author's note:

*slowly peeks* ...hi.. remember this? I've pushed this off long enough. Life has been so crazy, you have no idea. BUT, I did write a bit now and then over the year so I should be able to update about two more chapters in the next week.

PS: the chapters are going to start coming from 3rd person POV now instead of first person. I realize I shouldn't change it abruptly, but I didn't realize I wrote the chapters in 3rd person and it's going to take a lot of editing to switch POVs. I'm sure you don't want to wait even more for me to fix it.

You can expect an update of one chapter per week, so that's something, right? I'll let you go on and read now. Leave me comments & votes!

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Swayam

"We're not done talking about this." She promises just before getting out of the car. I let out a defeated sigh. Fighting with her about this was going to be very exhausting.

That night over dinner, she was very quiet, and I could tell it wasn't just because she was upset with me. "What's wrong?" I asked as she was cleaning up the dinner dishes.

"I know this might be silly but the thought just won't leave me. I think I might be the reason why Rey and Taani aren't together anymore."

"Why do you think that?" I took the plate she passed me and organized it in the dish washer.

"Because... that Monday after the party, Roy and I had a talk. He had the misunderstanding I liked him, which I am sure you fit it in his head somehow, but anyway, he wasn't ready to believe I'm married to you. And they had broken up just before that. Even after I cleared his misunderstanding, they are still not together."

"They could have separated because of you, but if they aren't together now, there could be another reason for it. Give your mind a rest. Did you get the schedule?" I ask, changing the topic, not wanting to get into how I might or might not have convinced Rey indirectly that she liked him too.

Kriya handed me the last silverware left in the sink and washed her hands. I followed after. "Yea, I did. Say hello to all-nighters!" She replies with fake enthusiasm.

I laughed. "Relax, you don't need to stress. I'll help you."

"Hmm. The schedule's on the desk. You can look at it. I'm going to go put this in mom's room." She informed as she filled up the water pitch and left. I turned the lights off and checked the front door to make sure it was locked before proceeding towards my temporary room, her bedroom.

I picked up the schedule and knowing her weak subjects and strong one's, I prepared a day-to-day study time-table for her. It was ready by the time she walked in. She took a look at the table, impressed. "Wow, you've already made it?"

"I didn't top my classes just like that.' I praised myself, to which she rolled her eyes. I got to the point. "You can revise your strong subjects and get them out of the way first. That way, you can focus on weak ones without having to worry about others."

She nodded, understanding that would put lesser stress on her. I looked at her, still wearing the dress she had worn to college. "Why don't you go change into something... comfortable before studying?"

She looked down at her dress and nodded. "Right, brb." She talked in text form. I sat back down on the chair to pull out her books. I shook my head seeing the notes she had taken. I pulled out a fresh new book to rewrite her notes in proper way.

"What are you doing?" She asked, getting defensive about her notes when she saw me copying once she had changed.

"I am doing something that you should have done. Redoing your notes. What is this? A bunch of scribbles!"

She snatched the book away from under my hand. "They're perfect according to me, alright?"

I glared at her and pulled the book back in my hands. "None of it makes sense! Nothing is connected properly. How are you going to study?"

"I took them. I know what it means."

"Oh really? Why don't you read it then and explain to me too. Then I won't have to do double work." She gave me an attitude filled look and with pride, opened the book to a random page to read her notes. Seeing words after other in different lines, she knew in her head that I was right. She was adamant. "That's what I thought. Now go to sleep for tonight. You can start with the notes tomorrow which I'll make today."

"My exams. So why would you do all the work? I'll remake them."

I shook my head. I should have known she would be obstinate. "Kriya, I've given these exams before. I'll make the notes easily knowing what you will need to know so you don't have to study the extra material. Listen to me and just go sleep, 'kay?"

"Then I'll read as you write. I'm not going to sleep while you do my work."

I nodded, taking it as a fair deal. Picking up the needed materials, we moved to the study, which was two rooms over from Kriya's room.

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"Here." Kriya placed the coffee mug on a clean, books free spot on the desk. "Move." She nudged me slightly.

"Kriya, get your own chair." I kept my eyes glued on the book and hands busy taking notes.

She tried to explain. "How will I read when you write if I get another chair? You already write so tiny!"

"Are you offending my handwriting? Seriously? They're better than yours at least. And that, is despite me being a guy." My point? Most guys have sloppy writing. But here, the case was opposite.

She fumed, opening her mouth to object but shut it a second later. She gulped her anger in and put on a forced smile. "You don't want to move? Fine then, could you just stop writing for a second?"

I did, curious to know what was running up her mind this time. She gave me an innocent smile when I listened to her. Then she took me by surprise as she sat down on my lap. What the-! I knew better than to curse out loud.

"Now, you can write and not move and I can read too." She flashed me a grin. "Problem solved." When I didn't blink and continued to stare at her, she spoke again. "What are you waiting for now? Go on. Write."

I gulped down as gently as I could before forcing my eyes to look down at the book. I couldn't think right with her sitting on my lap. For a second, I even wondered if she was taking revenge for the night when I purposefully didn't let her sleep the whole night by keeping her glued to me. Then I brushed the thought away. Not possible Swayam. She wouldn't figure out it was intentional. But then now? She, in a way, is punishing herself by being close to me. If that affected her, isn't this..?

"Swayam?" Her voice brought me back to the world around. "What are you writing?" She asked a simple question. I wasn't sure why she would ask that. The obvious thing to do would be to look down at the paper. I was writing the word from the line to the one below and going slanted. I cursed silently and scolded myself to pay attention. I couldn't let her distract me. Scratching my mistake, I continued writing.

Every now and then, Kriya would lean in to reread the word I had written when the sentence wouldn't make any sense. Those were the times when she would distract me. Not only was I distracted, I am sure she was too. I am sure she was silently cursing herself for once again acting without thinking. If only she had applied her logic before sitting on my lap, she wouldn't have to face the dilemma right then and nether would I be holding on to the last of my willpower.

She tapped my shoulder with her index finger. When I looked, she pointed at the bottle of water which was half full. I handed it to her and she gulped down the rest of the water in one go itself. I had one hand around her back as I held the book's page down and the other wrote. Before we knew it, it was 3 a.m. Suddenly, Kriya's head rested on my shoulder, making me glance at her. She had fallen asleep. I decided to carry her back to room and so taking her one hand, wrapped it around my neck. It would have been easier to pick her up then while also getting up from the chair. But she simply snuggled her head closer to my neck.

I was in a fix. I couldn't stand up and nor could I continue writing as her face would be in the way. With her close to me, I wouldn't be able to sleep either. I put the pen on the page I was at and closed the book, using the pen as a bookmark.

Kriya... why do you do this to me?

Only I knew how bad my state was at the second. I caressed her cheek, admiring her sleeping face. She looked sweet as a doll. Her anger, her whining, her antics, the way she would glare at me - all in front of that peaceful look seemed as if never possible. Everything just made my heart want to skip a beat. Being in control of my heart at all times was getting tougher by the day. I didn't want to wonder why I was feeling this way. I knew it was love. And I also knew she didn't know that. I am gearing up for leaving her life, and she is only making it harder for me to let her go.

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3rd Person POV

When Kriya's alarm went off at 6:30, she nuzzled her face in Swayam's neck. Her hands went up to the desk to search for her phone. Finding it she tapped it blindly, putting the alarm on snooze for the time being. Swayam's sleep was disturbed by it too but as soon as the sound subsided, he rested.

When it was 7, Meena decided to go up to their room wondering why they weren't down yet. Upon opening the door, she didn't see them there. She checked the other rooms and finally came across the study. She opened the door ajar to see Kriya so cutely sleeping along with Swayam.

She was surely happy seeing them. She didn't have the heart to wake her up but knew she'd have to before Kriya gets any more late for college. She ran a loving hand over Kriya's head and softly called her out. "Kriya?"

With the disturbance, Kriya broke her sleep and finally squinted through her eyes. She saw no one in front of her but then as the hand continued to pat her, she looked behind to see Meena there. Sleep flew away from her as she jerked down on her feet. This sudden action forcing Swayam to open his eyes as well.

"Mom!"

"Voh... I didn't want to wake you but you're getting late for college."

Swayam caught on to the situation and got on his feet as well. Kriya pulled his hand and twisted it around to look at the time on his watch. "Oh crap!" She realized she was late. She rushed out of the study and to her room.

"Good morning mom...' Swayam broke the seconds silence, feeling awkward, not wanting to know what his mother would be thinking seeing Kriya on his lap.

"Rub some ointment on your neck before it starts paining." That was all Meena said. She kept a teasing smile on his cheek and left him alone.

When she said it, the pain suddenly came up to him. Having no neck support for the whole night did give him pain. When he tried to look down, the soreness hit him hard. "Damn!"

But he had no time to worry about his pain. Kriya's stuff was all over the place. He decided to get her bag ready so she didn't have to worry about it.

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"Ready?" Swayam asked Kriya as she stuffed a huge chunk of pancake in her mouth. She nodded and put on her flats. Swayam grabbed her bag and his laptop bag as well. On their way, Kriya looked at Swayam and noticed something off. It was as if she knew something was wrong.

"Is everything okay?" Concern got the best of her.

He nodded. "Yup, all fine." He gave her a smile but it wasn't convincing to her. Then she thought back, hoping to catch on to something and she did. She realized he had fallen asleep sitting due to her.

"Shit. Why didn't you wake me up?!" She scolded him. "You know it goes sore."

"It'll be fine." He pulled to a stop in front of the college gates. "Now go. You have five minutes to get to class."

"The hell I am leaving you like this!" She muttered fishing in the dashboard for the first-aid kit. She pulled out a blue cream which was meant to give temporary relief for muscle aches. "Where does it pain?" She asked.

He took it from her. "I can do it myself. You need to get to class."

She glared at him, taking it back. "Didn't I make it clear that I wasn't leaving?"

He chuckled, "I didn't think we hurried this morning to get here on time, but still not get you in class on time."

She gave him a fake smile, knowing his con too well. "Nice try. Now, do I have to ask again?"

After a silent glare down, he finally gave in and unbuckled the seat belt. "Fine, but like I said. I can do it myself."

She gladly handing him the cream. "Be my guest." She really wanted to see him give it a try.

He loosened his tie and unbuttoned the first couple of buttons on his shirt. He then pressed a drop of cream on the pad of his index finger and dropped it over the back of the area where his shoulder met his neck. Using his fingers, he then tried to spread it across and massage it. The cool relief hit him instantly, only he couldn't reach the farthest end.

Oh, he did try. And Kriya had her laughter seeing him try. He scowled at her. She suppressed a chuckle before asking, "Now, are you satisfied and admit you need my help?"

"I don't need...." He proceeded to be adamant, but who was he kidding? He frowned when she gave him a 'seriously-you're-going-to-deny' look.

She grinned at her told-you-so victory. "Good boy. Now turn."

He turned his back to her. She shifted in her seat and pulled his shirt back. "Tell me where." She asked as she pressed her fingers gently over the area where she could see his skin glistening with the liquid cream, thick like a body wash.

He reached for her hand and guided it downwards towards the left. "There."

There was pitch perfect silence in the car as she massaged the area, quick to realize that this probably wasn't the best idea. For some reason, her stomach was squirming with anxiety and heart was beginning to pace faster. She didn't get the time to ask herself 'why' as he suddenly turned.

Her hand froze in mid-air, grasping in how close his face was. She caught a glimpse at his eyes and they locked there. Looking into his eyes, she saw an unseen look. She didn't instantly recognize him, despite knowing him the best. A few seconds seemed to be passing like days, before she noticed his eyes trailed down, eyeing her lips.

Gulping, she moved back and fumbled. "I- I should go."

Just as quickly, he snapped out as well. He instantly cleared his throat before speaking. "Yeah, bye. I'll see you later."

She nodded and proceeded to get out of the car as she grabbed her side bag and purse. She then stopped and turned back to face him. "Swayam?" While he waited for her to go on, she had a change of mind. "Go back home and rest. You need it... and, you should also spend some time with your mother. You're seeing her after a long time."

Then, before she had another change of mind, she leaned in to kiss him on the cheek and getting out, disappeared inside the building.

Kriya tried to pay attention in class so she could take good notes on that lecture and Swayam had one less set of notes to worry about for her. But, given what had happened just minutes ago, it was hard to. Hannah and Caroline kept on buzzing her to get her attention, but she found it hard to listen to them when there were all sorts of thoughts in her head.

They eventually figured that she was distracted and left her be, taking some notes themselves. When assigned group work, her group cribbed.

One of them said, "I'm so dead. I don't think I'll pass. Everything's so hard to understand."

"Exactly! And all the exams are back to back. No breaks in between. How are we to cover it all in two weeks?" A second followed.

Kriya watched them silently and controlled herself from rolling her eyes. She had finally managed to push everything out of her head and decided to distract herself by focusing on studies. When they went on for about fifteen minutes instead of focusing on the project at hand, she finally released her anger and slapped the book shut on the desk, getting their attention.

"Would you all just shut up?! All of your cribbing is not going to help you pass the exams! We're given the time right now to work on the project. So care to make that of use? If I should remind, this project counts as 25% of our finals for this class. If you fail the other 75%, then at least you'll have this to help you somewhat pass?!"

They all looked at each other, wondering what had happened to her. She never said a word in class, let alone yell at them all, and have a ranting session. "Someone's on their time of the month..." One of them mumbled while the others stifled a laugh.

"Wow, real smart. I guess you're not worried about failing the class. Cause I'm sure, you don't have it in you to pass the exams without cheating."

None of them passed a comment, obviously catching on that she was pissed about something and wasn't in the mood of jokes. Letting her be, they started their conversation.

"Kriya?" Shane cautiously proceeded towards her after class.

"Hmm?"

"Still in a bad mood? If so, I'll leave!" He made a light joke. She smiled.

"Never in a bad mood for you. What's up? Where have you been these days?!"

His eyes widened. "Where have I been?! Kriya, it is you who has just disappeared and busy who-knows-where!"

She sighed as they walked out towards the open ground. "Sorry... Mom has come so..."

"Mom?" He interrupted as he knew Kriya's parents were no more.

"I mean Swayam's mom. She's visiting for the month from India and so things at home are a bit hectic."

He nodded, understanding. "Ah, that friend of yours. I haven't seen him in a long time. I thought he didn't live with you anymore." He didn't wait for her to say anything and just continued, "Anyway, don't let that get to your studies, okay?" He advised as he walked backwards towards the field. He had to leave for practice and waving bye to him,

Kriya proceeded towards the parking lot where the driver was waiting for her. Swayam had acted smart and sent the driver instead of coming himself. She understood he was trying to avoid her and her lecture she was going to give him.

"Take me to the office." She told the driver.

"But sir's asked me to take you home and told me to tell you that you need to study."

"Are you taking me there or shall I catch a cab?" She put him in a tight spot, resulting in him agreeing as he knew Swayam would fire him if he let her take the cab. He could face Swayam's anger for the day instead of losing his job all together.

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