Somehow, I woke up really early in the morning. I tried to sleep forcefully, but my eyes kept opening by themselves. Accepting defeat, I got up and did all activities in low volume because my family was still asleep.

After I was done preparing breakfast and packing tiffins for my parents, my niece, and myself, I went upstairs and took in the view from my terrace.

The sun was yet to rise, and the night was waving goodbye as its dark blanket was slowly getting removed from the sky inch by inch. Small houses covered in tin swarmed the land beyond my eyes could see, and random heads kept appearing between the gaps in the streets.

A light breeze passed, and I took a deep breath. It had been a long time since I got to spend some alone time. I eyed my secret place and crawled inside the small area.

But this time, instead of sticking myself into my mobile screen and daydreaming about my idol, I replayed the events from past weeks; from auditioning to actually getting on the same team as my dance idol, everything felt like a dream.

A lot of things that happened were nerve-wracking, but I was happy to experience them. My memories with my teammates and mentors were hilarious, but there was one person with whom my interactions were not what I had expected them to be.

Tejas...

Before meeting him and talking to him personally, I freely called him TJ just like others did; I watched every video of his; checked every post on his social networking sites; tried to copy every dance moves he did no matter how difficult they were; build fake scenarios where I was performing with him; even did the stupidity of dreaming about me confessing to him.

Now it feels like that if I even watch a video of his, he will frown at me from the mobile screen. The way his eyes freeze, his face becomes emotionless, and his lips twist a little before settling into a thin line whenever he sees me - all of it make me regret trying to get close to him.

Before Tejas got to know me, he at least would have treated me like he treated others, but now, expecting him to even talk normally to me seems impossible. Am I that hopeless? Will I never get a chance to tell him how much he has inspired me? How much more do I need to improve?

You are again wasting time thinking about useless stuff, Bhoomi.

It is not useless, okay? I am trying to find the cause behind Tejas's behaviour towards me.

And what did you find after torturing your brain? Why are you continuously thinking about why Tejas does not like you?

Why can't I?

Because, Bhoomi, what if he has no reason at all?

Excuse me? What do you my mean?

I mean what if Tejas just doesn't like you? Is it always mandatory to have a reason to not like someone? Don't you also feel the same sometimes when you meet a new person or see a random human? Either you like them or not. What's the need to make this issue so big?

So... you want to say that Tejas doesn't like me, and I won't ever find the reason behind it because there is none?!

Exactly 😉

"Stupid inner voice, you are of no use!" I yelled in frustration.

"Bhoomi, come down!" Mom shouted.

I instantly got up and went downstairs. Instead of getting a scolding, I was praised by Mom for cooking food in advance.

"Maa, it is not such a big deal that you are thanking me," I said cheekily.

She smiled and asked me why Akshay hadn't arrived yet to drag me to the railway station. I was also amazed because it was maybe the first time that my bestie was not eating free breakfast at my home.

"I am already done, so I will go to his house," I said and picked up my backpack.

My niece, Srishti, was getting ready for school, so I pulled her pony and ran off before she could counter-attack. Behind me, I heard my family laughing as Srishti threatened me that she would take revenge once I return.

I walked a few metres and reached Akshay's home. As soon as I opened the door, Akki's ten-year-old brother, Rahul, crashed into me.

"Seriously?" I winced in pain.

Instead of apologizing, Rahul got up swiftly and jumped on his siblings. I looked at my best friend and his three siblings disappointingly.

"I will beat your guys to a pulp!" Akki yelled.

"As if we will let you!" Rahi, his fourteen-year-old sister, retorted.

"Yeah!" Akshay's twelve-year-old sister, Meera, added.

While both sisters were busy attacking their eldest brother from front and back, their younger brother was busy snatching the shoe box from Akshay's hands.

Why are they fighting each other for that shoe box? Does it have any expensive sweets in it?

My eyes lit up on that thought, and I joined the raid. I held Rahul by his waist and pulled him with all of my strength.

"Apply more power, Bhoomi Didi!" Rahi adviced.

"How can you betray me, Boom Boom Boomer?" Akshay accused.

The more we tried to get the shoe box out of Akshay's grip, the more powerful he got.

"What exactly are you hiding, Akki? If you dare to eat tasty snacks without us, how can we let you do so? What is in this shoe box that you are laying down your life for it? Just show us!" I complained.

Akshay's vision darkened. "Hell no! I have had enough of you all."

As Akshay's siblings and I put all of our efforts to take the box from him, he took a deep breath and went into beast mode.

First of all, he threw Meera off his waist with one hand, and then shook off Rahi off his back. Finally, he knocked down Rahul and me in two hits. While we were recovering, Akshay placed the shoe box on top of the old cupboard and turned around to face us.

He was panting heavily, and we thought that he had no strength left, but he cracked his knuckles and eyed each one of us like a predator.

"Now who will save you from me?" he threatened. "You dared to mess with your elder brother, didn't you? I will show what you get in return for that."

As soon as Akki transformed into a scary older brother, his siblings started the blame game and hid in different corners to protect themselves. Alas, it was useless.

I thought I was watching National Geographic. One by one, Akshay grabbed his sisters and brother and gave them the beatings of the century. Within minutes, Rahi, Meera, and Rahul were red and purple, tears covering their faces.

"Sorry, Bhaiyya," Rahi begged. "Don't tell Mummy about this."

Akshay shook his head. "If that shoe box moves even an inch from its place, you will experience the real terror. I am not joking."

The three kids nodded and looked at me.

"Bhoomi Didi was also helping us. Are you going to let her go? Don't you think it is unfair that only we got thrashed?" Meera said, and Rahul agreed.

"You little..." I almost cursed.

"You are right, Meera," Akshay smiled cynically.

When his gaze landed on me, my body automatically turned towards the door, but Akshay grabbed my neck into a headlock.

"Is this how a best friend behaves?" Akshay complained and punched me on the back. "It was already 3 vs 1, and you joined them into attacking me?"

"But why won't you let us see what's inside that shoe box?" I asked.

"What else would be in it? There are shoes!"

I couldn't believe my ears. I glared at Akshay's siblings. "You idiots were fighting over shoes? I thought there was something to eat."

"I didn't know you are this much stupid, Didi," Rahul commented.

Within a split-second, I was out of Akshay's hold - I grabbed Rahul and smacked him on the back.

"Is this how you repay me for helping you instead of my best friend?" I asked, and Rahul gulped nervously.

I happily made his fear come true and beat him up. As informed by his sisters, it was Rahul's idea to go against their elder brother.

After seeing his sisters stand against him, Rahul started arguing with them, and soon, the whole house was echoing by their screams and shoutings.

"Aren't we getting late for college?" Akshay pondered as he enjoyed his siblings wrestle each other.

"Of course, we are," I said.

We entertained ourselves for some more time and then left after Akshay once more reminded his younger siblings about his warning.

As we padded through the small wet streets, we heard different levels of commotion from neighbouring houses.

Akshay and I glanced at each other and burst out laughing.

"I wish I also had a younger sibling," I said.

Akshay shook his head vigorously. "Don't dream about such stuff. It is a lot of hard work to look after them."

"Don't know about that, but I would have loved to thrash my younger sibling."

"I think the situation would have been completely opposite."

"Akki!"

Akshay laughed, and I pinched his cheek. Dhara Di and I also used to fight when we were kids, but we had a huge age gap between us. The moment I was the size to have a proper WWE match with her, she got married. And after that, I was left alone. Even though I had Akshay's siblings to experiment on, I missed my sister a lot.

Mom would always scold me and Dhara Di whenever we fought since she was always worried about us getting our faces scarred. For her, the only priority at that time was to get Dhara Di married.

"Thinking about Dhara Didi?" Akshay asked as we landed inside the train.

I nodded. "I wish I could go back in time."

Akshay patted my back. "Everything will be alright."

While Akshay came up with plans to torture his siblings if they tried anything behind his back, I enjoyed the scenery as our local train took us to our destination.

Once we reached our college, we ran towards the classroom because the lecture was about to start. On our way, we had to stop as Suhana called us. I got blinded by her beauty once again; even though she was wearing just a simple white crop-top and light blue mini skirt, she looked like a top model.

"Hi, Akshay," Suhana smiled, and after she was done staring at my best friend like she was eyeing her favourite candy, she glanced at me.

"Hi, Bhoomi," she said.

"Hello, Suhana," I replied, but before I could even complete my dialogue, Suhana moved her attention back to the shy guy beside me.

"Good morning, Suhana," Akki replied in a low voice, his eyes shifting between her face and his feet.

Suhana gave a once over to Akshay and sighed. "Did I get the wrong size?"

"No, Suhana, they fit perfectly," Akshay replied instantly.

What are they talking about exactly?

Suhana beamed in joy. "Really? Then why aren't you wearing them? You didn't like them?"

Akshay scratched his neck awkwardly. "I liked them a lot, but...."

Suhana waited for his response, but when she saw that Akshay was getting nervous, she dismissed the topic.

"Well, I am satisfied as long as you like them." She smiled brightly.

She excused herself when her phone rang, and as she left for her own lecture, I noticed my friend tracking her till we could no longer see her. It was a new experience to see Akshay looking at a girl other than his friends for that long.

"Shall we go to our class?" I asked.

Akshay nodded even though his reaction was really slow. After he got his senses back, we continued on our original path.

We spotted Arushi already seated in the class and waited for her to scold us like it was our daily routine, but surprisingly, she didn't react at all.

Akshay and I sat down on our seats, and still, Arushi didn't bother with us. Her head was buried inside a book, and after seeing her concentration, I was sure she was mentally not present here.

Gathering courage, I shifted closer to her and asked for her attention. She shooed me off. I tried again, and she asked me what I wanted without looking at me. I poked her cheek to check if it was actually my best friend and not some doppelganger.

It was the first time that Arushi didn't have her notes and assignments already laid down for us to take.

"Aru, I need to copy your assignments," I said.

"Just a minute," she replied absentmindedly.

That one minute turned into fifteen minutes, and when Arushi finally closed the book, there was a divine glow on her face. She kept staring into the distance with a content smile.

"So beautiful and heartwarming," she mumbled.

I snapped my fingers in front of her face. "Aru, what's wrong with you? Did you pull an all-nighter again?"

Arushi giggled and looked at me. "Isn't that obvious?"

I pulled her hair. "Stop acting so melodramatic, and give me your notes already."

Akshay and I exchanged curious glances when Arushi laughed her heart out. We let her be, and once she calmed down, I asked her why she was acting weirdly.

"Arushi, are you alright?" Akki asked.

Arushi smiled at us like a mother. "I am feeling really amazing right now, and as for the assignment, I am sorry I didn't do it."

"What?!" Akki and I yelled in shock.

"You heard it right."

And like that, Arushi ignored us and got lost in another book. I wanted to pull her hair again, but Akshay stopped me as our lecturer arrived.

The change in Arushi's behaviour was alarming, so I kept an eye on her during the lecture. While Akshay and I were diligently paying attention in the class, our ever-so studious friend was continuously glancing at her phone every ten seconds.

And when the lecture ended, she shot up from her seat and started leaving, but we stopped her.

"Aru, I didn't understand a topic. Can you please explain it?" Akshay asked and showed her the textbook.

Arushi quickly threw her backpack on her shoulder and adjusted her specs. "I am busy, Akki. Why don't you come to my house tonight for studies?"

Before Akshay could react, Arushi vanished from our sight.

"Was that really our Arushi?" Akshay wondered.

"I also can't believe what happened," I said.

Akshay and I exited the classroom and discussed about what lessons we were going to cover. While I was seriously talking about the subject I disliked, Akshay's eyes were roaming all over the campus.

"Akki, idiot, I am talking to you. Why are you looking elsewhere?" I complained.

He smacked me on the head. "I am listening to you."

"No, you are not!" I punched him back.

"Boomer!"

"Hey, stop calling me that already!"

Akshay squeezed my arm. "It wasn't me."

Getting confused, we looked around us. I facepalmed when Mahreen Zaid, one of Tejas's friends, yelled that nickname again.

"Hey, Boomer!"

Ugh, not again...