《Short Recap》

P.S: I wrote this on one of the days that I was gone. I thought you might want to read it. Please don't say anything when you see me after reading this. Good night...

My gaze lifted to his closed door and my eyes teared up.

Oh Vinay!

●○●

Time rushed past in a hurried flurry. Professors at college were being absolutely brutal and had been dishing out assignment after assignment and scheduling tests like a couple had intercourse when they were trying for a freaking baby. They were freaking relentless.

To top it all off, the bug I had found in the TYCHE system kept slipping out my reach every time I got within hair's breadth of it.

So I was immensely grateful when Sunday rolled in to pull me out of my misery momentarily.

Vinay had been very sweet the last few days after his outburst at the road side eatery, much to my surprise. I'd expected him to go back to being a recluse and brood over himself. He did come home later than usual on some nights and I suspected that he'd been drinking away his woes but I did not say anything.

He needed to clear his head and figure out his shit himself; at least understand that ultimately he was the only person who could actually help himself.

I lay lazily in bed, snuggling against my quilt as a half witted cuckoo screamed for her mate from the tree outside my window. It had rained the previous night, a passing shower before the Monsoon bid farewell and the October heat started setting in, and the comforting smell of damp mud hung gently in the air.

Music started playing from the kitchen and a delicious aroma wafted into my nose. I closed my eyes for one last time before rolling out of bed humming a random tune as I headed to the bathroom.

"What's cooking?" I asked, trying to get a look at the contents of the pan on the stove.

"Well, good morning to you too Pooh," Vinay flashed me a lopsided grin, "I'm actually experimenting with my culinary skills."

"Well, despite how wonderful it smells I don't think you should eat it then. Poison is always delectable, until it kills you." I shook my head, gathering my hair into a messy bun.

"Good thing you're my labrat then." He chuckled.

"What?!" I raised my brow.

"Well, I was thinking that maybe we should start eating together. We've been living under the same roof for almost three months now and we still eat separately." Vinay said, turning to sauté the dish he was preparing.

Gosh! Now that I thought about it, it did seem rather odd that we ate alone. Imagine the amount of mechanical power loss.

"Cool, less work for me to do." I agreed, "By the way I have a study date with Neel and Harsh at three so I'll be out for the second half of the day. Can you umm...pick me up at around seven thirty-ish?"

Vinay paused his work, and turned abruptly, "Did you say Harsh? As in Harsh Singhal?"

"Yes." I nodded.

Vinay opened his mouth to say something but thought otherwise. With a slight shrug he turned back to tend to his cooking.

Okay? So those two still don't get along for some reason?

I perched onto the counter and watched as Vinay skillfully played his dish into two plates and handed one to me.

"So, I spent the last couple of days thinking about what you said about working on my writing side by side with my college studies and I think what you say makes sense." Vinay said between bites, "I'm pretty certain that it's going to be hectic but I've decided to contact a few people who can help me and see where it goes."

"You have no clue how happy this makes me!" I squealed setting my plate aside and literally jumping onto him.

He was rigid at first, shocked at my sudden display of affection, but soon his arms came around my waist and pressed my body against his.
"Uh...Akira?" he said hoarsely, "You're crushing me!"

I let go of him immediately and my face flushed a beetroot red as I placed my hands awkwardly by my side, "Yes, umm...I hope you succeed in whatever you're planning to do."

Vinay scratched the back of his neck nervously, "Well, I don't really have a concrete plan yet but I'll get there."

The slight tension because of my unexpected affection before hung in the air as we finished eating.

"I should probably go take a bath, I'll need more time because Sunday is my hair wash day." I said running my hands through my greasy hair.

Stop telling him your bathing schedule, Akira! That's just weird!

Vinay laughed at my excuse and shook his head, "Yeah, I need to go get some work done too. See you in the evening."

"Yeah." I smiled, "Later, skater!"

●○●

"How about a food delivery app?" Neel asked, scrunching up his nose.

"God, no! That's such an overused idea," Harsh interjected, "We should do something unique."

"The million dollar question is...what?" I groaned, biting the butt of the pencil I was holding, "Come on guys, we've been here for almost an hour and a half and w still don't have anything in place. Let's just do a stock market predictor or something. It's just numbers."

"Stop whining, Akira!" Neel tsked at me, "Originality is the key. Once we know what we want everything will be easy to sort out. For now, set those creative juices free."

"Ughh..." I rested my forehead against the large teak tabletop of the library desk.

"A translator?" Harsh suggested, "For the fifty most used Indian languages, I mean. It'll help people moving to places with different linguistic habits."

"Okay...I guess we can do that." I replied.

"Obviously not!" Neel butted in, "Do you guys have any idea how time consuming it'll be to make translator for even ten languages. Every language in India has a different script for God's sake. We're not making a fucking translator."

"You've got a point." Harsh answered, biting his cheek as he thought.
Think Akira! Work those neurons of yours instead of lolling about.
I sat up straight in my chair, it creaked under my weight.

"Okay guys, chuck everything. Let's start from scratch." I said, looking straight, "What are the things that people use everyday?"

"Well, food, shelter and clothing are the basic necessities. Secondary needs include transport and communication." Neel stated listing down.

"Yes, and communication encompasses mobile phones and mobile networks." Harsh added.

Suddenly it hit me. I had the perfect idea.

"Shit! Why didn't I think of this before?" I started excitedly, "Guys almost seventy six percent of our country's population uses smartphones, which means approximately a hundred and five million user market. Each of them obviously require a data plan whatever the size."

"Okay, but what are you getting at?" Harsh knit his brow.

"A large part of these users belong to the middle class and the poor. Sticking to your data limit can be pretty hard at times and it doesn't help that network companies exploit this very aspect and charge exorbitant rates on the extra usage which burns quite a hole in the users' pockets. So why don't we create a data regulator, something that divided the total monthly limit for daily usage and helps these people." I completed, a grin spreading on my face.

"That's very thoughtful Akira. I think this is a great idea." Neel agreed, "What do you think Harsh?"

"I like it. It also gives us opportunities to experiment with the computing aspect of building an application."

"Well, I guess we have a winner then. Great thinking Akira!" Neel lauded me.

I beamed at him.

"Now I need to you guys to list out all the possible features we can add." I said, clasping my hands together.

For the next couple of hours the three of discussed the various aspects of our proposed project and divided the work. Neel was going to handle data collection and design, Harsh would look after the coding part and I was to deal with the management and debugging because that was what I excelled at.

"Ok, you three, I need to close the library soon. Please start wrapping up." Miss Banerjee, the librarian called out from her desk.

"Yes Miss. We were just heading out." Neel hollered.

I gathered my things, stuffing them into my large tote. "Does next Thursday work for you two? We need to discuss the financial aspect before we can begin work individually."

"Yes, I don't have basketball practice that day." Neel nodded, slinging his backpack onto one shoulder.

"I have no problem either. So I guess, Thursday then. Same time?" Harsh asked, adjusting his jacket.

"Yep."

We walked out of the building together, heading towards the parking lot. The mauve cloudless sky was splashed with countless stars, catching all the attention they could before the moon rose and stole the limelight.

Vinay was waiting outside. He was standing, leaning against the side of his bike with a cigarette in his hand. I frowned when saw the death stick dangling between his fingers.

He immediately dropped it to the ground and stepped on it, putting out the smoke.

"Hey." He flashed me a smile.

"Hi." I returned his grin.

His gaze flitted to Harsh who was standing behind me and his shoulders tensed visibly.

"Good evening Vinay." Harsh nodded, a sly smile playing across his lips.

"Stop it Harsh," Vinay snapped, "Don't test my patience. Not right now."

"What? I just greeted you. That's what civil people do you know, in case you aren't aware." He replied.

"Harsh!" Vinay closed his eyes as he exhaled, "Just go before I do something."

"By all means, go right ahead," Harsh baited him, "But I know you won't because you're scared you can't go complain to your Daddy anymore, aren't you?"

Stop Harsh!

Vinay lunged at him, grabbing the collar of his white polo tee forcefully, "I know you told him to cut my allowance, you fucking son of a bitch."

I sucked in a breath incredulously. What the hell was Vinay talking?
"Calm down man." Neel intervened quickly, pulling Vinay away from Harsh, who had a satisfied look masking his face.

Vinay's chest heaved as he breathed in short pants as he snatched his arm out of Neel's grip.

"Go home while you can, fucker. I'll deal with you later." He ground out.

"Uhuh, no violence," Harsh tksed at him, "Let's not involve any more people in our problems. Good night brother."

●○●

Twenty one chapters so far...we've come a long way from when we began two months ago...

Thank you for sticking with my story so far!! You are all awesome!
Vote, comment and share and don't forget to spread the love!!

QOTD: Which place would you like to visit?
I really want to go to New Zealand....