ADARIKA's PHONE READ February 2nd, 2016.

Her first reaction was denial. She slapped and pinched herself everywhere possible, but that invited nothing but pain and a ton of nail marks on her arm afterwards, and Adarika was still stuck eight years into the past.

Her second reaction was shock. She looked out the window and saw the cafe across the road still open and busy. The same cafe shut down in 2020, and it was the one she visited quite often.

She had sprinted to her room and hastily slid the mirror closet door to reveal a neatly ironed school uniform hung right at the front. There was even the purple Taylor swift shirt that Adarika wore religiously before she donated it away in 2021.

Her third reaction wasn't an emotion, but rather just ten minutes of her pacing back and forth in her living room muttering, "This can't be real," over and over again to herself.

Her fourth reaction was the need to see Ishan. The sun was beginning to set, but if Adarika's phone wasn't malfunctioning, the cafe would still have an hour before it closed down for the day. She quickly got dressed in whatever clothes she had and left to see her long term best friend.

The said long-term best friend was sitting sipping coffee at the front of the cafe when he spots a panting Adarika run towards him. He stands upright as she stops in front of him, leaning over with her hands on her knees as she tries to steady her breathing. A myriad of thoughts start to surface her mind.

What is he doing here? Shouldn't he be at practice? Why is he chugging coffee when he should be holding a bat or keeping the wickets?

"Adi!" Ishan remarks. "What brings you here?"

Adarika doesn't know what to say back or what words to use when Ishan Kishan is really in front of her, looking gorgeous as ever. He is real and this isn't another one of her foggy dreams. It is real. Ishan is real and Adarika feels like breaking down right then and there.
Instead, she nearly pounces on him, bringing him close into a big hug.

Ishan is taken aback by the sudden action but instinctively brings a hand up to caress her hair. "O...kay? Is everything alright, Adi?"

But Adarika is so overwhelmed and can't comprehend that she's hearing Ishan's deep honey-like voice again and feeling his touch and presence and, God, she wants to stay like this forever.

Letting out a staggered exhale, she tries to focus on the coolness of the afternoon air with a tinge of cigarette smoke that wafts from some distant alleyway, contrasting with the sweetness of Ishan's homely vanilla perfume.

It's all so much.

"Yeah... Yeah. Everything's alright." Adarika breathes when they finally pull apart.

"Sorry, I guess I just really needed someone just then." Ishan chuckles and Adarika feels her heart pound at the sight of his smile and sparkling eyes, shaping into the same moon crescents that were present when he was exchanging his wedding vows with his fiancée, Kashika.

"Oye," Ishan says softly, bringing Adarika out of her momentary daze. "You're still coming to the hangout we planned tomorrow, right? At the park?"

Fuck. Now Adarika remembers. This is als the day before she and Ishan went to their local park for a picnic because Shubman had told them about a new food cart and recommended they checked it out.

That was also the day everything was going so well, and Adarika felt ready to confess until she chickened out at the last minute out of paranoia.

She grimaces internally but then remembers that this time, things have to change.

"Yeah. Definitely."

🪩

Guys please don't mind what I wrote I'm literally surviving on an empty stomach, 3 hours of sleep and with a truck load of syllabus on my back 😭 ( me when I wrote the chapter)

But yeah, my condition rn is no less, exam season is killing me and the only thing keeping my sleep deprived ass sane is shit loads of coffee rn, so please excuse this chapter, I'll edit it when I'm free (me rn)

Fun fact : I both wrote and published this chapter at 3 am lmao :))

Bye 🥲