'I don't know why people do such a horrible thing.' Rahul
shoved exasperation in his voice.

'Come on, relax. We will find it in no time.' I said.

That's not going to happen, is it? A voice whispered in my head. I know it was true.

'How? We aren't able to find it in the past 25 minutes.' Rahul said. Although Rahul is an amiable guy, he tends to flare up in an instance.

'Don't give up! take a look at the lower shelf.' I suggested. His 5-foot 6-inch stature won't be helpful in checking the upper shelves.

'Library is a temple of knowledge.' Our college begs to differ. The 3 store, green building of St. Lauren's college might have the worst library of all time. A gigantic room divided in 3 sections, arts, commerce and science. Comprising of 80+ cupboards. Books strewn all across random shelves. Yellowing pages fanned out, lacerated apart. Covers scratched up and having a veneer of dust. It was an eyesore. But the worst thing of them all is people's names and drawings drawn on those pages of notebooks that carries important notes. Finding the one book is comparable to finding your soulmate.

'Deb, mind me asking something?' Rahul said. His hands surfing on the books.
'Go ahead.' I said as I pulled out a book. 'Indian Democracy' the title read.

'What's the deal between you and Kiara?' he said. Small pang of loneliness stuck me with his question.
'How many times do I have to tell you. Everything is good. We are just friends now. That's it.' I refuse to take the bait. Don't want to elucidate on that topic.

'You two sure don't act like friends.' he said eyes still fixed on the books.'
'Will you stop? 3 months has passed to that thing. And we have agreed to stay friends since then. How hard is it to understand?' I got a little ruffled.

'Okay. I understand.' he said pulling out a tattered, dusty book. 'Or maybe I think, I understand.' he added as an afterthought.

'By the way, there's nothing here.' Rahul stood up.
'Ok, let's find it in the other section.' I declared.
'Why the hell will someone place the 'the evolution of non-chordates' in arts or commerce section.'
'Well because of this I guess.' I said showing him the book 'Indian democracy' it clearly belonged to the arts section.

'I don't know why people mislay books. I mean what's the point? Are people that lazy?'
'You talk about lazy. The guy who takes shower once week.'
'screw you!! It's not the same. Delayed shower doesn't harm anybody. This mess clearly does.' he said, rolling his eyes towards the shelves.
Grabbing another book, Rahul's eyes started scrolling through the pages.

'Ok. How about we do as I mentioned earlier.' I said.
'Look in the arts and commerce section?' He seemed annoyed by the suggestion.
'Yes.'
'Won't it take a large amount of time.'
'Yeah like checking our own science crap took us a couple of seconds.' I said, little frustrated this time.

'Ok, if you say so, might as well give that a chance.'
'Good, I will go that way.' I pointed towards a broken cupboard at the left corner in the arts section.

'Take a look at this one though' Suddenly Rahul flashed a page in front of me.

Someone had scribbled 'I love you Sunaina' on the last page of the book.

'Really!' I blurted out. 'Who writes such stuff anyway? Why would someone write that? That's too on a library book. And why didn't he mention his stupid name. How will the girl know who likes her if the guy didn't write his name?' I continued

'That was sexist.' Rahul said.
'What was?'
'Why do you think a boy wrote that? It can be a girl.'
'You mean she wrote she loves herself?'
'Can be but also...' Rahul shot me a dirty look. 'That a girl likes her. If you know what I mean.'
'Wow, We are just 1 month away from our exams. We have literally no notes. We can't find even the book and after all those things; this is what you are thinking.'
'Hey, I'm very open minded, all right?' Rahul said with a smirk.
'Yeah, shows on your google search history, how open minded you are.'
'Come on' he threw his arms in the air. 'But seriously though, do you think there really is a lesbian in our college?'
'I don't want to have this conversation, now. Please go check the commerce section.' I stated, heading towards the arts section.

My jaw dropped by the state of the cupboards. It was a muddle. Compared to that, the science section was a heaven. The books looked like they were used as bullet proof vests during the war period. I kneeled down; eyes started scanning the books one by one. I couldn't really tell if the book's cover was brown or it was just dust.

'Maybe I should open up to Rahul more and talk about kiara' a thought popped up in my head.

'He's been asking a lot of questions lately.' My eyes scrolling though the rows of books.

'Na, he won't understand. Nobody will. Kiara trusted you. I can't, I just can't' I said out aloud, trying to shake away my thoughts, continuing my hunt.

It's true what they say in Hindi 'khali dimag shaitan ka Ghar hota hai' - empty head is a devil's warehouse.

A blue book caught my attention. It was in good condition as compared to the rest of that pile. I drew it out. The name read 'Evolution of Non-Chordates'.

Finally! seemed like years to get to this thing. I opened it and followed the index. It had the key points. All of them.

'Finally, took a long time to find you bud' I said to myself. 'Hope this doesn't have any scribbling on it. Rahul will be disappointed.' I chuckled out loud.

'I am not interrupting something. Am I?' A non-familiar voice startled me from behind.

Destiny is a tricky thing. No matter how you think your life will go, no matter how much you plan it out. Destiny hits you when it is least expected. Small bumps are the ones that shapes your life. Who could have thought that someone misplacing a 300 pages book will change the course of my simple life?

She wore a black skirt that ended 2 inches above her knees. A blue T- shirt quoted 'rock music' a little heart beside it. Her upright posture made her look taller than five feet six. A tight black choker around the neck. I noticed a black line running along the back of her neck, maybe a tattoo.

Hair reaching just an inch or two below the neck. Brown eyes with intense look. Her long legs could hold any guy's attention in the room. Her beautiful face, suited her perfectly sculpted body.
Her eyes having a grip on mine, not letting me move.

'You okay?' she said again.
'Yeah' I fumbled.
'Hope I didn't interrupt anything?' She said.
'Interrupt what?' I questioned
'Not sure actually, kind of looked like you were talking to the books.'
'Oh! You listened to that?'
'No, no! but you seem to confide in them.' her witty comment made me laugh.

'I can give you two some privacy if you want.' She pointed at the book.
'No, Its ok. We were just finishing up.'
'So, is it like a hobby?'
'Oh no, I just thought to take a break from the obvious.'
'Obvious as in talking to people.'
'More like talking to dolls.' I said. she started laughing.
'It was going great too but then they started talking back.' I continued
'Wow! that sounds like some horror movie cliché.'
'Yeah, along with the creaking door noise as well.'
'Right! And the hide and seek games of ghost.'
We both laughed.

'I will never get why they do those clichés in every single movies.'
'Maybe because clichés are adorable.' She replied.
'You think horror movie clichés are adorable'
'Well not horror movies to be precise but other things in general.'
'Clichés like us running into each other at the library.' I raised my eyebrow.

'Hmm that's a good one.' She smiled, her eyes meeting mine. 'I wonder what the cliché ending will be in this case.'
'I don't know.' I said as our eyes locked. 'But you know, usually its happily ever after.' I continued playfully.

'That's fascinating, but very tough to happen.' she said playing along.
'Why'
'I think your dolls won't like that ending.'

I laughed. 'Well, technically the dolls will die in the end. They usually do.'
'cliché.' She chuckled, her pretty brown eyes having a grip on mine. We didn't say anything for a few seconds.

'By the way, I feel like I should say what I forgot to say earlier. I'm sane.' I said, breaking the silence.
'Sane, great name, very exclusive.'
'Ha ha! No, I mean I'm not insane. I was just thinking out loud earlier.'
'I know. I was just trying to tease you.' she said.
'I'm Deb, short for Debashish.'
'Lilly.' Introducing herself she continued 'And I think, I found what I came out here looking for.' She pointed towards my hand. I forgot that I had 'Indian democracy' book still clasped in my other hand.

'Oh this! What a coincidence.' I blurted out loud.
'What is?'
'Nothing.' I handed her the book. 'It was nice meeting you, Lilly.'
'Likewise.' Our eyes still fixated on each other. 'I need to get back to my friend.' She said, finally taking a few steps back.

'Sure.......' I took a pause. 'I guess, I'll see ya.'
'If it's meant to be I guess' she said stepping away.
'Cliché' I said as she turned around to give me one last look.

What just happened? Was she flirting with me? I should have asked for her number. No, not again. I already have enough on my plate.'

'Oii, who was that?' Rahul's sudden voice from behind startled me.
'No one, man. Why did you come here?'
'I couldn't......Hey! you found the book.' He snatched the book from my hand. 'So, Who was she?' he questioned.
'She just wanted some help with the books'
'hmm! She's kinda hot.'
'Uh huh.' I nodded; Both of us looking in the direction, she walked away.
'So what you think?'
'About what.' I turned my attention to Rahul.
'You know, about the lesbian thing; pretty cool, don't you think?'