A loud noise of people's cheers caused me to come out of my peaceful sleep. Why the hell everyone's the enemy of my sleep today?

Exasperated, I moved my eyeballs around to discern people cheering for some team's win like the noisy idiots they were.

The ground looked better without humans, and the stairs, where everyone was sitting and being noisy, also looked better without these creatures. Humans are completely frustrating, they destroy the beauty of almost everything merely by their existence.

I closed my eyes, snuggling deeper into Disha's shoulder as my facial expressions relaxed again. It felt comforting to feel her warmth again, especially after months apart. Since grade 11, our lives have taken different paths. She spent most of her time with her boyfriend, while I focused on coaching classes and mathematics. Even her lunch breaks, free periods, and free time are now reserved only for him.

And, here I am, an alone and introverted fellow.

I yawned, coming out of my beauty sleep. Feeling Disha's constant gaze at me, I looked out of her shoulders, at her face. She was glaring at me with a frown on her face.

She's frustrated by me as I slept on her shoulder during the whole match and didn't eye-rape her boyfriend along with her. Not gonna lie; the refreshment that came along with this nap of an hour is so heavenly and definitely better than watching some lads play football.

"You came here to sleep, didn't you?" She said sharply, finally expressing her frustration in words.

"Well, my intention was not something like that. But I just slept—" I tried speaking but was cut off by her.

"I am so fed up with you." She says while shaking her head disappointingly. I just shrugged in response.

"Who won?" I asked, finally raising my head from her shoulder and sitting up straight.

"Why do you care? It wasn't your boyfriend who was playing," she said, emphasizing 'your boyfriend' with a tone laced with sarcasm.

What can you expect from people in my influence? Sarcasm, of course. I am an influential person, after all.

"That's the point. It was not mine but yours. But still, you called me here." I shrugged while my hands were in between my spread legs; my eyes were still sleepy.

"Don't talk to me. I am going." She says, crossing her arms over her chest, and I just ignore her, looking at the ground.

Tsk. I'm not her boyfriend to endure her tantrums... What if I do the same as she gets no time to approach me for lunch now? I rolled my eyes at my thoughts and decided to shut up. There's no use of entertaining her with my response.

"He is injured." My attention was grabbed by a person sitting a stair below me whom I recognize to be Avyan. He's from my class, right? Yes, I know this human.

"Who?" I asked as curiosity took over me.

Man! My gut tells me the injured person is from our team. The amount of sadistic pleasure I am about to get if he confirms the same. Ahem— anyway, she forcibly called me here and disrupted my idea of sleep, and now it's time to let my 'black magic' work.

"Advik," he responds then turns his head to me, looking behind.

"Hey! How come are you here, Vritika? Didn't you need to solve the numerical of Quantum Physics today?" He asked as soon as he realized the person sitting behind him was me; his tone mocked me like anyone else's would.

"That's the only chapter you remember from the whole book of Physics, right?" I retorted.

"I don't open the book at home." He said offhandedly, tucking his hands in his pockets.

"Never forget that you're from a lower-middle-class family, Avyan," I suggested dryly, earning a light chuckle from his friend.

His facial muscles remained unstained as he answered, "Will see in future."

"Mhm." I hummed dismissively. Why should I bother giving a reality check when his life is very capable of doing the same?

"And how come are you here? Is your imaginary girlfriend playing in the field?"

"Bro! That hurts," he utters. "And, What about you? Your boyfriend isn't playing in the field, is he?"

"Tsk. You people love to poke your nose in other people's business." I shook my head, my face contorting.

"Well, I have this girlfriend who loves to cheer her boyfriend, and thus, she manipulated me into coming here," I responded, closing my eyes and leaning back to take in the light breeze.

"Where is she? Disha?" he asked.

I glanced beside me, but she was nowhere to be found. My gaze scanned the stairs, searching for a glimpse of her, but she was nowhere.

Fuck, no. I didn't come here for her only to get this.

"Look, she's there," Avyan said.

I turned my gaze to the right side of the turf-grassed pitch, where the tin shed stood. Advik sat on a chair, while Disha checked his injury.

Tsk. Tsk. I forgot that he was injured.

"Fucking wedge." I cursed under my breath. A pang of guilt hit me mere picoseconds later. It's not his fault.

"Did you say something?" Avyan asked, scanning my facial expressions.

"Nah— oh yes. I find these things strange," I commented, my brows furrowed while looking at both of them.

"Hey! That's not strange. That's how people in a relationship should care for each other."

"Nah, that's strange. I'd never do PDA like that. And I'll never come to cheer him too." I deadpan.

"That's not a sign of a good girlfriend," he said, shaking his head.

"I don't care. I'm not coming if people know why I'm here." I shrugged, and he chuckled.

"Just introverted behavior," he said. I nodded.

"But I thought introverts were sweet and green flags?" He raised an eyebrow as if he was sincere.

"That's not a nice way to tell me I'm mean and a red flag," I scoffed, earning his light grin.

"I am mean... agreed," I continued. "I don't wanna be green though."

"Why not?" He asked, leaning in with curiosity shining in his eyes.

"Green flags get betrayed, cheated, and hurt," I said, my neck vein popping. "They're taken for granted."

He tried to interrupt, but I cut him off. "Whatever."

I gazed at the breezy environment. "Why are you here?"

"I was here for the match against 'The Asians,'" he said, finger-quoting the school's name mockingly.

"Is their team that strong?"

"One of the most dangerous football-playing teams," he replied with a toothy grin.

I raised an eyebrow, not getting why he was showing off his teeth.

"We won anyway," he said proudly.

I taunted, "What? How did they become the best team now?"

He chuckled. "One of their players made a 'contact foul'... let's be real."

I stared at him, bewildered, as he laughed. Has he gone mad?

"Advik made it look like a contact foul, and we got a penalty kick."

Damn, this human.

"But he injured himself in the process."

I rasped, "He deserved it for cheating."

He defended while chuckling, "It wasn't cheating. We call it playing in our style."

I scowled sarcastically. "Yeah, sure."

He seemed surprised as he added. "I'm impressed you knew it was cheating – or even what a contact foul is."

I found myself saying, "I used to watch football with my dad—"

"I gotta go," I uttered, acknowledging the new building suffocation in the environment.

I abruptly stood up and hurried down the stairs, leaving no room for further conversations.

Father. Tsk. Why can I not even forget that he was once a part of my life?

That man cheated and never bothered to make any contact with me after separating- I won't be able to study now. My day is fucking ruined.

I am not listening to her ever again.

✧ ✧

I gazed at the ceiling. My figure was lying on the bed of my non-illuminated room.

The ceiling looked similar, like always, with those floral patterns of dark shade, but right now, it was working as the screen for projecting my memories.

"Goal!" Little me shouted at the victory.

"Woah. I lost again!" My father said with his utter fake disappointed tone.

I looked at my mother while clapping aggressively and jumping happily.

"Hurray! I won. Dada, you are such a loser. Haha!" I teased my father while sticking my tongue out after scoring three goals straight while my father wasn't even able to score one.

My mamma chuckled from aside being the only spectator of the match.

"If I am a loser then you are a loser's daughter. Ultimately, we are even."He replied in his playful mocking tone.

"NO!" I shouted at such an insult.

"I am mah mamma's daughter," I responded and again stuck my tongue out.

"Look at your daughter, love. She's so bad", says my father while complaining about my disrespect.

A faint smile crossed my lips as I recalled the sweet memory.

But reality always hit hard. If he hadn't been my father, my mom might have found happiness with someone else. Someone better than him.

My existence would have been removed, but perhaps that would have been for the best.

I always used to play football with my father. It used to be our favourite thing to watch the matches on television. We have shared laughter, emotions, memories, feelings, love, care, affection, irritation and whatnot— hatred. Hatred is the emotion I have for him now.

He fucking destroyed my mamma's whole life but his life would be going extremely awesome right now. Why would it not be?

"Fuck. Fuck!" I said, holding my head and sitting straight on my bed. "I am so fed up with my mind", I mumbled to myself irritated by my thoughts.

I leaned towards the headboard. Straightening my back, I tried to straighten up my stormy thoughts.

And that's when I heard voices from the dining room. Did I leave the door open? Mamma might be home.

I dragged myself out of bed and moved to the dining area, where she was standing. She went into her room, removing her wristwatch.

"How was it? Did you enjoy it?" She enthusiastically asked with her mellifluous voice as soon as her eyes landed on me.

"Very much," I responded dryly.

Indeed. I enjoyed it very much.

✧ ✧

1770 words.

Came from school, made banners and concluded the "Poetic Pulse Awards". Then, I just sat straight with my music to write this chapter!

How was the chapter?
Hope you all liked it (⁠＾⁠∇⁠＾⁠)⁠ﾉ⁠♪

Don't forget to check the image of the football ground that I attached above. To be honest, Meta AI disappointed me by not meeting the level of my imaginations but never mind!

Don't worry! The next chapter is going to be from Advik's perspective.

Excited? Give me a high-five!

Have a great day ahead ♡