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Chapter 7

Author's POV

After a long day at work, Adhyansh entered inside his home with someone beside him.

“What's your excuse for coming here today?” Adhyansh asked the person beside him.

“What do you mean by this question? I need to be here today, it's very important. What if like yesterday, she came here again and you received a punch again I can't miss that… I mean I will not let that happen to you. I will be your savior today.” Neil answered, roaming his eyes in the hall to find someone.

“Then why did you bring this camera with you?” Adhyansh asked with a glare.

“So that I can record her punching you this time clearly, it's one of the best cameras in the market nowadays.” Neil answered, not thinking as he admired his new camera.

“Really?” Adhyansh asked with a clear hint of anger in his voice. His best friend surely needs some beating.

“Yes and you know… No, it's a gift for Laksh. Yes Laksh, I saw this thought of gifting it to Laksh as he loves recording, he will love it. Hahaha.” Neil replied after looking at Adhyansh and finding him glaring, he changed his words completely.

Before Adhyansh could say anything, they heard his mother's voice.

“Aadi, you are home! Oh, Neil, you also came. Great, go and freshen up, dinner is almost ready.” Naina said sweetly, smiling at them.

“Sure Aunty, I will be back in a few minutes.” Neil said and ran towards the guest room( his personal room) as if his tail were on fire.

Adhyansh also went inside his room. He entered his bedroom and dropped his coat on the bed and moved towards his bathroom to take a shower to relax. Today, the whole day in the office, he couldn't focus on work at all. All he could think was about those brown eyes and about HER. HER, who he hadn't found yet after that day, HER who keeps coming to his dreams, HER, who stole his breath away just by existing.

He came out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist, water drops dripping down his damp hair. He made his way to his walk-in closet, and took out a gray t-shirt and sweatpant. He wore that and was going out, when his eyes fell on the familiar small wooden box in the corner shelf. He moved towards it and opened it.

Looking at the thing inside, he took a deep breath and was going to take it out when he heard someone calling him from outside. He closed the box and placed it again on the shelf and moved outside of the closet. He entered his room and looked at the door to find Aditi there.

“Bhai Sa, dinner is set. Come fast, Badi Maa is calling you.” Aditi said.

“Hmm, I am only going there.” Adhyansh replied briefly.

Aditi nodded and went downstairs towards the dining area.

Adhyansh glanced at his closest door and also moved downstairs to join his family at the dining table. He was close to the dining table when he heard his siblings talking.

“You know she even gave me a nickname.” Laksh said proudly as if he won something big looking at Ahaan.

“Who? And what nickname?” Aditi asked as she was a newcomer to the talks.

“Seonbae. And it's ‘Lucky’, how cute.” Laksh said grinning, admiring his new nickname.

“Really. I can't believe she gave such a cute nickname to someone like you.” Aditi said, trying to receive a funny comeback. She was happy her brother is finally being friends with new people.

“Whatever. 𝑨𝒂𝒑 𝒃𝒂𝒔 𝒎𝒖𝒋𝒉𝒔𝒆 𝒋𝒂𝒍 𝒓𝒂𝒉𝒊 𝒉𝒐 𝒅𝒊𝒅𝒊 𝒌𝒚𝒐𝒌𝒊 𝑺𝒆𝒐𝒏𝒃𝒂𝒆 𝒏𝒆 𝒎𝒖𝒋𝒆 𝒏𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒏𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒚𝒂 𝒂𝒖𝒓 𝒂𝒂𝒑𝒌𝒐 𝒏𝒂𝒉𝒊” Laksh replied with a smirk.

[You are just jealous of me because Seonbae gave me a nickname and not you.]

“𝑴𝒂𝒕𝒍𝒂𝒃 𝒗𝒐𝒉 𝒔𝒆𝒐𝒏𝒃𝒂𝒆 𝒌𝒊𝒔𝒊 𝒌𝒐 𝒑𝒖𝒏𝒄𝒉 𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒏𝒆 𝒌𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒂𝒘𝒂 𝒏𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒏𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒆 𝒎𝒆 𝒃𝒉𝒊 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒊. 𝑽𝒆𝒔𝒆 𝒃𝒖𝒓𝒂 𝒎𝒂𝒕 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒂𝒏𝒂 𝒍𝒆𝒌𝒊𝒏 𝒚𝒆𝒉 𝑺𝒆𝒐𝒏𝒃𝒂𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒅𝒂 𝒂𝒋𝒆𝒆𝒃 𝒏𝒂𝒂𝒎 𝒉𝒂𝒊 𝒏𝒂.” Neil said, unaware of Adhyansh's presence who glared at him at his sentence, totally involved in their gossip.

[That means that Seonbae is an expert in giving nicknames apart from punching people. By the way, don't mind but this Seonbae is a bit of a strange name isn't it.]

“𝑵𝒂𝒉𝒊 𝑩𝒉𝒂𝒊. Her name is not Seonbae. It's what I call her.” Laksh said.

[No Brother]

“Then What's her name?” Neil asked, confused.

Adhyansh was moving towards them with a glare on Neil for his earlier ‘punch’ sentence but paused hearing Aditi.

“SHREE. Her name is Shree.” Aditi replied, glancing at Laksh to find him glaring at her, he wanted to answer this question.

“Shree” Adhyansh said to himself, but everyone heard and looked towards him in shock. The youngsters shared a look, he heard their talk and now will scold them.

“Sorry Bhai Sa but we were just answering Neil Bhai’s question as he wanted to know about the one who punched you.” Laksh said quickly, putting all blame on Neil, who looked at him with widened eyes from shock and betrayal.

“𝑫𝒉𝒐𝒌𝒆𝒃𝒂𝒂𝒛” Neil murmured to himself, and started to think of an idea to save himself.

[Cheater]

“Oh yes, I wanted to know about her. So…so..ha..So that I can find her and warn her to never try to do something like that again or your wrath is no joke. I wanted to scare her as I can't let someone go after punching my best friend.” Neil said, coming up with an excuse.

Everyone gave him a weird look at his ugly excuse, Adhyansh looked at him and just shook his head. He sat on his chair silently, making everyone, especially Neil, release a sign of relief.

Everyone started having their dinner and the youngsters had their food silently not wanting to get scolded from their Bhai Sa.

Everyone had their dinner and moved towards their rooms after exchanging good night wishes. After Adhyansh got inside his room and closed the door, Aditi, Laksh and Neil peeked out their heads from their rooms door and silently tiptoed towards Ahaan’s room not wanting to get caught and continue their gossip there.

“She is such a cool person Bhai. She even helped me today when all the students were staring and passing looks at me in the college canteen. She gave them a savage reply.” Laksh said, internally admiring his new role model, his Seonbae.

“I also think the same, she was nice with everyone yesterday.” Ahaan said.

“You know what? We have an upcoming project in Economics in which we will be assigned with a senior. I really wish to be assigned with Seonbae.” Laksh said praying in his head.

“Well I can help you with this.” Neil said, with an impish glint in his eyes.

“𝑺𝒂𝒄𝒄𝒉𝒊! Please help me then.” Laksh requested.

[Really!]

“Well for that you need to do, umm 40… no, 50… yes 50 push ups with a sorry each time for your earlier 𝑫𝒉𝒐𝒌𝒆𝒃𝒂𝒂𝒛𝒊 at dining table.” Neil said.

[Cheating]

“What?... Fine I will do it, but you need to promise me that I will be assigned with Seonbae only. And if you broke the promise, 𝒕𝒐𝒉 𝒎𝒂𝒊 𝑩𝒉𝒂𝒊 𝑺𝒂 𝒌𝒐 𝒋𝒉𝒐𝒐𝒕𝒉-𝒎𝒐𝒐𝒕𝒉 𝒌𝒆𝒉 𝒅𝒖𝒏𝒈𝒂 𝒌𝒊 𝒂𝒂𝒑 𝒎𝒖𝒋𝒉𝒔𝒆 𝑺𝒆𝒐𝒏𝒃𝒂𝒆 𝒌𝒂 𝒏𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝒎𝒂𝒂𝒏𝒈 𝒓𝒂𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒌𝒚𝒐𝒌𝒊 𝒂𝒂𝒑 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒉𝒕𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒌𝒊 𝑺𝒆𝒐𝒏𝒃𝒂𝒆 𝑩𝒉𝒂𝒊 𝑺𝒂 𝒌𝒐 𝒑𝒉𝒊𝒓 𝒔𝒆 𝒑𝒖𝒏𝒄𝒉 𝒎𝒂𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒊 𝒂𝒂𝒑 𝒂𝒂𝒑𝒌𝒐 𝒉𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒔𝒂 𝒅𝒊𝒚𝒂 𝒋𝒂𝒂𝒏𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒍𝒂 𝒃𝒐𝒉𝒕 𝒔𝒂𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒌𝒂𝒂𝒎 𝒌𝒂 𝒃𝒂𝒅𝒂𝒍𝒂 𝒍𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒌𝒐.” Laksh said, mentally patting his shoulder on his great answer, making both Ahaan and Aditi laugh at the expressions on Neil’s face.

[So I will lie to my brother that you were asking me for Seonbae’s number because you wanted Seonbae to punch brother again so that you can take revenge for all the work that he always gave you.]

Neil stared at him for a few seconds, shocked by this statement, “Fine. It's a deal.”

Meanwhile, In Adhyansh’s room, he was sitting on the bed with the same small wooden box from earlier. He opened the box and took out the silver bangle of the girl he saw two years ago.

He moved his fingertips on the bangle and thought about the first time he saw her. As he closed his eyes and tried to remember more about her, he found the brown eyes and the shocked face of the girl from yesterday coming into his thoughts. The corner of his lips a little upward remembering that shocked expression on her face, and that's when he shot his eyes open.

𝑯𝑬𝒀 𝑴𝑨𝑯𝑨𝑫𝑬𝑽, 𝒀𝑬𝑯 𝑯𝑼𝑴 𝑲𝒀𝑨 𝑺𝑶𝑪𝑯 𝑹𝑨𝑯𝑬 𝑻𝑯𝑬?

[Hey Mahadev, What was I even thinking?]

It's the first time I am thinking about someone else while having these bangles in my hand. It's always like whenever I take these bangles in my hands everything else disappears and I could only see Ms. Mystery here but…today I thought about someone else and that person is Shree, the brown eyes girl from yesterday.

Who are you Ms. Mystery and Where are you?

What's happening with me, Mahadev…

.

.

.

.

.

On the other side, a girl was doing sit ups while holding her ears.

“Promise,𝑻𝒓𝒊𝒑𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒊, 𝑬𝒔𝒂 𝒑𝒉𝒊𝒓 𝒌𝒂𝒃𝒉𝒊 𝒏𝒂𝒉𝒊 𝒌𝒂𝒓𝒖𝒏𝒈𝒊.” The girl doing sit ups i.e. our Shree said.

[I will never repeat it Tripathi]

“It's not that you punched someone. It's about lying Chiku, why did you lie? 𝑯𝒖𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒅𝒊 𝒏𝒂 𝒕𝒖𝒋𝒆 𝒌𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒌𝒆𝒉𝒕𝒆, 𝒕𝒖𝒋𝒆 𝒋𝒉𝒐𝒐𝒕𝒉 𝒏𝒂𝒉𝒊 𝒃𝒐𝒍𝒏𝒂 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒉𝒊𝒚𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂.” Rashi, the one who gave her this punishment, spoke.

[We won't have said anything. You shouldn't have lied to us.]

“𝑰𝒔𝒌𝒂 𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒍𝒂𝒃 𝒂𝒈𝒍𝒊 𝒃𝒂𝒂𝒓 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒓 𝒎𝒂𝒊 𝒌𝒊𝒔𝒊 𝒌𝒐 𝒎𝒖𝒌𝒌𝒂 𝒎𝒂𝒓 𝒌𝒂𝒓 𝒂𝒂𝒖𝒏𝒈𝒊 𝒂𝒖𝒓 𝒕𝒖𝒋𝒆 𝒂𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒉𝒊 𝒃𝒂𝒕𝒂 𝒅𝒖𝒏𝒈𝒊 𝒕𝒐𝒉 𝒕𝒖 𝒎𝒖𝒋𝒆 𝒏𝒂𝒉𝒊 𝒅𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒈𝒊” Shree said excitingly.

[That means if I came home after punching someone and told you about it just after arriving you would not scold me.]

“What? When did I say that?” Rashi asked, puzzled by her words.

“Just now you said, you wouldn't lecture— I mean scold me if I wouldn't lie to you.” She answered truthfully.

“I said that but not because I mean it. I said that so you won't lie to me again.” Rashi said.

“𝑴𝒂𝒕𝒍𝒂𝒃 𝒎𝒂𝒊 𝒕𝒖𝒋𝒉𝒔𝒆 𝒋𝒉𝒐𝒐𝒕𝒉 𝒏𝒂 𝒃𝒐𝒍𝒖 𝒊𝒔𝒍𝒊𝒚𝒆 𝒕𝒖𝒏𝒆 𝒎𝒖𝒋𝒉𝒔𝒆 𝒋𝒉𝒐𝒐𝒕𝒉 𝒃𝒐𝒍𝒂. 𝑾𝒐𝒂𝒉 𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒌𝒆𝒕 𝒎𝒆 𝒋𝒉𝒐𝒐𝒕𝒉 𝒄𝒉𝒖𝒅𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒆 𝒌𝒂 𝒏𝒂𝒚𝒂 𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒌𝒂 𝒂𝒂𝒚𝒂 𝒉𝒂𝒊 𝒌𝒚𝒂?” Shree said looking at Rashi.

[So you lied to me so that I don't lie to you. Wow, has there been a new way to make people stop lying in the market?]

“What?... You just forget it.” Rashi heard her weird sentence and took something from the table behind her and showed it to Shree. “ You just swear on his head that you wouldn't lie to us again.” Rashi said, pointing at Shree's Mr. BunBun in her hand.

“What? It's totally ridiculous, you can't bring Mr. BunBun in between our talk, 𝒌𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒖 𝒚𝒂𝒂𝒓 𝒕𝒖 𝒕𝒐𝒉 𝒌𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒃𝒐𝒍.” Shree said, requesting Kartik to save her.

[Kartik you say something]

“She is right, Tripathi.” Relief washed over Shree as she heard Kartik taking her side, but it was short lived as she heard his next words. “Leave this stuffed toy, how about we make her swear upon 𝑺𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒌𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒅.” Kartik suggested, making Shree look at him with a look of betrayal.

“𝑮𝒂𝒅𝒅𝒂𝒓𝒊 𝒌𝒂𝒓𝒃𝒆” Shree mumbled to herself looking at Kartik.

[Cheater]

“What do you say now Chiku?” Kartik and Rashi asked in sync, giving her the sweetest smile.

“Fine. I agree.” She said, keeping a big stone on her heart, making the duo grin at their victory.

Now it's the end of Chiku's Lying era 𝒌𝒚𝒐𝒌𝒊 𝒋𝒉𝒐𝒐𝒕𝒉 𝒃𝒐𝒍𝒆 𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒑𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒊 𝒅𝒂𝒂𝒕𝒆, 𝑻𝒓𝒊𝒑𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒊 𝒔𝒆 𝒅𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒚𝒐.

[If I lied, Tripathi would scold me, I am scared of Tripathi.]

𝑯𝒆𝒚 𝒌𝒂𝒏𝒉𝒂 𝒋𝒊,𝑩𝒂𝒔 𝒂𝒑𝒏𝒊 𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒂𝒌𝒉𝒊 𝒌𝒂 𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒂𝒄𝒄𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒓 𝒎𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒂𝒕𝒉 𝒎𝒂𝒕 𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒅𝒊𝒚𝒆𝒈𝒂.

[Hey Kanha ji, please never leave me in my Truth era.]

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