Ritik's POV:

"What are you thinking about?" Viraj asked as he came and sat nex to me in his class. I didn't attend any of my lectures last week because of the football practice, we have a matching coming in and I wish to win it. I had no intentions of attending the lecture today as well however mom freaked out yesterday when she got to know about my attendance. I thought I will have a good one or two hours lecture from her however she just made me understand how important studies is and how should I learn to balance both. She was right about everything that she said, so here was, waiting for the teacher to come.

"Your question is only wrong. You should ask, whom are you thinking about?" Sakshi butted in.

Kia

"Even your question is wrong. You should ask when I'm not thinking about her?" I answered and saw her shook her head.

"You are whipped."

Kia is worth getting whipped for.

"All ok? You look tense." Viraj asked again.

"Not really tensed, I'm not happy." I answered. Sakshi and Viraj inquired further, so I told them everything that was running in my mind.

"Me and Kiara, when we were friends, she was very different. In a good way ofcourse. She was bold, fierce, cute, naughty, caring and super lovable. Even when we had arguments, I was the one who couldn't resist talking to her. That's the level of magic she had in herself. Now it's just seems too lost, too different and too difficult to understand."

"What do you mean exactly? You don't find her bold, fierce and cute anymore?" Sakshi asked. Idiot.

"I'm not talking about that. She is still the cutest but is changed, a lot actually. Don't get me wrong, I love her ... it's just that I miss that Kia more and I don't know why but I feel like she didn't change...I lost her."

"And why are you saying this?" Viraj asked.

"I don't know but I have this thought." I shrugged.

"Maybe you can speak to her. If you think that she is changed, there has to be some reason right? Something that must have happened in the past, Ask her about it." Sakshi suggested.

Reason? For some good 10-15 seconds, I felt sick even by thinking that she changed because something happened to her when I was not with her but then I tried to divert my mind from it.

"Good afternoon students." The teacher announced cheerfully.

"We will talk about it later, don't think too much. " Sakshi said, I nodded and tried concentrating on the lecture.

Once it was done, I took out my mobile and saw Kiara's missed call. Damn. There were also 4 messages from her so I went to check them first.

'Hi Richie rich,
I know you would see this message in evening so I decided to call but seems you are busy.

I won't be coming to college today. Don't worry, all ok. It's just that I'm very bored and sleepy.

Take care and call me when you are free.'

Ah, I missed her already.

"Are you going to meet Kiara now?" Sakshi asked. I informed her about the message and also about my plan of attending all the lectures today.

"Do you talk with Nia?"

Sometimes.

"Not much, why?" I asked.

"Haven't seen you guys talk." Sakshi replied.

"Ok. She seems very busy these days. I tried calling her but we couldn't talk much."

Sakshi didn't ask anything after that and concentrated on the lecture whereas I thought about her question again. It's strange how people are good friends at one point and then everything changes between them. Speaking about Nia, I considered her as a good friend, I still do but we don't talk anymore. I won't say that she is ignoring me or something but we are just too busy with our lives however that doesn't mean that we should stop talking. I tried staying in touch but I didn't get the same energy from her. Now a days, she is always with Akshay. When Kiara told me about his crush on her, I was genuinely happy to see them together however soon I figured that they are still in talking stage.

"I swear I didn't mean anything wrong by asking that question." Sakshi interuptted my thoughts. Am I so predictable or was I too loud with my thoughts?

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing. Stop thinking too much." She said slapping my arm. I looked at Viraj however he wasn't paying any attention.

"Let's go home." I announced after the third lecture. We had one more to go but I knew I couldn't, even if I try. Viraj laughed and together we came out.

"Bye guys, I will see you tomorrow." I said and started by bike only to go and stop outside my home.

"You shut up." Was something I heard the moment I stepped inside. Mom looked worried whereas dad was working on his laptop. I signalled him to know what was wrong however he replied saying that it's nothing and passed his fruit plate to me.

"Hi mom." I greeted and saw her nod. I guess, she is really worried about something but why is dad so chill? Knowing dad, he is someone who would do anything for the happiness of his loved one's. Whenever mom is angry or upset over something, he doesn't stops until he makes her smile again but today it was very different.

After five more minutes, Dad got up and went towards the dining table where mom was sitting. He knelt in front of her and took her hand in his.

"Will you calm down. I had a word with the bank, they will block it's usage. No money has been deducted till now, so please relax." He explained.

"Dad, what happened?" I asked and came to know that mom lost her purse. She had her credit card in it & some cash and since the time she came home, she had been crying about it.

Oh no.

"It's ok mom. As dad said, we can block the card's usage. You don't have to worry much about it." I said as I sat beside her. She didn't reply anything, I know she would in sometime so I sat there silently.

"It's not ok Ritik. It's the second time that I did this mistake. I don't know how I became so careless."

"People make mistakes but they learn from their past. The past changes a lot of things and here I'm repeating the same mistakes again." She said further.

"My love, you didn't do it purposely. Moreover, if I'm not upset about it, even you shouldn't. Now let's go upstairs, you need to rest." Dad said as he made her stand and took her to their room only after assuring me that everything is ok and even I shouldn't think much about it.

I took dad's laptop and saw the bank's mail confirming that they have blocked the card. I informed it to dad and went to my room. While connecting my phone to charger, I saw Kiara's message and realised that I didn't reply to her earlier text.

'How rude, you ignored my messages.' Her text said.

"Sorry, I was in mid of a lecture. Just came home. Will call you in a while." I replied.

As I laid on my bed, I remembered mom's earlier words.

'The past changes a lot of things'

I don't know why but I couldn only picture Kiara before my eyes everytime that sentence popped in my head. As Sakshi said, if there was something that happened in the past which changed Kiara, I should find it out.

"Wanna meet?" I texted Kiara.

"Bold of you to assume I will say no, tell me where to?" She replied immediately. I told her the address and also informed her that I will pick her up in twenty minutes.

"Where are you going?" Aashika asked stopping my way.

"To meet someone." I replied.

"Kiara?" She asked back. I just raised a eyebrow at her, I mean I love my sister but don't like when she tries to be like she is the eldest and has to know everything about me.

"I saw you guys yesterday."

"Please don't start it again." I stated and moved from there until I heard her next sentence.

"I know you guys are together."

"Good for you." I replied and went away from there.

Soon I reached outside Kiara's home, not exactly infront of it.. some five minutes away from her home and saw her already standing there. She was busy on call however the moment she saw me coming, she kept her mobile in her pocket and got inside the car.

"Good evening." She greeted.

"Evening." I replied.

"What's wrong? You look angry."

"Nothing much. Aashika got to know about us." I replied.

"Is there a problem?" She asked. Kiara was worried and it clearly evident on her face.

"Ofcourse not. You don't have to worry about it." I assured however instead of replying she just nodded and started looking out of the window.

"Kiu, what happened?"

"Like Aashna aunty, even aashika wanted you to be with Nia." Kia replied, her eyes were still glued outside.

"Like your Aashna aunty's son, even Aashika's brother wanted to be with you and will always be with you." I replied, this time Kiara did spare me a glance and ended up smiling.

"I love you so much." She said squeezing my arm tightly.

"Idiot." I replied and saw her smile more.

Soon we reached outside a coffee shop and got settled. There were not many people sitting there but I spotted one of my dad's friend sitting on the extreme corner with his wife. He waved at me and I did the same before settling down. If Aashika knows about us, I don't think it will be hidden from mom and dad. How will they react?

"I thought I'm the only one who is always lost in thoughts turns out you are giving me equal competition."

"You are overthinking. I wasn't lost in any thoughts." I replied.

"Whatever. So tell me, why did you ask me to meet you? Were you missing me so much?" Kiara asked as she rested her face between her hands, her raised eyebrows mocking me.

"Weren't you?"

"No, I was sleeping." Kia giggled.

"Before you get angry, I was kidding. I did miss you, not much but I did and now tell me what happened?"

"I wanted to ask you something, will you answer it honestly?" I asked and saw her nod.

"The day when we talked about us and our past and I told you that I thought our feelings were mutual but you started being with people I asked you to stay away from, why did you say that you regretted it?"

"Why are you asking this?" Kiara asked Instead of answering my question.

"Don't get me wrong but I wish to know what changed, what made you change." I replied, to which she just smiled and continued.

"I have been cheated so many times from my close friends, Ritik. There came a moment where I couldn't trust anyone. You know I loved talking to new people, making friends but I don't feel that anymore. I do talk with many people but they are not my friends."

I wished to ask more but she didn't looked comfortable, so I decided to let it go. When we stopped talking Kiara had many friends whom I don't see with her now. I even checked her social media but none of them were connected with her.

"You have more questions, don't you?"

"No, it's ok. We will talk about it some other day." I replied however Kiara forced me to ask it.

Go for it Ritik, it's the only way you can find out the truth.

After the lectures, I was with Viraj. He took me with him to meet his cousin who studies in other college. Kiara was with me but she left soon as she had to meet Anika. After she left, he told me something about her which broke my heart totally. I refused to believe it as I never heard of it from anyone. More than what happened with Kiara, I was hurt to know that I was not with her at that moment.

"Anything and all yours." Kiara said as she rested her hand on mine.

"What happened between you and Yash?" I asked and saw her immediately remove her hand from mine.

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