"You need to add sugar, a little bit more, in my tea." Rudhra said. So I purposely didn't add any.

He sipped it with great fervor. I could only look at him.

"I actually like it less. But I purposely told you the opposite. Because you'd definitely do the opposite of what I told you, just to oppose me, I told you the opposite. Though it's actually the opposite of what I want."

I wanted to bang my head against the wall.

I wasn't talking to him for the past one day. He kept irritating me to trick me into talking to him. What had happened the day before yesterday was one of the dark moments of my intellectual life.

Flashback:

My friend , Meera and I had launched into an epic rant about our love lives during our shopping trip . "It's especially hard this month, this month being the month of Valentine. I feel that, the day finally someone would come to love me would be thirtieth of this month." She had said. I had nodded, wishing her all the best in finding her love and then had begun speaking about the cool thing I had heard. "Do you know, my neighbour's father was born on February 30 also? So cool, right?"

My friend had looked at me like I had grown another head, and only then, slowly and significantly, I had begun to realise that I hadn't put to use, at least the one head my mother had given me.

Feb 30.

F***

End of flashback.

It spoke volumes about my intelligence, and it made me very feel so stupid. I should just give up human life and begin to live with apes now.

"Hey, do you like chocolate ice cream or strawberry ice cream?" He began again, and I was about to send him off, but there was a knock on the door.

"Should I open the door for you? Tell me, and I'll do it immediately." He said, in an another trick attempt to talk to me. I had an immense craving to bicker with him, but I held my tongue.

I walked towards the door, ignoring him, and opened the door to reveal Mrs Anand's,the apartment secretary  twin girls Pooja and Priya. I could never tell them apart, but it wasn't very difficult since every time I called one name, both of them came anyway. Mrs Anand was Rudhra's aunt. So her children were his cousins, obviously.

The only thing scarier than three year old cousins is thirteen year old cousins.

"We knew you would be here, in Sam's house, so we came here." They said.

"Why?" He asked them, suspiciously.

Him getting suspicious on their motives was to be expected, for these two were a worse bunch than my own cousins. Perhaps their horribleness ran in the family. Which was a matter of concern for society in general.

"Our skipping rope got stuck in the mango tree." They said.

"Get it yourselves." He said.

"Help us, or we'll tell our mother that Sams is your girlfriend." They said, as their face contorted into identical little grins, in annoying voices reminiscing just about every other blackmailing thirteen year olds.

"Do it, I don't care." He said stoically.

What the hell? That would cause so much trouble for me, I didn't want to be the subject of anyone's gossips. I cared about my image at least a little. Also, to be called Rudhra's girlfriend is my worst nightmare. I'd rather be single for the rest of my life.

"Come on, girls, I'll get it for you." I said, putting my arms around them. He raised an eyebrow and continued to eat his dosa. How much I longed to say. 'Go eat yourself, you stupid idiot.'

"So..how did the rope ever land on the tree?" I asked them, in an attempt to make conversation.

"Oh, we just flung it to see how far it went." One of them said. It was quite an interesting idea. Hmm.

"Hey, you guys. I want to ask you about something." I said. " About Rudhra's dad." Asking little kids wasn't a good virtue to have but sometimes you needed to know. You could always count on little kids to tell you secrets, they always let the cat out of the bag.

"His father? His father died when he was little, due to cancer. We've never seen him." They said.

So he was telling the truth? Why make fun of it then? He was so mysterious. What was the thing about Feb 30th then? It was true then! And I had been avoiding him because of that!  I was lost in my thoughts for a few seconds, only to be interrupted by the sound of Rudhra coming up to us.

"You haven't found the rope yet ?" He asked us. I went towards the tree to climb it.

Climbing trees was a strenuous task, and I didn't have the sufficient ab core strength for it. I put my foot on the trunk and tried to climb it up, but my foot kept slipping. He shielded his eyes from the hot sun and looked up. "I don't see any rope." He said.

"That's because it's stuck on the upper branches of the tree. Please get it for us?" Pooja said, or Priya, I didn't really know.

With a huff, he walked a few meters away and then ran back to the tree and climbed like a professional monkey in its natural habitat. He climbed to the higher branches where the girls had pointed before, and looked down at us.

"I don't see any rope." He yelled from the tree.

The girls exchanged one look at each other and burst into loud giggles. It wasn't hard to guess.

"This is a prank, right?" I asked them, and they nodded evilly.

"Where is the rope?" He yelled again.

"Come on, girls. Let's go." I turned back and started walking. This was too funny. It was retribution for everything. God exists. World peace could be achieved. The world is a wonderful place.

"Hey, hey. Don't go." He shouted again.

"Just climb down." I said, without looking back. It was the first time I talked to him that day.

"I can't. This is one of those trees that you can easily climb up, but not climb down."

I turned back. He held on to the branches as if his life depended on them. Though at most, the worst that could happen was a few fractures here and there. "Just try, once." I said.

He lowered himself on one of the lower branches, but his feet slipped, and he panicked and climbed up again. I felt my heart stop for a second. It was so scary! "That was close." He agreed from up above. What if he died or something?

I turned to the girls and told them to fetch someone with a ladder. They ran away laughing, as if it was the funniest incident ever to occur. I decided to follow the same technique he used; to run from a short distance and climb up with an initial velocity. His eyes widened when he saw that I was climbing too, but he lent me his hand.

"Why did you climb?" He asked me.

"To push you."

"Really?" He asked, amused.

"Yes." I said, and gave him a small push to scare him. He immediately put his arms around me and held me tightly. I pushed him away.

"If you push me now, you'll be falling as well." He said. I yanked him away, but he kept hugging me tighter. I looked up to him directly.

"I am..so sorry about your father. I am sorry for not talking to you." I said, the guilt I had been feeling, coming up to me.

"Don't worry about it. I only said Feb 30 to lighten the mood, who would have thought you'd be so oblivious?" He laughed. I covered my face with my hands in embarrassment. Then, he said something that he'd never said to me, and probably never said to anyone, judging from his character. "Thanks."

"For what?" I asked him, confused.

"For climbing up the tree for me. "

"I did it..only to push you from here." I said again. Though I didn't know it myself for sure.

"Really?"

"Yes."

This was the closest we'd ever talked without bickering or fighting with each other. Honestly, this wasn't so bad at all, I could deal with it. I was so caught up in my thoughts that I didn't notice his hold tightening around me. And then he kissed me on my cheek.

I was so shocked that I didn't know how to react at all. But the grin on his face suggested that he knew exactly what was going on, and that this was something he'd been meaning to do. "What..why did you..?" I stuttered.

The grin on his face got wider. And with another kiss to my cheek, he jumped from the tree just like how Jackie Chan jumped from ceilings in Armour of God.

His devilish grin was at its widest as he landed. "Don't fall from the tree, fall for me only." He said, his arms spread wide as if it was the greatest line ever. "Don't jump to conclusions." I said, in return, pun was purely coincidental.

And that was the beginning of my love story (probably..?) with Rudhra. And it was a happy turn of events that day. The weather was great, and I was feeling very happy.

Except the time I had to be rescued from the top of a mango tree.

Author's note: 

RIP those reading this story, still.