Ma was waiting for me when our train arrived at the New Delhi Railway Station. Engulfing her in a hug, I relaxed once the familiar smell of her flowery perfume hit my nostrils. I hadn't realised I'd missed her until I saw her again.

Releasing me, she started firing questions like a quiz master, making me roll my eyes. "Later mumma."

"I missed you so much! I don't know what I'll do once you're off to college." She hugged me again. "Oh and tell Kian and Aryan they're coming with us, their mothers must have texted them."

"She did, thanks for the lift auntie." Aryan emerged from the crowd, followed by a sleepy-looking Kian.

Together, the four of us managed to load the car's trunk with three suitcases and headed home. My mother insisted that I sit behind with the two of them, out of a strange notion of politeness.

"So...did you guys have fun?"

"Very!" Aryan launched into an excited, one-sided conversation about all the things we had seen and done in the past week, down to every last, irrelevant detail. His animated voice was easy to tune out, since that was pretty much all I had heard whenever we had visited a monument in these past few days. It didn't help that I was stuck between them.

Yawning in my fist, I glanced in the direction of Kian, who was completely engrossed in his phone.

That's unlike him.

"What're you looking at?"

He jumped as if skinned alive, dropping his phone in the process, which landed near my foot. Not giving me a chance to help, he bent at an awkward angle to retrieve it, bumping our heads in the process.

"Ouch sorry! You just surprised me." He chuckled weakly, moving back in his seat again.

"Are you both okay?" Ma asked, her concerned eyes meeting mine in the rear-view mirror.

"Fine," we said simultaneously.

"So...what were you looking at?" I quietly questioned Kian for the second time as ma resumed chatting with Aryan.

"Nothing, just going through my marks again." He hastily locked his phone, averting his eyes.

Our class twelfth board results had been released two days before, one of the many reasons we decided to stay in our hotels on that day, to be close to a good wifi. Though I had been fairly satisfied with my ninety three percent, I knew it would mean nothing if I didn't clear my medical entrance. That made it hard to be happy over it, especially since my NEET results could be announced any day now.

Kian had also scored somewhere in the nineties, which was why I found it hard to believe that he was re-checking his result. No, I could tell that he was lying but I didn't get the chance to interrogate him further.

{[]}

"So you won't change your mind about leaving the country then?"

"Nope." Alia smiled, leaning against the pile of clothes on her bed that resembled the aftermath of a volcano-like wardrobe eruption. "I told you there aren't good enough courses for archaeology available in India."

"I didn't think you were serious!" I spluttered, "what's wrong with a normal history major? You could easily land in a good DU college with your grades."

Alia's total percentage was ninety six point two, with a hundred in history. It came as a pleasant surprise because she had always pegged me as a seventy five – eighty sort of girl.

She huffed out a breath, moving a loose strand of hair in the process. "It's not the same."

"But why? Isn't history perfect for a core subject in IAS? Or am I missing something?"

"You're missing something. I don't want to be an IAS officer," she deadpanned. "Honestly Ash, do you think every humanities student ends up in that line of profession?"

"No..." I said slowly, "only the smart ones do."

"So then how would the not-so-smart end up?"

"I don't know...poor? Communists? Poor communists?" I sniggered at my own joke as Alia face-palmed for the gazillionth time. "Alright fine, I get that you want to dig up dead people and ancient trash for a living, but what I don't get is why you want to waste a whole year acting like a—"

"Backpacker—"

"—hippie," I finished, grinning as she got riled up again.

"I don't know why I'm still friends with a judgemental bitch like you." Her unlady-Alia-like snort ruined the effect of her supposedly harsh words. "But to clear your misunderstanding, I'm not wasting a year. I landed a pretty darn good internship and this is the chance for me to travel the country for free. That would teach me much more than even ten years in the world's best University. Plus, my SAT score is valid for five years so that's not an issue."

"Okay, point noted," I conceded. "Though I still can't believe you scored fifteen twenty in SAT and forgot to tell me."

"Alright I didn't forget. But I didn't anybody, not even Aryan." She stood up and started folding her clothes. "I wasn't sure what I wanted to do then."

"And you are now?"

"About eighty nine percent."

"Right..." I trailed off as she chucked a mauve crop top in my face, ordering me to help her.

The next three quarters of an hour were spent folding shirts, t-shirts, tank tops, crop tops, kurtis, purple leggings, black leggings, more purple leggings, ripped jeans, skinny jeans, boyfriend jeans and basically every other piece of clothing owned by Alia Khan. We continued working quietly until she asked, "When are your NEET results coming out?"

"Today." A familiar churning started in my stomach as she brought up the reminder of what was waiting for me at home. "I'll check it in the evening though, as I'm pretty sure their website crashed the second they uploaded the scores."

"Typical CBSE." She laughed, zipping shut her third suitcase and settling down on the violet bean-bag behind her. "What are you expecting your rank to be?"

I shrugged, sinking on the chair in front of her and bringing my knees up to hug them to my chest. "I'm too scared to make any guesses about it."

Silence reigned after that. I was staring at the clock above her study table as she examined her nails, scratching at her chipped nail polish. The crisp sound of the seconds' arm quickly became unnerving and I averted my eyes from its movement the same time a question popped into my head.

"Have you told Aryan?"

Tightly pursing her lips, Alia visibly deflated. "I don't know how. It's just...he's perfect but I wish I'd have met him five years later y'know?"

Yes, yes I do.

"You have to tell him soon though."

"I know," she said, exhaling loudly. "Have you thought about what would happen after you see your NEET result?"

I lifted one shoulder again. "Hopefully I'd be called in by the top colleges for the first round of counselling."

She started shaking her head before I was even finished. "No I'm talking about Kian."

I sucked in a breath, fingers freezing in their task of absently finger-combing my pony tail. "Nothing would happen. We're not really together. Not in the way you guys are."

"So then...what? He was a holiday fling? That's so not like you!"

Her words brought to life a massive cringe inside me. "No, that is just too crass and frankly, a bit disgusting. We were just two friends who had a crush on each other and acted upon our attraction when we got the chance."

Alia smirked, shaking pretty little annoying head again. "Step out of your denial Ashiana. That is the definition of a holiday fling."

"Shut up! I don't want to put any label on it."

Thankfully, she heeded to my request and we moved on to a much lighter topic after that. Well, as light as discussing the death of half the avengers in Infinity War can be.

I left for home from Alia's house after spending almost the whole day over there, talking about anything and everything. It was nearly dusk by the time the elevator opened to reveal my floor.

Ma had texted me an hour ago, asking me to check my result since she and papa were running late. But there was no way I would be doing that without them. I needed them around to call an ambulance in case I fainted.

Stepping out of the lift I paused, looking at my apartment for a moment before turning on my heel and walking in the opposite direction. I had plenty of time to kill and one more thing to do. Knowning that right now would be a good opportunity, I rang the bell of the Dhawan residence,  giving myself no time to chicken out.

The door was whipped open a second later, as if he was expecting me.

Though a disappointed expression replaced his eager one the second Kanishk saw me. "What are you doing here? My brother's not at home."

He was looking terrible but thankfully, sober. Overgrown, unkempt hair had been pushed away from his red, sleepless eyes which were lined by dark circles. Wearing a faded green t-shirt sporting countless tiny holes, he crossed his arms, giving me an impatient look.

"Yeah...umm...I'm aware." Kian had mentioned something about going bowling with Viv and Karan in his text earlier. That was the reason why I had decided to come here in the first place. Clearing my throat, I continued, "I wanted to speak to you actually."

His eyes narrowed. "You barely know me. And I'm not interested in being friends. Now if you would excuse me." He proceeded to slam the door shut but I jutted out my right foot in between. "What the—"

"Fuck this hurts!" Yelping, I managed to push open the door again as he moved back unwillingly, glowering at me. "I just wanted to invite you to the movies next week with Kian and I's friends."

"I've got better things to do."

"Like drinking your way into an early grave?" The words slipped out of my mouth before I could process them and I immediately regretted uttering them.

"Don't you dare fucking judge me!" he snarled, one fist smashing the wall and making me flinch. "You don't know shit about me."

Still shocked from his sudden outburst, I willed myself to calmly reply. "You're right, I don't know anything about you and nor do I care, but your brother does. He loves you more than anything else in the world and he would be leaving home soon. Please talk to him!"

Kanishk was still breathing heavily by the time I finished giving my little speech. "That was cute. But what's between him and me is none of your fucking business."

God! Why does he have to curse so much?

"I know that but..."

"But nothing, get out."

"Stop!" I said, growing frustrated. "Your brother misses you Kanishk, you're hurting him by cutting him off."

"I'm doing him a favour." He snapped, "My brother's on the right track. He's good. He doesn't need a fuck up like me to bring him down, not when he has worked so hard to be where he is today."

"And he was able to do that because of you! Believe it or not, he does need you."

Kanishk was still seething, his jaw clenched, as if his control was holding on to the surface by the pinkie. After subjecting me to his furious glare for two whole minutes, he finally spat, "I'll think about it."

I exhaled in relief. "Okay thanks, means a lot. You're on FB right? I'll text you the place and time."

"Right, you may get out now. I really don't like you."

Stepping back, I retorted, "Yeah the feeling is—"

He slammed the door in my face.

"—mutual."

{[]}

My nails were bitten back to their beds, leg bouncing rapidly as I shakily tried to type my roll number in the required slot. The events of that haunting dream came rushing back while I watched a tiny arrow go round amd round, chasing its own tail as the page loaded.

Why are those darn images so vivid in my mind? Aren't dreams supposed to disappear from memory after waking up?

Apparently not, in this case. They was still present at the forefront of my brain, reinforcing the fear of failing when I just wanted to see my rank and score and burn the laptop after that.

"Ashiana you're moving the table, stay still. You worrying now won't change your mark sheet." Ma sipped her tea, a strange habit that she indulged in before going to bed. She was sitting in front of me on our square dining table. "I know you've worked hard, there's no need to be this nervous. Is there?"

The last two words were delivered with an undertone of a challenge, or rather, a last warning to confess if I had screwed up in anyway. I hadn't though.

At least I hoped so.

My parents had motivated me throughout dinner, saying that if I didn't make it, I could always go for plan B. That would've been reassuring if I remembered what my plan B was. For the past two years, pursuing medicine was all I had thought about.

"No, but I can't help it," I mumbled, chewing the wrinkly skin of my thumb when my teeth couldn't get hold of its nail.

Next to me, papa sighed before sharply slapping my hand away from my mouth. "Stop that! At this rate, you'll end up eating your fingers. And you need them to be a good surgeon. You need them to be a surgeon, period."

"Don't say that. What if, what if I..."

I didn't get to complete my sentence because at that moment, the display changed and a grid came to life, highlighting four columns.

Physics – 144/180

Chemistry – 147/180

Biology – 350/360

Total – 641/720

Rank – 82

I checked my roll number before scanning my marks again. My breathing returned to its normal pace as moisture welled up in my eyes, I was shaking again but this time, it was euphoria that was coursing through my veins.

I hadn't just qualified; I was among the top hundred!

My father crushed me to his side, his usually crisp white shirt growing wet with my uncontrollable tears. He himself was shaking against me, laughing and sobbing at the same time.

As my mother made calls to every relative we had, one single line replayed in my head over and over again.

I was going to be a doctor!

{[]}

S

ssssuuuuppp?

This chapter was fun to write. I know it was shorter then my usual length but it set things up for Alia and Aryan's story (oh yes, I've got cray-cray ideas about those two) and more importantly, MY BABY ASH QUALIFIED NEET!

Anywho, if you all enjoyed this one then please,

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