"Congratulations, Lakshya bhaiyya."

"Thank you, Sandhya."

Lakshya gave me a quick hug and sent me towards the food counter after he noticed me staring at the food for too long. I gave him the small gift I had bought while shopping for Dad's birthday and he thanked me.

After exchanging a few more words, I left him to meet other guests who were waiting in line to congratulate him for his new success. Uncle and Aunty were shining like sunshine since afternoon while Nikhil was jumping around like Bugs Bunny, busy in looking after everything.

I ignored the rest of the familiar idiots and grabbed myself a big piece of rainbow cake along with some chips and cold drink. I sat down on a vacant chair beside the window and ate as I observed the decorations. White, red and green balloons were hanging all over the place with glittery papers strewn across the walls. The whole floor was covered with confetti and a huge balloon, filled with candies, hung from the ceiling, waiting to be blown out in the end.

I roamed my eyes around, trying to distract myself from the thoughts which were clawing my mind. In the morning, before coming to Nikhil's house, I paid a visit to Zoya's place. Faiyaz had already left, so I went there to check on his family and see if they needed anything.

Everything looked good, but when I saw Katherine there, I felt like the world ended. I quickly searched if Ishaan bhaiyya had also come, but he wasn't there. I knew I was over reacting but I had to be careful after I got that threat from Rashi's brother.

Honestly, I didn't think that Katherine was a bad girl or that she had hidden intentions, but I had already been fooled before a lot of times and created really big blunders on my own, so taking a safe approach seemed better.

Instead of asking Katherine directly, I asked Zoya about it and she informed me that both girls had been meeting each other after that incident in McDonalds. Katherine also lived near Zoya's college, so they bumped into each other a lot.

Katherine didn't say anything till we were inside Faiyaz's house, but once I left, she followed soon after and caught up to me. While walking towards my bus stop, she confessed that she knew everything and I could trust her; she wouldn't harm anyone.

I didn't want to believe her since she was Ishaan bhaiyya's girlfriend, but I decided to trust her because I could see the sincerity in her eyes. And she also told me that she wanted to clear the misunderstandings.

For the time being, I agreed with her, but I was still on alert mode around her. She seemed nice and genuine, so I wanted to be on her side...

My chain of thoughts was broken when a hand appeared near my plate, and I moved my head to look at the person who had already stolen quite a good amount of cake.

"Why do you always steal?" I accused.

"It is my part-time job," Ved replied as a matter of fact and grinned.

"Don't you have anything else to do other than disturb me?"

"Actually... No." He smirked.

"Leave me alone; I am busy right now," I said and started thinking again.

"What are you thinking about so seriously? Is there some problem? Did you get hurt somewhere? Are you thinking about the exam results? Are you feeling sick again? If you are, then why didn't you stay at home? Why aren't you speaking, huh? Are you hungry and sad because I stole your food? Are you feeling like getting in a fight? Sandy Pandy, why aren't you saying any-"

I punched him on the shoulder. "Shut the hell up!"

"You are back to normal." He pinched my cheek, and I gave him a death glare.

Why does he always keeps smiling, and that too while glowing like a red LED bulb? If he keeps distracting me, I won't be able to sort out my thoughts.

Ved gave me another food plate and left to join his friends who were calling him to play with them. Karthik was roaming around aimlessly, trying to avoid Lakshya bhaiyya at any cost and joking with random people while Nikhil was digging holes in my face whenever he got free.

I tried to focus back on the serious issue at hand, but my eyes kept moving back to Natural Heater who was conversing with Lakshya. After a few minutes of intense staring, I shook my head and went in the backyard.

I was observing that idiot a lot these days. I should stop or else I will get myself in a huge problem.

Which you always do, Sandhya.

I kicked off my inner voice which was suddenly singing an old romantic song from a 1980s movie. I sat down on a bench between the garden and began playing random scenarios in my mind.

"Is the party too boring?" Lakshya asked after he sat down beside me.

"No, bhaiyya, it isn't like that," I answered.

"Then why are you out here alone, looking like a defeated soldier?"

I gave him an awkward smile, and he told me to relax, but I could feel the tension in the air.

"How long are you going to hide?" he asked.

"I am not hiding," I replied, and he gave me a challenging look.

"Are you trying to play a silent hero?"

I shook my head and realized there was no use arguing with him; he knew everything and even if he didn't, his parents must have told him.

"Were you afraid that Nikhil would get more angry if you told him?" he queried.

"Yes."

"But aren't you supposed to tell your friends when you are helping them? If you don't, then it is given that there will be misunderstandings."

"There are already a lot; I didn't want to add more."

"Why did you still help him when he insulted you? Don't you have self-respect?"

I pursed my lips at his blunt remark and shrunk down in my seat. Lakshya took a deep breath and wrapped his left arm around my shoulders.

"I am not insulting you, Sandhya, I just want to know why you didn't let Nikhil know that you talked to Mom and Dad about him and convinced them to let him achieve his dreams even after he treated you badly."

"I did it only because he was my friend. Earlier too, when I helped him, I did that only because of our friendship. But when I saw that no matter what I did, it always turned out bad, I decided to do something valuable for him. I still wasn't sure if my idea was going to work or not, that's why I told your parents to not say anything to him.

"I know telling him would have been good, but he had already drifted away from me and was treating me like his enemy. After he got grounded, I accepted that I was just being a burden and forcing himself to be my friend against his wishes. I always cause problems for the people close to me, so I decided that it was best if I stayed away. What if I had ruined everything?"

Lakshya gave me a sad look and squeezed my shoulders. "Don't blame yourself - what you did was really selfless. I must thank you for thinking about my brother so much; I wish I hadn't been too hard on him."

"It wasn't your fault," I assured.

"No, it was, and I accept it. Nikhil is my brother; I should have been more understanding towards him and his dreams, but I also acted merciless and ignored what he wanted to say. I thought that he was just being naive whenever he said that he wanted to be the best basketball player in the world and build a strong international team.

"I waved off his ambitions like nothing and told him to follow the family tradition. I never took his side when it came to sports, but when I heard from Mom about the lecture you gave them, I finally found out that we were the wrong ones from the start. We were treating him like a project which needed to be finished in the same way we wanted.

"We forgot that he was a human too with his own wings which needed to be freed in order to make him fly on his own." Lakshya sighed.

"I am happy that you are supporting him; he really admires you." I smiled.

"And it is all thanks to you," he said and gave me a side hug. "Actually, I was quite surprised when Dad called me to inform that he was going to let Nikhil do whatever he wanted."

"Uncle must have rehearsed a lot before saying that," I joked, and we began laughing.

"I heard you called my Dad an old man," Lakshya said.

"Oh that?" I gave him a sheepish smile. "He is old, isn't he?"

Lakshya bhaiyya cracked a smiled and we began our second round of laughter when he mimicked his father. I also added some mimicry and even did a small march before we were called in by Aunty, who shot us a curious look after she saw me doing a mock salute in front of her elder son.

"Are you planning on joining the Army, Sandhu?" she asked.

"Maybe." I shrugged and sat down beside Mom on the dining table.

Dad's ears perked up at that and he looked at me expectedly. "Army? Are you serious, Princess? I can already imagine how you will look in the uniform."

I turned to Mom to save me when I saw Dad's eyes shine with starry glimmer. Mom quickly changed the topic and as expected, my father began boasting about how he was going to join defence forces.

I sighed and let him torture others with the same stories I was hearing since the day I was born. I wondered what the secret behind Mom's patience was and how she survived without getting bored.

I served myself and moved my hand to pick up the chicken leg piece, but Ved, who was sitting across from me, grabbed it too and we started the tug of war.

"Leave it," I ordered.

"You do it first, then I will do too," he replied.

"No."

"Fine with me; we can play this game whole day." He smiled sarcastically.

"Sandhu," Mom warned.

I ignored her and kept glaring at Ved who wasn't affected even a bit by the curses I was mumbling under my breath. I signalled him to give me the chicken piece, but he shook his head.

I waited for some time and curved my lips in a sly smirk. He furrowed his eyebrows, and I saw his eyes widen slowly as the words left my mouth.

"What to do now? Oh, my Snow White, how can I save you? You are so precious, why did you die? Wake up, Snow White, my darling, my Prin-"

"Eat the whole plate if you want, you glutton!" Ved shouted before I teased him by his favorite nickname.

"Thank you so much for your chivalry." I did a small curtsy in mockery.

I smirked when Ved turned all red; I stuck out my tongue at him. He rolled his eyes and avoided Karthik who was nudging him with his elbow.

"Are you guys dating?" Lakshya queried with a surprised look on his face.

Ved choked on his food while I stopped chewing the leg piece I confiscated. The whole table fell in silence, and I glanced at my parents to check their reactions. They looked between Ved and me and then exchanged a short glimpse with each other.

"No, bhaiyya, it is-" I began but Dad cut me off.

"Of course not," Dad said and took a dramatic pause before continuing. "Ved can do much better."

"Dad!" I shouted.

He shot me a mischievous smile and began laughing like a maniac. I complained to Mom, but she also joined him and the others started laughing too. I huffed and glared at Ved who looked redder than I had ever seen him.

"You are dead," I mouthed to him.

He stared at me for a few seconds and winked. I narrowed my eyes at him, but he ignored me just like others and had a really nice time as my parents embarrassed me more as if they never got the chance to do that ever since I landed on earth.