“I have just one regret in my life.”

But noting that he still had his head down, she continued.

“And it's for something that hasn’t even happened yet.”

This caught his attention. He looked at her and she said, “I regret that I won’t be able to attend the concert.”

“The one that will be held here, at the Bowl?” She nodded to his question.

With a smile he said, “Well I thought we were attending it together.”

She rolled her eyes and said, “You and I know that we are not going to keep in touch.”

“Aww, don’t say that,” He chuckled slightly and started teasing her, “Is this because of the kiss? Are you still not over it? Do you want to try it again?”

She playfully hit his arm, “Shut up!” and continued with a sigh, “Besides, I do not feel like coming alone to the concert. I had already imagined us attending together. I’ll save it in my head as a fake memory.”

He smiled at that and imagined it himself. 

“It would have definitely been fun if we could come.”

“Right?!” she smiled with rather excitement.

“But you know I can’t. I have a job and I can’t keep taking leaves.”

“Even I have a job.”

His eyes grew wide at his sudden statement. He realized that he had to do some damage control before it was too late.

“I know. I said so because I…I meant that…”

Watching him struggle, she felt a little bad. She decided to help him out instead of roasting him.

“Even I didn’t mean it in any way for you to fumble. I meant that even I have a job. But I always find time to do the things I love. What is the point in living if you can’t even do that?”

This seemed to hit him hard. She watched as he silently walked with her, thinking to himself. When he failed to speak to her for over a minute, she cleared her throat.

“Oh my god. I depressed you, didn’t I?”

“No. No. I just….” He trailed off.

“You are right. I have known this. But coming from you, tonight…it makes so much sense.”

She stared at him and said, “I think you are hungry. Hunger makes people angry and depressed.”

Watching him smile slightly at her comment, gave her a sense of relief. She searched the insides of her jacket pocket and finally caught hold of it. She pulled it out and said, “Ta da!” 

Her voice caught his attention and he saw her holding something he desperately needed. A candy bar.

They sat on a bench for a much-needed rest. She chewed on the last piece of candy and crushed the wrapper to a ball. He watched as she aimed the wrapper to a dustbin at a considerable distance. She made the shot.

“Wow! Not bad,” he said, appreciating her throw.

“Thankyou!” she took a little bow.

“Do you play basketball?” he asked.

“Of course,” she said, “there is so much you don’t know about me.”

He raised his eyebrow in surprise.

“Okay,” he said, “Alright. Let’s solve that then. Question number 14.”

He turned his body towards her as he kept his feet up on the stone bench.

“Tell me one of your deepest secrets,” he asked her.

“I will answer that if you tell me, why exactly are you travelling to the south?” she asked him.

“Hmm okay. You go first,” he said.

“Oh. Easy,” she said. Then she herself turned to face him, with her feet up on the bench.

“Really? Easy?” he asked feeling genuinely surprised by her reaction to his question. She merely nodded her head in response.

“Okay. Go on,” he encouraged her.

“My secret is that I hate my family.”

Upon her revelation, he waited for the rest to follow. But she just stared at him.

“Who doesn’t? But you have to give me more details.” 

“I mean, I love my family, okay?”

“Who doesn’t? But you gotta give me details.”

She chuckled at his attempt to make the mood lighter. She took a deep breath and began.

“I feel you might have already guessed the reason.” She waited for him until he nodded his head. She continued.

“I am the middle child. And that puts me in a lot of pressure because I do not get much attention. And I had to try hard to get their attention. Parents either care for the eldest one or for the youngest one. The ones in the middle are just there, you know.”

He nodded his head and encouraged her to continue.

“Like I mentioned before, I never had one thing to concentrate on and that left me just, very, average. It did not help that I couldn’t seek anyone’s support to figure it out either. I always got more love from my teachers compared to my own family. Which was why I couldn’t wait to turn eighteen and get out of the house. This was also why I decided to be a teacher myself.”

He smiled when she paused. Returning his smile, she continued, “Now I do whatever I like. I do not need to impress anyone. I can go to places I like. I can make new friends. I can take long strolls in the middle of the night with total strangers.”

He chuckled at this. 

“I can colour my hair blue,” she did a little hair flip.

He sat idle, staring at her with a smile. A smile crept onto her lips as she assessed his gaze.

“What?” she asked.

“You still haven’t told me the complete truth.”