After spending an hour or so in the cafe, Divya, Neha and the guys roamed around a little, then returned back to the hotel. They were back just in time for dinner. After that the guys waved them goodbye and went to their respective rooms. Divya pulled out the room key and unlocked the door.

Both her and Neha were hit by a sudden wave of exhaustion as soon as their eyes fell on their beds.( There were two fluffy beds with a bedside table in between them.) Neha rummaged through her purse, searching for a hair tie. As soon as her hands found it, she took her pajamas and excused herself to their shared bathroom.

As for Divya, she sat down lazily on her bed and took out her phone to just look around. She checked her Instagram, Facebook and other accounts to see if she received any important or interesting messages. She then tapped the WhatsApp icon and saw many groups just spamming her inbox. She sighed and closed the phone, keeping it on the table.

After getting rid of her footwear, she sat in the front of a cozy looking dressing table, taking off her flower hair pin. She stretched her arms and heard one of the bones on her shoulder pop. She sighed in satisfaction and looked at the mirror. She took a strand of her hair and placed it behind her ear. Smiling softly, she replayed the events that happened earlier.

Turns out, Vijay and his friends were just out for some tea (or coffee). Or maybe just Vijay was. Because when she turned to look at him, he wasn't seated there. Maybe he left the couple alone so they could enjoy a date or something. She didn't know...

Shaking her head, she heard the bathroom door unlock as Neha stepped out in her grey pajama top and matching shorts.

"You are good to go." she sighed out, now her hair messily in a bun. Divya smiled and retrieved her pale blue baggy pajamas and two hair ties. She freshened up and got out, only to find Neha on her laptop, watching Netflix or something, donning her white headphones.

She sat down and pulled her blankets to her hips. Setting the fluffy pillows behind her, she snuggled in its warmth, taking her phone again. She pulled out her earphones from her hand bag and plugged them on.

She opened her phone screen, the white light flashing at her face. 21:56, it read. She texted her mom briefly about the day, put the photo she clicked of the desert and the meal as her status and story. She looked around a bit, and watched some small irrelevant YouTube videos to pass the time. When she checked the time, it was half past ten.

She couldn't sleep but she knew there was one person she could nag at this time of night. She opened her contacts and scrolled down. Smirking, she called the desired person. The phone rang for some time, then was picked up. Divya sat a little straighter when she heard the phone being answered.

"So how was it?!"

"How was what?" She decided to play dumb.

"You know what I'm talking about Div! Your first international trip! GOD! I'm SO jealous!!" The voice on the other side of the phone squealed.

"Oh~ No need to be jealous of me Jhaan, I know you'll get this opportunity in the future." She tried her best to lighten her up.

"Heh. As a lawyer? Nope! I don't think so.." Divya could literally feel Jhanvi brooding. She tried to suppress her smile but couldn't. Whenever she talked with Jhanvi, she just couldn't stop smiling.

"But guess what?! Who did I meet here?" Divya couldn't conceal her excitement.

"Who? Mr. Hasheufaafluesque?" Jhanvi sassed.

"No... What kind of name is that?"

"Wha~t? That's French."

"That's absurd."

"Whatever.."

"Anyways, Me and Neha, you remember Neha, right? Yeah, so me and Neha and two other guys from my class went to a local cafe here, and stumbled into Vijay!!" Divya spoke excitedly, but not too loudly, minding Neha who was sitting a few meters away from her.

"Vijay? OUR VIJAY?!" Jhanvi's voice rose an octave, matching Divya's enthusiasm.

"Yes!"

"OMG! The world is small after all!"

"It is... "

"So what did you two talk about?"

"Eh, nothing in particular, just here and there. He was here on a summer trip with his friends. One of his friends invited him to this trip. But we didn't speak for too long. We were kind of, holding off the line..." She chuckled sheepishly, finishing off her tale.

"*sigh That's great... Well, I don't have the opportunity to meet old friends between all these assignments..."

"Don't worry! We'll be back to Jamshedpur soon, maybe we'll meet each other, or at least two of us can..."

"Yeah.." Jhanvi cheered up a little. They chatted, complained and recited and repeated many discussions, laughing and teasing each other until it was nearly midnight. Divya slid down from her original upright position to a half-sitting, half-laying one. Bidding a good night to Jhanvi she ended the call and took her earphones off. She slid totally under her covers, flicking the lamp near her off, bidding a half-distracted Neha good night.

She was ready to turn her phone off too when it pinged. She was puzzled to receive a text from an unknown number, this late at night. She opened the chat and saw a 'Hey'. But it was soon deleted, right before her eyes. That made her more curious. She furrowed her brows and reduced the brightness of the phone. After thinking for a moment, she typed-

'Who is this?'

Her message was read after a minute and then she saw that the anonymous person was typing. The typing status was changing rapidly. Maybe the person was deleting and retyping the text too much, she mused.

Her phone pinged again.

'It's me' It read. 'Vijay'.

As soon as she read those words, her eyes widened. She inhaled sharply and replied, a new sense of thrill filling her.

'Oh! Hii! Where did you get my number?' She typed rapidly.

'From Saurav'.

Saurav was their mutual friend. She was in touch with him, but they didn't talk often.

'You still talk to him?' But she deleted it. She chewed on her thumb, then sent a 'oh'

'Have I done something wrong? ' Came a reply.

'No no, you didn't!' She nearly said it out loud.

'That's good'

'So...How come you texted me so late?' She decided to test the water.

'I can't?'

'You can! I was just surprised... That's all.' Internally she was fumbling over her words.

'Okay. You should sleep now. It's late.'

'I was going to.' She decided to text some more. 'But how come you are up so late?'

'Can't sleep. I was going to binge-watch something.'

That piqued her interest. ' Binge-watch? Netflix and all?' She sent the text but felt a little dumb after that.

'Yeah. Do you watch series and stuff?'

'Not much. I'm more into reading.'

'Of course! How can I forget the bookworm.' That made her smile.

She sent him laughing emojis as a reply.

He replied with a grinning one.

'Yeah yeah. Don't watch them too late and sleep soon.'

'Your wish is my command.'

That made her blink. For some reason, she started to feel giddy.

'Anyways, I'm going to sleep. Gn!' Maybe this sudden conversation was overwhelming her, or maybe she was feeling shy but she decided to end the chat.

'Yeah sure! Good night!'

Reading that text, she pressed the back button. She saved his number and was going to turn the Wi-Fi off when her phone pinged again. It was Vijay texting her again.

'Sweet dreams and take care' with a smiley face.

Reading that text made something bloom inside her. She felt her ears burn and heart pick up speed as she sat up abruptly. Her actions startled Neha who was engrossed in her laptop.

"YO WHAT THE HELL DUDE!" Neha shouted, now irate.

"Nothing! Sorry! I'll sleep now!" She squeaked her reply and fell on her pillows again, now holding the blanket above her head. She wanted to squeal but felt stupid for acting like that for a normal text.

'Normal for others. But this is Vijay! He doesn't do 'sweet dreams deal'!' A small voice spoke inside her.

She pressed her face on the pillows, trying to calm her erratic heart. She tried to suppress the inner teasing voice and succeeded. After calming down, she reached a conclusion.

"I'm so not over him.." she mumbled. Her mind replayed the short but simple conversation . Her lips stretched into a shy smile.

Let's just say, sleep did save her from her miserable state, but it took some time...About an hour or two?

****

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