty and Shravan will be happy to see you." 

She smiled and stayed silent. Now was the perfect time. "May--"

"I brought snacks." Aunty re-entered the living room. She placed several varieties of snacks on the table. 

"Aunty, thank you so much. These are all so tasty. Just like how my mother makes them." The teacher thanked her. 

"I'll pack some for you in a box." Aunty started packing them.

"No. It's okay, aunty. Please don't trouble yourself." 

"It's nothing. Don't bother returning the box. Return it only when you come this way next time." Aunty emphasized the last part. I gave a small grateful smile in her direction. 

The teacher stood up to leave. "I'll drop you." I offered. 

"No, it's fine. You can't drive with injured arm." Fair point. 

"Devansh, your fridge is empty. You need to buy vegetables." Aunty ordered me.

I frowned. "But I bought vegetables yesterday itself."

"This boy. He doesn't remember anything. It was last week. Not yesterday. Also, you have been indoors since morning. You will feel better if you go out." She looked at me pointedly. I understood.

"Right. I will go." I took the keys to lock the door.

"I will help you." The teacher offered. 

Though courtesy required me to say 'No, it's okay', I couldn't risk it. Not when Santa Claus aunty made such a beautiful plan. "Thank you. That's very kind of you." Calling each other kind sort of became a template of our conversation.

I locked the door and walked slowly. The ground was still damp and uneven. "Ma'am your dupatta. It is touching the ground." I saved her dupatta from getting in contact with the puddle.

"Thank you so much. This is my favourite dress. Couldn't risk ruining it." She held her dupatta in her hand.

"We always keep thanking each other." I pointed out.

"What's wrong with expressing gratitude? It creates a good impression." She started picking fresh vegetables for me.

She was right. I made a mental note to thank everyone from today. "May I--"

"Give me the cloth bag you brought." She took the bag and filled it with vegetables. "There you are. Hold it with your left hand. I'll take your leave now." She gave the bag to me and started walking away.

"MayIknowyourname?" I almost shouted.

"I didn't get that."

"May I, er, know your, your..." My voice disowned me.

"Name?" She seemed to have understood.

"Yes." I nodded.

"Prakruthi Deeksha Swaminathan" She answered.

What a soothing name! Perfectly suited her. 

Before I could tell her how beautiful her name was, she waved at me and turned around. I sighed and started walking towards my home, slowly. 

No sooner had I reached the exit of the shop, than it started raining. 

---***---