Dharshi and Sriya bugged Hirdh for details and she told them. They all hugged her, while Stephen was making fun of her. They expected her to blush, but instead she boldly faced him, surprising her friends as usual.

Hirdh, " so what Stephen? It was just a friendly hug and u get that from all of us, at least once daily. Alric got it only once. What's in this?"

Stephen, " what? Oh ok ok."

Hirdh, " U r jealous". Dharshi laughed at Stephen's silly behavior.

Stephen, " Hey! I'm not jealous!"

Hirdh, " oh yeah?! but I can see that jealousy pasted fully on your face. So dont lie ok? " and she started laughing along with Jose and Sriya, while Dharshi was working on her Stat problems again. 

Omg! She was such a studious girl! Others thought. 

Dharshi looked up at the noise they were making. She said, " go and prepare for the coming exams idiots!" all said, " alright alright", " ok ok, we are going" and left to their respective rooms for studying. Hirdh was asking about approaching Nick to Dharshi and she encouraged for their first date. Hirdh made sure that, she was a little advanced in her time table, so that she can make up for the Saturday evening. Only on Friday morning, Dharshi and Hirdh planned to invite Nick together, so that Nick don't consider Hirdh as flirt. Hirdh loved to play with her friends and Alric was no more excluded from this list.

Meanwhile, Alric reached his room, followed by Nick, who joined him at the end of his classes. Nick knew that Alric was confused on something.

Nick, " hey Alric! You look confused?"

Alric, " yeah. I met Hirdh on the corridor today."

Nick, " oh! Did she refuse to kiss you?" and he smirked.

Alric, " No idiot. We are nowhere near that stage yet. But she gave me a friendly hug" and he beamed.

Nick, " ahaha! And why are you confused?"

Alric, " she asked me whether I was free on this coming Saturday evening. Without any second thoughts, I blurted out about football match. "

Nick, " you are definitely an idiot Alric. Couldn't you recognize that she was indirectly asking you out on a date? Plain stupid you are"

Alric, " what? Omg! I couldn't figure it out by that time. I asked her for the reason but she told that she asked me simply out of blue. What shall I do now?" and he put his head within his hands.

Nick, " huh! don't worry man. I will try to find out the reason through Jose or someone else."

Alric, " yeah ok!" and he looked still confused.

Nick, " whats up now?"

Alric, " I tried to read her mind after this conversation. But I couldn't identify her emotions and that surprised me Nick."

Nick, " what? You failed to read her mind? That's impossible. You have never failed to read anybody's mind till now."

Alric, " Yeah right."

Nick, "I‟m equally surprised. It might be she was disappointed. Did she turn her face away?"

Alric, " no. she was looking straight at my eyes." Nick, " well then we gotta figure that out."

Nick and Alric were on their way to their classes. Alric was on his thoughts about his classes as usual, while Nick nudged him. Alric saw Nick and then in the direction pointed by him. They found Hirdh's friends out there, on the corridor, with Hirdh missing. Alric was disappointed that he couldn't ask about her directly. Jose spotted them and waved to them.

Nick and Alric waved back and joined them, while Alric's eyes were still scanning for Hirdh, which was observed by all others except Stephen, who was attending a call. They smiled to each other. And Nick asked them, about Saturday evening. When Stephen was about to spill the reason, Jose hit his leg and said, " when? This Saturday evening? Do you girls know?" Stephen made up.

Girls thought for a second and jumped up and down. Jose stared at them, while Stephen laughed, confusing Nick and Alric .

Nick, " whats up girls?"

Sriya spoke up this time, " oh that's nothing Nick. Jose's birthday is one month away from today. So we have planned to go on a shopping. Might be that's what you are asking about?"

Nick, " oh wow! Yeah maybe." But Alric knew that they were lying and something was up. He turned to his other side and saw a group of girls, giggling and jumping, while few stared at him. He got this attention all the time, so he just smiled and turned towards Nick, still searching Hirdh. He couldn't find her. So they waved them back and left to his class, followed by Nick.

Once Alric left the place, Hirdh came out of the nearby class and was as excited as others were and they were laughing. Jose said, " hey Hirdh! Invite him before some other girl does!"

Dharshi gave him a threatening stare making others laugh while Hirdh was thinking all wrong things, one can possibly think.

Hirdh, " omg! I didn't think of that." She became very nervous.

Dharshi soothed her, saying " Hirdh! Don‟t worry. It's not too late to invite Nick now. And for your information dear, Alric is already smitten by you. So he will not accept anybody else's invitation."

Hirdh's face brightened up.

They all laughed and Jose was asked to bring Nick, under the big tree of their campus and also their usual meeting place. Jose gave Hirdh a thumbs-up, making her smile.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

hey everyone!

Am so sorry for not updating for almost a week!

I got a lil busy lately!

to make it up, I am uploading another chapter now :) Enjoy :)

by the way, updates will be once in two days hereafter. Promise!

And, the story is about to get better.. loads... :)

Hope u liked this chapter.

Comments please.

and throw hearts everywhere. take care :)