Everyone gathered at my house after having the most waited ice cream party.

The fun and cheery mood disappeared as soon as we stepped inside the house. Now everyone wore a serious face.

We all sat down on the floor, making a circle in the living room, opting out of sitting on the sofa so that everybody could face each other properly.

Rudra even brought a diary to note down anything that would seem important.

"So now that we are here with no spectators, May we know about the problem, Rudra was talking about earlier?", Jiya asked towards both of us.

I took a deep breathe and explained everything. From my nightmares to my fear of Men. The fact that I couldn't trust the male population so easily and felt guilty whenever I crossed paths with a female.

Each and everything was let out in open so as no one was out of loop. It was hard to open up but I felt like a massive weight had been lifted from my shoulders, now that I didn't have anything to hide from them.

I had taken a major leap of trust by telling them the things, my own family was unaware about. Now it was upto them to prove if they were trustworthy or not.

"Oh God! You were dealing with so much", Shanaya cried while others looked at me with somber faces.

"I...I don't even know, what to say", Jiya said. It was probably the first time when Jiya didn't have answer for something.

"How did you all know about her nightmares?", Rudra questioned curiously.

"We witnessed it two times. First one was when we had a sleepover and the other one was last night", Maitri muttered.

"How did you know about her problem with men?", Shanaya questioned Rudra.

"I flinched whenever he came closer", I answered instead.

"Oh", Trio muttered in unison.

"Sia, what about Aunty? Does she know about all this?", Jiya asked circling her hands in the air to imitate 'all this'.

My eyes widened at her question. "NO, She doesn't and she shouldn't come to know about this. Please Guys, promise me you won't tell her", I spoke hurriedly.

"But Sia....", Jiya started to reason with me but I put my foot down at this topic.

"Please guys. My father's doings has affected her greatly. She already had health issues and this might just blow up and cause her more problems", I tried to make them understand.

I didn't even want to think about what would happen if she comes to know. She already felt guilty for not trusting me when I had told her about Dad, this news would kill her from inside.

"Ok ok Sia, calm down", Rudra spoke in a worry as I had started hyperventilating.

"Breathe in, breathe out", he spoke slowly while I mimicked his actions to get my breathing into control.

"No one is going to tell your Mom about all this", Rudra assured me with a tone of finality, giving a stern look to the trio.

They all nodded in affirmation.

"What Jiya? I thought stupidity was my copyright", Shanaya whined.

"Shut up, Shanaya. Don't accuse her, she is already feeling guilty", Maitri deadpanned.

"Maitri is right, please don't say anything to Jiya. I am sure she had my best interests in her heart", I told Shanaya.

"Oops sorry", Shanaya cutely apologized and was instantly forgiven by Jiya who finally let go of her guilt.

"So, let's start our research, Shall we?", Rudra spoke opening his diary.

"But...", Jiya started only to be interrupted by Shanaya's loud voice.

"Again, but? Why do you need to put a but in every sentence?", Shanaya asked.

"Let her speak. She always has valid points", Maitri sided with Jiya again.

I blinked my eyes and assured Jiya that it was okay to speak.

She gave me a hesitant smile before putting forward her opinion, "I think it's best if we take professional help instead of trying to solve her problems ourselves".

I instantly denied. It was hard enough to open up before them, I wasn't going to tell a complete stranger about my life.

"No, never", I spoke shaking my head.

"Sia, this problem is serious. We all are educated, we should know that mental health is as important as the physical health", Jiya tried to make me understand.

"You are right but seriously I don't think, it is possible for me to speak up to a complete stranger.

You know what? How about we just forget about my problems and just live our life as we were living for all these months?", I suggested getting tired of all this.

"How about No?", Maitri asked raising her eyebrows and folding her arms.

"How about we take a middle path?", Rudra said coming forward and sitting in middle of us.

"Middle path?", Shanaya asked curiously.

"Let me explain. Atfirst we will try to help Sia, by ourselves. This is what Sia had agreed to first. Incase she doesn't get better or her condition worsens we would go and consult a therapist, which is Jiya's idea", Rudra explained.

We all nodded slowly trying to get around his idea.

"Good, so that's set. Now everyone start googling", Rudra ordered while clapping his hands like he was some King, ordering to his subjects.