Unexpected

As expectations drown you in a pool of disappointment, some surprises leave you so baffled, that it changes your life upside down..

**

As she continued doodling random things in her notebook, completely oblivious to the lectures being delivered by Mr. Waylon, her mind kept wandering about the unfinished task.

A sign of disappointment spread over her face as she recalled last night.

How unexpected it was to discover that mysterious key, that unusual way.

How she thought she would have all the night to herself to unfurl the things that the wooden box contained.

But alas! It turned out to be such a waste!

Her mother had barged into her room with her favorite hot chocolate and intervened at her mission.

.

That didn't shatter Khushi at all though.

Until of course she came to know that her mom would be sleeping with her, hence pouring water over her plan completely.

She was her mother after all.

But Khushi wished she realized that she wasn't a toddler any more but a grown up adult and the cold wasn't really going to kill her.

Adrienne somehow needed to get over her habit of being overprotective about her kids, but Khushi guessed she was expecting too much and hence, her fervent wishes were nothing but her own wishful thinking!

.

As the events of last night resurfaced in her mind, she let out a deep sigh and found Mr. Waylon still explaining that same line where she had lost track of him moments ago.

Not that she didn't like his lectures, but the Bernard Shaw's write-up he was critically analyzing at this moment, was done by her long back.

She considered herself fortunate enough for the same, as it lent her a few minutes of personal solitude, to think about other things.

.

But then, she ultimately headed nowhere as nothing seemed to work out at the moment.

What added more to her boredom was that she couldn't see the devil, Arnav anywhere in the class.

Though his peculiar girlfriend was present in the class, seated in her usual place.

She even shared a smile with Khushi early morning before the class was about to start.

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"Weird!"

Khushi muttered to herself as she recalled Judith's greeting from early morning.

.

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"Hey! So enjoyed last night?"

She heard Thomas asking, with a smile etched on his face and her solitude was immediately broken.

"Mmhmm.."

She simply nodded, uninterested.

.

"So I heard you fell sick last night. How are you now?"

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"Who told you that?"

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"Well, Mason did."

At the mention of this name, Khushi turned her head to look at Mase, who was sitting adjacent to her.

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"You!"

She gave Mason a why-are-you-always-hell-bent-on-publicity look.

In return, Mase shrieked with glee, aggravating her anger even more.

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"I'm fine now Thomas. Thank you."

She replied to the guy with the weird hair-do.

He smiled at Khushi sheepishly before turning back to jot down the notes.

.

.

As she looked outside the window, the dark clouds still continued to dominate the endless horizon.

It seemed as if she had so much to do, yet nothing to do.

All this while, two thoughts occupied her mind completely.

First, the key.

Second, Arnav Sciaronne Ray.

.

And unfortunately there was no way she could prioritize either of them.

She didn't know which weighed more on the basis of importance and urgency, but both were absolutely indispensable.

She glanced at her wrist watch to see for how long she had to endure the lectures of Mr. Waylon.

9.45 am

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"Hmph. 15 minutes more."

She sighed.

Khushi didn't have any plans of attending the other classes after this one.

Right now, there was nothing more important than her getting home and opening that freaking box!

Moreover, there was no chance of the devil showing up today.

He had never missed the first period and it was but obvious for him not to come today, especially when just fifteen minutes were remaining for the class to get over.

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Jazz won't be back until 5 pm from school and Mom won't be returning until 8 pm.'

I would have the entire house to myself and I can execute my ideas properly without any hindrance.'

.

She calculated and estimated the obvious situations and finally got hold of her dancing thoughts.

Convinced with her theories and looking as anxious as ever, she paid her attention at Mr. Waylon, as if suddenly interested in his boring lectures.

For a fine five minutes, her eyes remained fixed on the blackboard where he wrote some stuff, when suddenly a familiar scent revived her senses.

.

This time she didn't feel the urge to question herself about what it was..

Who it was..?

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Her sight shifted to the entrance door of the classroom, and as expected, she saw Arnav standing there.

Wearing a light blue tee shirt and black pants, he had his grey jacket draped over his shoulders, his hair gelled from front as always.

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"Arnav Sciaronne Ray! There is just seven minutes remaining for the class to get over! Why are you here now? To just show your overrated charming face?"

Mr. Waylon remarked angrily.

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For some reason, Khushi felt a tinge of anger towards this teacher.

Though she knew how right he was, yet an unknown stream of anguish ran in her veins as she found him throwing tantrums on the devil.

The very same guy, who hurt her.

The very same guy, who saved her.

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Arnav on the other hand, didn't even bother replying anything to the middle-aged man, their teacher, as he continued everywhere else but him.

That was so rude.

This guy was seriously making Khushi restless as well as agitated.

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Her mouth flung open in surprise as she heard the next statement from Mr. Waylon.

"It's okay. Come in. But don't repeat this again."

.

Excuse me?

What was that supposed to mean?

One minute, he was all talking with so much anger and the next moment he was all so loving?

What did this teacher suffer from?

Split personality disorder?

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Khushi noticed everybody in the class sharing glances with each other, equally shocked with the sudden change in the atmosphere.

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"It seemed as if.."

".. as if something strange overpowered the air around the room. Something intangible yet exceptionally strong."

She felt eerily weird as she thought to herself, things beyond her understanding.

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Khushi noticed him from the corner of her eyes, taking his usual seat, beside the blonde.

Beside Judith.

Trying hard to ignore it, she concentrated on the words that their teacher was uttering.

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But when was it possible for her to concentrate on anything when the Devil was near?

Her eyes downcast, she resumed doodling in her notebook once again, when she heard the bell ring out loud, marking the end of the boring class.

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"Phew! Freedom"

She mumbled to herself, as she rejoiced the fact of finally getting home and thanking God for the end of this despair.

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As she started arranging her stuff from the desk and putting it back inside her bag, she noticed Arnav and Judith were talking to each other.

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"What's the big deal?"

She consoled herself.

"Not like him saving me or anything changed the equation between us."

She reasoned.

.

"So, how is Miss. Careless now?"

Mason inquired, indulgently, pulling Khushi out of her previous thoughts.

.

"Whatever Mase! Shoo away."

Khushi answered, agitated.

.

"Whoa! What's wrong?"

.

"You should have thought about it before your publicity stunt."

.

"Come on. I just told Thomas!"

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"Doesn't make any difference."

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"Chill."

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Khushi was about to reply to that, when she saw the devil stomping out of the classroom, indifferent to everything around.

Even her..

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"Angry Young Man!"

Mason exclaimed, staring at the direction where Arnav left.

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"Who cares!"

Khushi gritted, annoyed at how things were turning out to be.

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Here she thought, she would talk to him, perhaps, thank him for getting her back home.

She thought she would try to make an attempt of making things right, as she believed they had simply hit it off on the wrong foot.

But to her amazement, this guy didn't deserve her apology at all.

After whatever he did, he didn't even have a sign of repercussion on his face.

Not even an ounce of guilt of him manhandling her.

He was not only the devil, but the devil with wicked wings.

Khushi never considered swearing before in her entire life, but this guy was setting new milestones in her life, where she wouldn't really mind even doing that.

.

As she continued cursing him in her mind, she noticed his weird girlfriend standing next to her with a smile on her face.

.

"Now what? The devil does the wrong and his blonde is here to set things right on his behalf?"

Khushi thought in her mind.

.

"Khushi Vermount? Isn't it?"

Judith spoke politely.

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"Yeah! Hey Judith!"

She replied, reciprocating the smile.

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Mason looked confused, staring at them and she wavered at him to better leave the two of them alone.

To her surprise, he readily agreed and left the classroom, saying he would meet her at the cafeteria.

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"I'm sorry about last night. I was in a hurry."

The blonde spoke, with an apologetic look on her face.

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"Oh it's okay. No issues."

Khushi replied, confused at what was happening.

As they continued talking about random things like the English notes and the college infrastructure, her mind was struck helplessly at two things.

First, her figure hugging, low cut, cleavage revealing dress.

It surprised Khushi to a great extent to see how she always chose to wear such s**tty, revealing outfits.

But then she thought maybe the devil preferred such type of girls, such type of outfits.

At that conjecture, she felt miffed.

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"That Sadistic Devil."

She thought in her mind.

.

And the Second and the most important thing was, why the hell was the blonde showing so much interest in talking to her?

"Did she see me eavesdropping last night?"

As the thought ran in her mind, she felt a sudden guilt rising in her, though technically she didn't even hear what she was talking about, and to whom!

.

.

As they both walked through the corridors, she realized they had reached the cafeteria.

"I'm so hungry!"

Judith said enthusiastically, as they stood at the entrance of the cafeteria.

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Realization dawned upon her, as she recalled her plans for the day and looked at her wrist watch.

'10.15 am'

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God, she didn't even realize they ended up talking for so long, though it was all so foolish.

About shoes..

The weather..

The extravagant fresher's party..

Et cetera.

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"Come on! Let's get inside. Aren't you hungry?"

.

Judith shouted, as she grabbed Khushi's arm and took her inside.

She felt a strange jolt hit her at her touch, the same way it happened last night when she shook hands with her.

She felt perplexed once again.

.

Ignoring it, Khushi said to her that she had some other work and gestured to leave.

But nothing worked in her favour, as she saw Ree running towards her from one corner of the cafeteria.

As usual, she hugged Khushi tightly and pulled her cheeks.

.

"You are losing so much weight girl. Your cheeks aren't chubby anymore."

Ree said with a sheepish smile and fake frown on her face.

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"Yeah Ree. That's because I ain't ten anymore."

Khushi replied, sarcastically.

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"Uh, by the way, this is Judith. My classmate."

"Judith, this is Ree. Rebecca Wilson. My best friend."

She introduced the strangers, as they shook hands with each other with big smiles on their faces.

"Are we gonna stand here for the entire day? I'm starving!"
Judith stated.

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"Absolutely not. Let's get inside."

Ree followed her words, as she dragged Khushi too with her towards a table.

.

They were about to sit on the chairs, when suddenly she found the devil standing in front of them with a stern face, and that somehow scared Khushi beyond extremes.

Why did he look like that now?

What did I do?

.

His eyes were fixed on Khushi, as she continued staring at him with an apprehensive look.

She gulped, as she noticed the two other girls equally surprised with their strange yet intense eye lock and hence Khushi was the first one to break it, as she looked away from him.

.

.

In a fraction of second, he took Judith's hand and dragged her to a different table, leaving Khushi and Ree surprised and share confused glances at each other.

.

"This guy is weird. Isn't he?"

She heard Ree saying to her.

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"Weird is an understatement."

Khushi whispered.

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"But he's hot."

Ree's statement instantly made Khushi raise one eye brow at her.

But then, she considered every random person hot, so that was not a big deal, after all.

*

Despite the distance that now existed between the strange couple and Khushi in the cafeteria, she tried her level best to figure out what was the deal.

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"Stay away from her"

"Why don't you understand?"

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Khushi tried to read his lips, as he continued blabbering something to the blonde.

"Stay away from whom?"

"Me..?"

She tried deciphering the dubious statements, but unfortunately she didn't even know the context it was spoken for.

Irritated with everything, I finally thought it was better for her to leave.

"At least I still have something meaningful to do, back home."

She thought.

.

As she took her backpack from the table and was about to tell Ree about her leaving, she saw Mr. Waylon enter the cafeteria.

Everybody looked at him, surprised.

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"What now? Is he not going to spare us from his lectures even in the Refreshment Zone?"

She heard a guy say.

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"Sorry to disturb you students. But I have something important to notify you all about."

At that statement, everybody looked alarmed.

Perhaps, some even recalled all the violating of college rules that they had done in the past few days.

Mason joined her and Ree, as Mr. Waylon continued.

"Well, The English Department in collaboration with the Drama Club is organizing an event. It's mainly for the charity. Our college never fails to participate in social activities every year and this year will be no different."

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Everyone relaxed and sighed in relief, thinking it was nothing grave to worry about.

.

"So as a matter of fact, there will be plays, like Romeo and Juliet, singing competition, painting exhibitions and.. Salsa Dance."

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Khushi quirked as he mentioned the last two words.

She remembered the Salsa Classes that had been her second home for more than five years.

She never considered dancing as a mere hobby, because to her, it was her passion. And to her good luck, she did excel in that, having over 5 gold medals in the dance form from winning every competition she participated in.

As she recalled some fond memories of her and Ree going for Salsa lessons years ago, a smile took over her face as Ree's agitated face from the past flashed in front of her eyes.

Rebecca had always been a terrible dancer.

But there was everything else she was good at.

Hence it somehow got compensated.

.

"So you all have to register your names by today. Singing, Art, Music and did I mention that the salsa would be done by one couple? I mean one girl and one boy. So, anybody in for it?"

.

Khushi played with the buttons of her cell phone, least interested at whatever Mr. Waylon was stating.

Though she loved salsa dearly, it didn't imply that she would be eager for a performance in the college. That too a duet, especially when so many other things were relevantly more important in her life at this hour.

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But to her utter horror, she spotted Ree staring at her with an evil grin etched on her face.

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Khushi pouted at her, giving her the don't-you-dare-do-that look.

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But despite all the past experiences, she never learnt from it that a friend when not in need, was still a friend indeed.

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"Excuse me, Sir"

Ree said, raising her hand, grabbing everyone's attention.

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"Yes Ms. Wilson?"

Mr. Waylon replied.

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"Sir, I think you should register the girl's name for the Salsa Duet."

.

"Really? Tell me who's it?"

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"Khushi. Khushi Elise Vermount."

Ree spoke with joy as she grabbed Khushi's hand, and made her stand along with her, leaving Khushi completely embarrassed.

.

"Ree! I will kill you!!"

Khushi gritted through her teeth, but her words seem to fall on deaf ears.

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"Sir, she has won many awards and is a trained salsa dancer. I can guarantee that the event will be a hit if Khushi shows her dance moves. I can bet on that."

She spoke, incessantly.

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"Oh! That's great!"

"But whatever be the situation, Miss. Vermount, you have to give the audition tomorrow with your partner."

"As you know many other couples would also be willing to participate, so just to be fair you know."

.

"Absolutely sir."

Khushi interrupted Mr. Waylon.

"..And anyway sir, I don't think I would be participating."

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Ree gave her a furious look as she heard her statement.

"..But why Miss. Vermount?"

He asked, with a frown.

.

"I don't have any partner and unfortunately none of my friends know salsa."

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Khushi replied with a sorry face, though inside she was enjoying the victory that she could already foresee.

She didn't want to participate, period.

And there was no way, Mr. Waylon could argue anymore with her, nor could Ree, as she thought she gave the most sensible excuse.

.

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"I do."

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The sudden husky voice out of the silent ambiance made Khushi's eyes grow wide in shock and broke her castle of victory in a jiffy.

She turned her head to look at the standing figure, though she had already recognized whose voice it was!

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"That's great, ASR!"

Mr. Waylon gave a broad smile to the devil and looked back at Khushi.

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"I guess that solves the problem, Miss. Vermount."

He pointed at her, the smile not leaving his face.

.

"So come for the auditions tomorrow you both. The details will be displayed on the college website."

"..And rest of you, get your names registered ASAP. Meet me at the staff room in the second half if you have any queries."

Saying this, he left the cafeteria.

.

The chattering resumed as people started discussing on the new hot topic:

"What to wear in the event?"

"Singing competition or the Romeo-Juliet play?"

.

But all this while, her eyes remained locked on the wicked devil, whose changing moods every now and then were giving her a brain freeze.

This time neither was she in a mood to confront him nor was she even interested in dancing with him.

.

"Woo-Hoo! Khushi's gonna do Salsa.. Khushi's gonna do Salsa!!"

Ree sang the words like a nursery rhyme, bringing Khushi out of her reverie.

She glared at her, displeased.

.

"Come on now! Stop giving her those looks Krazyy Khushi!"

Mason remarked.

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"You are going to freaking pay for this Rebecca Wilson."

Khushi spoke, angrily.

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"Chill babe. You should thank me instead of scolding me. Here, I got you an opportunity of being in the spotlight, grooming your salsa skills, which is by the way your passion and last but not the least, you are also getting such a smokin' hot partner and despite all this, you are scolding me?!"

Rebecca spoke without a pause.

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In other occasions, Khushi wouldn't mind her words but this time, it appeared too much over the top to her, and more than that, it made her irked furthered.

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"First of all, I HATE being in the limelight Ree. And second, I don't need a freaking event to display my salsa skills and last but not the least, I don't give a darn about that so called smokin' hot guy of yours. You get me?"

Khushi admonished her.

The silence greeted her soon after her outburst.

.

After a few seconds, she noticed Ree's crestfallen face and she realized maybe she somehow over reacted.

.

"Fine, do what you like."

Rebecca spoke finally, disgruntled.

.

"Ree... Look"

She sighed, as she placed her hand on Ree's.

.

"I do appreciate what you do for me and I know that you did it for my happiness, knowing I love the dance form so much. But just that, there are a lot of other things that's going on of late and I just needed some time before really considering this dance thing."

Khushi said, softly.

The last thing she wanted in her already haphazard life would be dealing with an angry, over dramatic BFF.

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"I'm sorry babe. I should have taken your consent before getting your name registered. But you know right, I didn't do anything to hurt you."

Rebecca replied with a small smile.

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"I know"

Khushi reciprocated the smile.

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"Wow! This is so emotional. Tissues anyone?"

Mase interrupted them with his usual poor comic timing.

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"Nope Mase. Go to the washroom. Some toilet papers would do."

Ree's impromptu reply made them all burst into endless fits of laughter.

.

"Okay Buddies. I shall take your leave now."

Khushi finally said, getting up, taking her backpack along.

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"You're leaving now? Won't you attend the other classes?"

Mase asked, confused.

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"Umm.. No.."

"..I..have this routine doctor's appointment. So I need to leave."

She lied, running out of stock of sensible excuses.

.

"Hmm.. Okay! See you around then"

Mase replied.

Ree gave her a hug, as she waved her hand at her best friends.

.

Khushi noticed the devil wasn't there anymore, nor was his girlfriend.

But it didn't bother her this time, as she lashed out of the cafeteria and headed towards the parking lot.

She had loads to do.

And today, nothing could stop her.

*

"Phew! Finally!"

She sighed in relief, as she entered her house.

.

She still had hours in her hands to execute the task that had been making her restless since yesterday night.

Without further ado, she directly took the stairs and entered her room.

.

Being secretive had always been a part of her personality.

There was nothing she could really do about it.

Removing her jacket, she closed the door of her room, though she knew there was no one else in the house apart from her.

.

Fixing her hair in a messy ponytail, she bent down to take the wooden box out.

A smile of relief curved at the corner of her lips as she found it kept as it was, under her bed.

She took the box out from there carefully and gently placed it on her bed.

.

Opening the doors of her closet, she held the precious bracelet in her hand and finally settled on her bed.

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Observing it keenly for a while, she slowly brought the strange key closer to the equally strange lock.

Her mind prayed fervently, as she tried to open the lock.

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She closed her eyes in excitement, still not aware whether her attempts were going to be fruitful or futile.

.

.

*CLICK*

The weird sound made her open her eyes in shock as the result was visible in front of her very eyes.

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"It's open!"

She exclaimed in joy as she saw the unlocked box sitting in front of her.

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Gently removing the small key out of the lock, she kept the bracelet beside her on the bed and slowly opened the box.

.

The sight left her startled as it seemed like some mystery of ages being unfolded in front of her own eyes.

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"Grand Ma.."

An emotional smile took over her face, as she saw a black and white picture of her grandmother in her early twenties.

She looked so beautiful.

Ethereal.

She kept the photograph on one side of the bed carefully, as her hands traveled in the box tracing the other things it contained with her fingers.

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"A Journal."

She whispered as she found a medium sized journal with black cover that glazed so specifically despite the dust that covered it somehow.

Wiping off the thin layer of dust on it with the sleeves of her sweater, she slowly opened the first page.

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"Meredith Marie Vermount."

The name instantly brought some unclear reminisces from the past.

"My great grandmother."

Vague memories returned to her as she read and re-read the name, to whom the journal belonged.

Though her mother had never mentioned about her, she remembered her father telling her about this person when she was just a small kid, when she was hardly able to grasp things, understand things.

She recalled incoherent words from her daddy, as if he had narrated to her a story, a narration that was hard for her to remember, yet it was a bedtime story she grew up listening to when her father was still alive.

.

She turned the pages of the journal to know what it contained.

"It's beautiful."

She spoke softly, as she saw the beautiful manuscript it was written in.

Calligraphy

.

But to her utter surprise, she wasn't able to read anything.

Half of the things were written in Latin but some of them were also written in English, and that she could easily make out.

But every word appeared blurry to her vision, as she struggled to decode the manuscript.

"How the heck was this even possible?!"

She gritted in irritation as she couldn't read anything at all.

It was as if she suffered from long-sightedness at the vision of the pages, yet she could easily spot everything else in the room, clearly, near or far.

.

Disappointed, she flipped the pages one after another until she reached the last one.

The last page.

That had the capacity to snatch everything away from her.

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If Arnav's mysterious behaviour made her shiver, then this would be leaving her turned into a stone.

If those nightmares gave her goose bumps, then this would leave her lifeless.

If that uncanny voice gave her sleepless nights, then this was going to turn her life upside down.

.

As she swallowed the lump in her throat, beads of perspiration formed on her forehead as her mind failed to believe what her eyes saw.

.

Dressed in an antiquished gown, wearing the very same bracelet that now belonged to her, it was HER, in the century old black and white picture of

Meredith Marie Vermount.

The pale white skin.

The long brown tresses.

The doe-shaped hazel eyes.

A shiver ran down her spine as she continued staring at the picture at the end of the journal, with tear-filled eyes.

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"How is this possible?"

.

"She looks exactly like me."

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"..I- I.. look exactly like her.."

She stuttered as she failed to believe such a thing.

.

It was as if she was some clone of hers, or in other words, a..

A Replica.

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And..

The bracelet..

The very same bracelet.

.

She took the bracelet in her trembling hands, watching every detail of it minutely, matching it with the one in the picture.

The haze overpowered her, but everything was rendering her speechless.

"Ditto!"

She whispered as she found it was indeed the same one.

The same bracelet, with no alterations, no modifications, at all.

Rubbing the tears that were trickling down her cheeks, she placed the journal on her bed and looked at the last thing that was placed at the extreme bottom of the wooden box.

.

Her heart thudded as she anticipated the worst, but then her mind said to her, that there couldn't be anything worse than what had already happened.

Little did she know, that she was going to be wrong even in this case.

Taking out the heavy thing from the box with both her hands, the thickness of it suggested that it was some sort of encyclopedia.

"Or a book, maybe."

Clearing the layer of dust from the top, she felt herself instantly drowning in a pool of curiosity.

Placing the book on her lap, she tried decoding the difficult font in which the title of the book was written

"Spe.."

"Craaa"

She pronounced the phonetics like a silly kindergartener, until her senses revived and the discovery got her startled to the point of no return.

.

With her heart beating at a rapid pace, she brought it closer to her eyes.

Her vision blurred more due to the thickening blanket of tears and she felt her throat suddenly becoming dry, when she read out the title finally, and remained flabbergasted.

.

"Spellcraft.."

**