My first week in Dehradun passed very smoothly. I had become comfortable with everyone at home .I had become comfortable with my old friends as well.Even I got used to the routine of my classes.

All in all, I was feeling a lot more comfortable than I had thought I would feel by this point. More comfortable than I had ever expected to feel here.

This morning ,Misha,Khusbu and I got out of our car and headed onto the campus.

People greeted me in the parking . I didn't know all their names, but I waved back and smiled at everyone.

Just then a call echoed in the distance"Zara!!"

I could recognize the voice .I turned to see him.

"Hey,Arhaan"I smiled at him.

Being a introvert ,Usually I take time to adjust with new people.I never thought I would be comfortable with him in just 1 week.It was only possible because of his friendly nature .

"Good morning, everyone ."he wished,smiling at us.

"Good morning"Misha ,Khusbu and I wished him back.

"What's up?"he asked as he walked by my side.

"Nothing much.Going for class."I kept walking as I spoke.

"What about you?"I asked him.

"Today,I have a basket ball match after college .Would you like to come to cheer me up?"he asked, hopefully.

I wanted to tell him 'No'.

I was never a fan of sports. I always found it boring to watch.I didn't even watch football or cricket matches in Tv.If the game was on,I find something to do to entertain myself because sports were not my things at all.

"I would be there."I said.The way he was looking at me,I couldn't deny him.

Hearing my answer,his excited grin stretched wide across his face.

"She is invited only?"Misha asked, frowning her eyes.

"Inviting her means inviting all of you.You all are invited."Arhaan said with a smile.

"Well,Invitation granted."Misha grinned.

We parted away then.I entered into the classroom and sat beside Jazz .

My third hour class got out late, and the lunch table I always sat at was full by the time I arrived.I sat down next to Simi.I tried to catch up with the conversation.They were talking about weekend plans,planning to go to watch a new comedy movie in a theatre.

"Where is Arhaan?"Umang asked me in between the conversation.

"I don't know."I shrugged."Maybe he is practicing for his basket ball match."I said my assumption.

"Oh,yes.He'd told me."He got remembered.

"His match is today, isn't it?"Kabeer asked .

"Yup!"I nodded.

"And we all are going to cheer him up."Misha said, excitedly.

We all nodded in agreement.

Arhaan had managed to make a place for him in our friend group in a short span of time.Everyone likes him very much.Infact,nowadays he was even sitting with us during lunch time instead of sitting with his friends.

After college,all of us went to watch basket ball match.Arhaan was happy seeing us .We cheered him up during the whole match.The match was quite enjoyable.To my surprise ,I really enjoyed it.Arhaan and his team won the match.

And after the match,he gave us a treat to a fancy restaurant.

1 month later...

"Thanks for coming.Have a nice day."I said with a smile to the customer who just now bought a book from me.He smiled and left the store.

I was doing part time job at the local book store to bear my small expenses. Misha's family didn't seem to understand why I objected to them spending money on me-why it made me uncomfortable if I let them pay my college tuitions .They thought I was being unnecessarily difficult.But I had my own reasons.They were already doing a lot for me.I didn't want to be a burden on them.Beside I wanted to be independent.

I came out from the store as soon as my work time finished,called a cab and headed to the movie theatre.It had become a routine of us to watch movie at the theatre in weekends.

"Hey,Arhaan"I greeted him when I got to the theatre.

"Hey!"He smiled,flashing his teeth.

"Sorry for being so late."I apologized.

"Its okay . You're not the only one who is late today."he said glumly.

I gazed around to see my other friends.But they were nowhere to be seen.

"Where is Kabeer and Umang?"I asked

"Kabeer claimed to be busy and Umang already had plans.So, they're not coming."

"Ooh"I muttered."Where is Misha and Khusbu?They didn't come yet?"

He shook his head"Nope."

"I'll call and ask."saying this,I stepped aside to call Khusbu and got to know they were not coming either .Misha had some assignment to finish and Khusbu wasn't feeling well.

"They're not coming .Khusbu isn't feeling well and Misha has some assignments to complete."I told him glumly."Maybe ,we should plan this another day."I suggested.

"I'm still up for it.We can watch a movie together.It'll be fun."Arhaan said, suddenly over excited.

"Umm...Not a bad idea."I gave a little nod .It was a little bit uncomfortable to be alone with him, though.

"Are you sure you don't want to see 'Kabir singh' ?" he asked third time, naming the current romantic movie that was ruling the box office.

"I want to see IT " I insisted. "I'm in the mood for scary things. " I added.

"Okay." His tone tinged with disappointment .

We stood in the line and got the tickets .

1 hour later...

"Zara!"Arhaan called but I didn't respond to him.

"Zara, I'm sorry."he said in a low voice.

When I didn't respond again ,he exhaled sharply.

"Come on,Zara.I agree that I made a mistake .But I couldn't control my anger."he said as he stared out the window.

"Thats the main problem .You have no control on your temper."I snapped.

"Those rascals were passing filthy comments on you.How .."he didn't finish and looked away, struggling for a moment to control his anger.

"How could I tolerate all those shit?"he said, clenching his teeth together.

"They were wrong.But whatever you did after that was totally wrong.You couldn't be aggressive that way.You broke his nose."

"He should be glad that I broke his nose only."Arhaan said,the fury was visible on his face.

"Then we also should be glad that they only kicked us out of the theatre instead of calling the police."I grimaced.

Arhaan continued explaning himself to me and I was trying to listen as we sat waiting for one of the three traffic lights to turn green.

I peeked to the right side through window and noticed a group of three man.Two of them were talking with the third one-he looked like younger than them . Suddenly they started to get aggressive with the third one ,and one of them punched him on his stomach ,then pushed him and he hit the ground, groaning in pain.When he tried to get up ,they started beating him up.

Seeing all this ,a chill that had nothing to do with the weather made me shiver .My head started spinning as if something triggered in my mind.I shut my eyes to ease the headache.I couldn't understand what I saw after that-everything was blurr---- few people beating someone mercilessly.They hit on his head,punching and thrashing him badly.

(Her vision)

My eyes flew open.

By the time ,the light turned green,our car started moving .I suddenly felt the urge of saving the helpless boy who was beating up.

"Stop the car"I shouted.

Arhaan stared at me,stunned"What's wrong?"

"Stop the damn car.They'll kill him."I was still shouting. I shot a panick glance out the window.He followed my gaze.

"Relax,Zara! "he said gently.

"Can't you see , they're beating him .We have to save him"I fumed.

"Ignore them.We don't need to get into their mess."He said .

"Do you want me to jump out of the running car?"I threatened him and He rolled his eyes.

I didn't budge, continued giving him the threatening look.

"Aghh!!"he groaned."Fine."

He reversed his car to the fighting spot and stepped out of the car ,slammed the door behind him.

"Stay here."he ordered me and crossed the road to save the guy.

But I couldn't sit here idly.I grabbed my handbag and pulled out my secret weapon.It was pepper spray.I kept this in my bag safety purposes.

I jumped out of the car and followed him.Meanwhile ,Arhaan reached the spot and was trying to keep them away from the boy .He helped the boy to stand on his feet.Suddenly one of them pushed Arhaan , making him stumble on his feet.The next second ,Arhaan landed a hard punch on his nose who pushed him.

That's when I made my entry.I went towards them and sprayed pepper on their eyes.It worked .They groaned in pain , squeezing their eyes.

The boy thanked us and then ran away from there immediately.

"Lets go"Arhaan held my wrist tightly and ran towards our car.

"Why did you come out?"he snapped as he opened the passenger door, holding it for me.

"I couldn't let you go alone"I said as I stepped in.

He sighed.

Once we were inside the car,he started the engine without any word, turning around smoothly and speeding back towards the town.

After a few minutes silence,finally he looked at me, his eyes seeking mine, full of his own questions.

Arhaan's voice was calm as he asked "Well,What was that?"

"I never saw you behaving like that."he added,bemused.

"I don't know ."I whispered."I really don't know why I reacted like this."I looked away, trying to finds words to explain.

"You were behaving as if you know him .As if he was your close one."he said thoughtfully.

I didn't reply cause I had no explanation.

"By the way,What did you spray in their eyes?"he asked curiously after a short pause.

"Pepper spray."I answered with a sheepish smile.

"Pepper spray! Where did you get it?"

"Farhan bhai gifted this to me when I got the job at the book store."I replied.

"Pepper spray as a gift?"he frowned.

"Well, because of my work ,I often reach home late.Thats why ,he gave this to me so that I can carry this easily and can use in case of emergency.You know..safety,self defense."I explained.

"What a thoughtful gift!"he chuckled.

I shot annoying glance at him.He bit his lips to suppress his laugh.

"Stop laughing"I punched on his shoulder playfully.

We sat in silence again. I glanced at the clock on the dashboard. It was past seven-thirty.

He started asking questions about my country,school, friends,might be trying to kill the silence.

Then he asked about boys I'd dated. I was relieved that I'd never really dated anyone, so that particular conversation couldn't last long. He seemed quite surprised by my lack of romantic history.

"So you never met anyone you wanted?" he asked in a curious tone that made me wonder what he was thinking about.

I was grudgingly honest. "Not yet"

His lips pressed together into a hard line.Don't know why!

"Now,its my turn."I said quickly to change the topic.

"For what?"

"To ask you questions."I replied.

"I don't know anything about you or your family.You never told me anything"I reminded him

"Cause you never ask .I am the only one who always showed interest to know you.You never showed any interest to know me"he smiled,a faint -half smile.

I lowered my head , an embarrassed silence on my part .He was right.I never tried to know anything about him.

"What do you want to know?"He asked.

"Tell me something about your family."I suggested.

"Well...My family consists of my mother ,my sister and me."

"Your dad?"

"He is no more"

"Ohh... I'm sorry."

"It's okay."He smiled and after a short pause he started"We lost our father at our early age.Since then,mom is everything for us.My mom is the anchor of our house and is definitely the driving force for our family.She is taking care of us single handed."

He continued"The mischievous, little one in our family is my little sister,Roshni.You already met her."he looked at me.

I nodded .

"Being the youngest, luck is always on her side.Filling our house with a frequent set of frowns and smiles, she is indeed the little demon of our house"he laughed .I also joined him.

And thus He continued giving answers of my questions.He told me about his school , his friends,hobbies .I got to know many things about him tonight.

....

"Movie over already?"Misha asked in surprise when I came inside the room.

"Theatre was houseful.We didn't get the tickets"I lied.I had no interest to tell her about our little stunt.

"Crap!!" Misha muttered, sounded disappointed.I glanced at her confused.

"Misha,as far I remember,you had an important assignment, hadn't you?"I asked narrowing my eyes .

"I just completed it."she said gawkly.

I felt something fishy in her behaviour but couldn't figure out what it was.

I was talking to Misha just when Khusbu came out of the washroom .

"Hey,Are you okay?"I asked her.

"Yeah.Why are you asking?"

Before I could speak , Misha said to her"She is asking about your back pain "Misha said which sounded like she was informing her.

"Ooh!! "She mumbled looking at Misha,then at me.

"I took medicine for the pain . I'm fine now.Don't worry"Khusbu assured me with a smile.

"Okay."I was relieved.

But something was fishy.

After having dinner and studying for a while ,I went to bed but I was far too stressed to sleep, so I took my sleeping pills.While I waited for the drugs to kick in,I fussed over what I would wear tomorrow.

With everything ready for the morning, I finally lay in bed , concentrating on relaxing individual parts of my body. I thought about the whole evening.Though starting wasn't good but ending was pleasant enough.
Whatever it was that had happened tonight-and whether it was the adrenaline, or the hallucinations that were responsible for my strange behaviour-I tried to push it away from my mind by remembering the cheerful conversation I had with Arhaan in the car.

I could realize that Arhaan was gradually becoming an important part of my daily life.

***********

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