Veer, Sid and Lucas shared the same hostel room while Pari was their neighbour. She was staying alone, waiting for a new vacant as her previous roommate vacated after completing her course. Sometimes Bani used to stay over at Pari's place without her father's knowledge as Pari was a senior for Bani at their high school and they were best friends since then but Veer and Lucas were not aware of it.

On a friday afternoon, Bani slumped down in her chair after attending 5 hours of continuous lecture and rested her head between her arms on the table. She felt someone ruffling her hair and swatted away the hand furiously, earning a soft groan in return. She looked up to see Veer staring at her while rubbing his hand.

"What do you want now?" She asked in an annoyed tone.

"What happened to you? We were waiting for you in the cafeteria but you are still sitting here." He frowned and pushed her aside by sitting next to her. Bani slid away from her seat with an exasperated groan.

"Can you please leave me alone for some time?"

"Why? Hey wait, show me your face." He held her chin and turned her towards him as he saw a bruise at the corner of her lips. "Wtf! What happened to your face? Who did this?" He asked, caressing the bruise and she hissed in pain.

She pushed his hand away and leaned against the table again, turning away from him. "That bitch's mother slapped me today morning." She mumbled softly and Veer clenched his fist as two weeks ago he learned from Pari on how that Jaanvi and her mom used to torture Bani at home.

"Why?" He asked, controlling the rage forming within him.

"I punched that bitch last night for hiding her boyfriend in my room when father was there so this morning she complained to her mom and made her slap me for breaking the nose of her precious daughter." She explained, looking away from him. He cupped her face softly in his palms and made her turn to him.

"You should've punched her mom instead of her." He gritted his teeth, making Bani suppress her smile. Bani had started liking the way he care for her just like Sid or Arjun do but she wouldn't admit that to him.

"Alright. I will do as you say, bro." She said, pressing her lips to control herself from laughing at the reaction he was giving her. He took his hands away from her face.

"Not that bro again." He groaned frustratedly while Bani laughed at his grumpy face. Veer started gazing at her admiringly when he realised her laughing freely for the first time when he's around her. Before that she used to get annoyed whenever he tried to initiate a casual conversation with her.

"Bani?"

"Hmm?" She stopped laughing when she saw him gazing at her. She composed herself and turned away from him.

"Am I making you uncomfortable?" He asked out of the blue and Bani gave him a nervous smile.

"No, but I'm just feeling more conscious of myself when you are around me." She spoke, staring at the wall behind him.

"Why?"

"I don't know. Maybe because you're my brother's friend." She shrugged.

Veer hummed and lowered his head, looking at the table in front of him. Bani turned to him and nudged him.

"Tell me about your family."

"Huh? My family?" Veer asked, clearly taken aback by her unexpected question. Bani nodded at him and he smiled at her. "My family is residing at Mumbai, India. I have a grandpa, mom, dad, 2 younger brothers and a younger sister who is the last member of our family. I'm the eldest son for my parents and can be said as the weirdest too as I'm the only one who chose medicine instead of business since my grandpa, dad and my first brother chose to look after our family business."

"You're rich, right? I heard that Singhanias are one of the billionaires in India."

"Maybe." He shrugged carelessly.

Bani went silent after that and started staring into space with so many thoughts running in her mind while Veer gazed at her, scrutinizing her facial features.

Bani opened her mouth to say something and he straightened himself to focus on what she was going to say. "I'm missing my mom. My brothers are lucky as they could still remember her face and voice but I don't. She passed away when I was 3 and I don't know why my father discarded all the pictures belong to my mom. Maybe his second wife could've asked him to do so but I'm really missing my mom a lot. Ajju used to say that I resemble my mom a lot. Ajju..... hmm he left home 6 years ago when dad forced him to choose medicine instead of business but he's still in touch with me and Siddhu as always. He's staying with my maternal grandpa while looking after his business." She said, smiling sadly.

"Ajju means Arjun, right?"

"Yes."

"How's your relationship with your father?" Veer asked and Bani's face turned pale.

"He doesn't like me. He likes Jaanvi more than me even though she's not his own daughter. He got married to her mom when Jaanvi was 6."

"Wait, your mom passed away when you were 3 and since Jaanvi is 3 years older than you, it means your dad got married to her mom right after your mother left y'all?" Veer asked, making her scratch her neck uncomfortably.

"Sid once told me that our mom passed away after father got married to that woman."

"Ermm that....that's just.... ermm leave it." He struggled to make a right sentence to comfort her as he couldn't contemplate how sensitive topic it could be for her.

"Well, I have to go for the practice now so bye." She said, hastily pushing him aside and grabbed her bag before running away from there.

Veer smiled at her but soon his jaw tightened when he remembered how that Jaanvi tricked her mom against Bani and made a mental note to teach her a lesson for hurting Bani.

Two days later, the boys who were walking back to their room after having dinner with their friends outside the campus, stopped when they heard loud giggles from Pari's room. Sid knocked the door and soon the door opened, revealing Bani there. His eyes widened when he saw her still being at Pari's room when it was 10:50pm.

"Hey doll, what are you doing here until now? Aren't you going back home tonight?" He asked Bani and she shook her head no.

"No, Siddhu. Father has gone to LA for two days so I'm going to stay here with Pari tonight and tomorrow." Bani explained him and Sid breathed a sigh of relief as he knew how their sadistic father had scolded Bani the last two nights when she stayed over at the hostel.

"Why didn't you tell us earlier about it? We would've taken you two along to the dinner just now." Veer said, grabbing Bani's attention.

"No, it's okay. Pari cooked for us and we already had our dinner." Bani said and Pari nodded at them.

"Oh okay then, have fun girls." Sid said, ruffling Bani's hair and walked into his room along with Lucas while Veer stood there gazing at Bani with a soft smile on his face.

"What?" Pari asked when she saw him still standing there like a rock.

"What, what?" He asked back and she shook her head annoyedly.

"Go back to your room. Why are you still here?" She asked and Bani bit her inner cheeks to control her smile.

"It's my wish. None of your business." He snapped at her and turned towards Bani with a loopy grin.

"Hmm ice cream?" He suggested and Bani's smile widened.

"Where?"

"Come with me." He winked at her and she rolled her eyes at him playfully.

"Give me 2 minutes." She said, quickly rushing back into the room.

Soon she came out wearing a sweater and her hair was tied up into a bun. "Beautiful as always." He whispered to her and she froze at her spot, feeling goosebumps all over her body when his hot breath fell on her ear.

Ajju once said that if a guy make me feel goosebumps then I should stay away from him.
Hmm what should I do now? Can I trust Veer?

"Bani?" Veer called, seeing her being lost in her thoughts.

"Hmm I'm sorry I forgot that I'm having sore throat. I don't want ice cream now." She said, giving him a sheepish smile and turned to run back to her room.

"Bani, wait!" He grabbed her wrist to stop her but she instantly pulled her hand back from his grip.

Veer opened his mouth to say something but stopped when they heard Sid's voice. "What are you both doing here?" He asked, raising his eyebrow and Bani grabbed his arm, dragging him away from there.

"What happened, princess?" Sid asked, being concerned.

"Siddhu, he is calling me out for ice cream. Shall I go with him?"

"You want to eat ice cream now?" He asked back and she nodded at him with a pout. "Then go. Why are you asking my permission?" He added.

Bani opened her mouth but closed immediately when she saw Veer looking at her. She smiled at him sheepishly and dragged Sid a little far away from there.

"Just now he whispered something near my ear and I felt goosebumps all over my body. Do you think it's still safe to go alone with him?" She asked confusedly and Sid couldn't help but laugh at her childishness.

"Why are you laughing now?" She hit on his bicep with a frown.

"Doll, you can go with him. Don't worry he is a good guy and you will always be safe with him." Sid assured her and she breathed a sigh of relief.

"Okay then I'm going to have ice cream now." She said, running back to Veer enthusiastically.

"Let's go now." She said to Veer and they started walking but stopped when they heard Sid again.

"Take care of our sister, Veer." Sid shouted and Veer turned to give him a death glare.

"Sure, I will take care of YOUR sister!" He replied back, showing his middle finger to Sid when Bani wasn't looking at him. Sid laughed at him before going back to his room.

"What were you telling him there?" Veer asked and Bani fidgeted with her fingers nervously.

"Nothing."

"I know there's something. Tell me."

"No, it's nothing important for you to know." She shrugged and started walking faster while Veer jogged behind her to match her steps.

They reached the nearby ice cream shop and ordered their favourite flavours.

"You like mint ice cream?" Veer asked while tasting his vanilla ice cream.

"Yes. Ajju said it's my mom's favorite flavour too."

Veer gave her a genuine smile and decided to change the topic as she was looking lost again. "Shall we sit there? My legs are hurting for standing too much today." He asked, pointing at the roadside bench. Since it was late in the night, the road had no vehicles except some people walking here and there.

Bani agreed with him and they sat while devouring their favourite ice cream. Bani was focusing on her ice cream while Veer was focusing on her. He smiled seeing some of the cream on her nose.

He took out his handkerchief and was about to give her but Bani wiped it off with a tissue, making him pout disappointedly.

"Your ice cream is melting already. Can you stop staring at me and start eating it?" She asked and he looked at her surprised as she didn't even glance at him for once but she noticed how he was staring at her.

Control yourself, Veer. She might run away again if you behave like a creep.
He warned himself.

"Hey, I want to taste your ice cream. Can I?" He asked with a teasing smile playing on his lips. He thought she wouldn't agree but to his surprise, she forwarded her ice cream cone to him.

Veer leaned forward to lick her ice cream but she instantly pulled back, making him glare at her playfully.

"I don't like sharing my ice cream, brother." She giggled, emphasizing the last word and he murmured some colourful words under his breath.

"Okay, sweetheart." Veer winked at her and she widened her eyes.

"Sweetheart? Why are you calling me using that word? You can't call me that!" She scowled at him.

"I will. I've told you many times to don't call me bro but you are doing it purposely so from now on I will call you sweetheart purposely too."

"Huh? You're crazy. I'm not talking to you!" She said, turning away from him angrily.

"Okay fine. I'm not talking to you too." Veer replied back, mirroring her action while suppressing his smile.

She started crunching the ice cream cone furiously and Veer turned to her, pressing his lips firmly to avoid smiling at her antics.

"Okay, I'm sorry. I will talk to you." He said, poking on her arm.

"I'm sorry too. I won't call you bro again." She mumbled with a pout and he chuckled at her.

"You're so cute." He said, pulling her cheek and she swatted his hand away, making him laugh at her grumpy face.

From that day onwards, whenever Bani stayed over at Pari's place, Veer never missed the chance to take her to the ice cream shop until one day she started avoiding him completely. She started behaving like his presence was not visible to her and whenever he tried initiating a conversation with her, she always found ways to escape from there by giving him some silly reasons. They were back to square one again and this didn't go unnoticed by Sid as he could see the happy-go-lucky Veer slowly turning into a disturbed and gloomy one.

Happy Weekend darlingsssss ♥️💙💜💚