People began to stir on the roads of Madina, as the sun rays lit up the orange sky. Morning walkers jogged along the deserted roads, lined up with rows of tall buildings where lights began to flicker on.


In the left corner of the road 5, a two floored building stood serene, void of any human activity, it seemed so still that passersby thought that residents of the house were out of town. None caught a glimpse of the girl that is looking out of her window; she is in her 18’s, hour glass body, olive complexion, light brown eyes, thin lips, long nose, she was a head turner definitely. The morning breezes played with her soft curly brown hair.

She was so lost in her thoughts that she failed to notice the shuffling feet behind her. A woman in mid 50’s stood watching Dia as she started into oblivion, poor girl! The elder woman sighed looking at the vulnerable girl.

“Dia…” She shook her shoulders with a warm smile playing on her lips.

“Um…Granny, I should probably get ready.” She said avoiding eye contact with her and blinked back the tears.

Granny was a plump woman with fair skin, long nose pinched at the edge, intelligent eyes covered behind the gold rimmed glasses, thin lips, wrinkled lines at the corner of her earth brown eyes and forehead. Granny watched Dia as she hurried into the wash room. She was a woman that could see clearly what was happening behind those tough façade. She pulled out a new pair of Punjabi suit from her wardrobe which was stocked with all colours and varieties of dresses.

Dia’s mother Anjali worked as a manager in a well renowned company though job was not a need to her; Anjali inherited most of her father’s property. Dia secretly suspected that job helps her to forget all her troubles.

Anjali travels to and fro between the city and her home every day which gave her much less time to spend with her daughter and after what happened a few months ago, she couldn’t let her daughter be alone in the big house so she practically made her mom her daughter’s babysitter.

Dia watched as the traffic was building up on the streets, she contemplated whether she made the right decision to join this college, what if someone recognized her? How would they treat me then? She pondered. Her painful past was something that she wanted to forget but people never stopped to bring it up on her face. Her long fingers traced the scar on her left chin tentatively, she scurried to the head length mirror in her room, and she pulled out the hair pins and carefully let a few strands fall loose covering up the scar. She took a breath of relief as the scar disappeared behind her soft brown curls.

Dia had struggled a lot over the past few months trying to hold her life on a tiny thread just for the sake of her mother. She spent many restless nights trying to shove her deep secrets into the corners of her mind. If it wasn’t for her mom she would certainly be long dead, she means the world to her. Life wasn’t any more simple to her, gone were those days when she was a mom’s innocent little girl

“Dia…Honey…Are you ready?” Her mother’s sweet child like voice echoed in the house.

She lightly powdered her tear stained cheeks and put up a plastic smile and sauntered downstairs. She pulled on a perfect smile as she saw her mother tapping her foot impatiently on the marble floor, glancing at her watch now and then.

“A small gift for you…” Anjali handed her a neatly wrapped box. Dia took it gingerly in her hands and tore the blue wrapping.

Dia secretly sighed as she saw a Nokiac3, silver mobile in the gift box; she sent a silent prayer to god! Anjali can go overboard sometimes and buy her lavish things which weren’t of Dia’s taste. Dia was a simple girl with simple tastes.

“Thanks, mother. It’s so beautiful.” She said hugging her.

“I’m glad you liked it.” She said pecking her cheeks.

“I can’t believe that you are going to college…”Anjali chirped.

Anjali was wearing a grey business suit, she radiated confidence and her sweet smile warmed up hearts of people. She was one of those people that everyone respect and befriend, Dia admired her mother for the way she seemed to have her life under control, she never let the emotions get the best of her, she stood strong for her and helped her pull through her tough times. Dia wished that she had more than her mom’s features in her; she can never be strong and confident like her mother. Every time she tried to lock up all those emotions, tears would just break the barricades and start to flood her cheeks.

“Aren’t you excited?” Anjali asked raising an eyebrow at her.

“I’m just nervous…” Dia lied holding her head down hoping that she wouldn’t call her bluff.

“Oh! Honey, there is nothing to worry, you’ll do great.” She said flashing that confident smile.

Their red swift skidded to a halt at the arch and carved in it are the gleaming letters “Indhira Engineering College.” Dia nervously peeked at the college grounds before she alighted the car, her eyes never left the gravel path beneath her, neatly manicure, red painted nails. She glimpsed occasionally for the directions.

She nervously played with her dupatta as she eyed people watching her; she quickened her pace hoping to get away from the staring eyes. She ran into someone as she desperately tried to avoid those stares.

“Whoa, watch out girl…” She met his deep black eyes, he was almost 6, button nose, wide set eyes, thin nose and lips and square lined jaw. She startled and jumped back at the male voice.

“I’m sorry…”she mumbled.

Aman watched at her curiously as her thin lips quivered and her voice came out shaky. He watched her walk away not sparing a glance at him. He ran after her.

“Are you a fresher?” he asked eying her hands that nervously picked at her dupatta, a slow smile spread on his lips.

She nodded vigorously; he bit back the laugh as he saw her shy mannerisms.

“What branch are you in?” she lifted her eyes to meet his scrutinizing gaze.

“I’ve seen you somewhere…” Her eyes went wide like saucers and a tremor shook through her tiny frame.

“Never mind…”he said as he got faint hint of where he had seen her.
“I should go…” she mumbled something incoherently and walked past him.

Did he figure it out? What if he says that to someone? I don’t want any more judging looks? She silently cried. Her attention was snapped at once when she saw many colourful banners hoisted from the top of each blocks, at the end of the fourth block, she saw many ecstatic faces with a slight hint of nerves in their smiles.

Dia scurried into the Seminar hall and scanned the horizon to find a corner where none would bother to notice her, when she found one, she scurried towards it and to her disappointment just as she was about to sit, a boy slumped into the seat leaving her no choice but to take the front row.

She stood rigid afraid to even twitch in front of all the dignitaries on the stage, sitting straight in front of her on a raised platform.

She couldn’t help but notice the girl who sat next to her; she sat in a relaxed position, yawning advertently. She was a lot leaner than her, wheatish complexion, brown hair in messy curls that barely reached her shoulders, skinny jeans and a plain t-shirt.

“Boring, right?” She wrung her knuckles.

“I’m Neha…”she extended her hands with a childish, sweet smile.

“I’m Dia…” She said not taking her eyes from the director who seemed to be giving a rather long speech since the last 20 minutes. His speech mainly consisted of how lucky we are to be placed in this institution and about the competitive world outside

“He is sleeping…”Neha laughed pointing to the vice chairman, who was resting his chin on his open palm. He was an old man; he woke up at regular intervals and nodded in the direction of the director.

Dia smiled at the very moment director decided to finish his long speech.

“What branch are you in?” she asked.

“Computers…”Neha tugged at her hands and steered her through the crowds to the classrooms.

Most of the day passed with introductions, Dia hesitated when she was asked to introduce herself, and she feared that someone would point out who she was but luckily none did. In fact there were many friendly smiles when she finished her intro.

Dia was happy with her hectic schedule, it took her mind of things that she wanted to forget not completely though. She still woke up screaming at nights and frantically touched her face for the signs of any gashes.

Days passed into weeks, Dia warmed up to most of the girls in the class, her classmates liked because of her shy and calm demeanour, many boys tried to get her attention but she would flinch and stutter when some of them tried to talk. Her past experiences made her wary of anything male around her. Neha didn’t fail to notice this, it always bugged her to know exactly what was going on with her but she was wise enough to keep her mouth shut.

******************
Dia peeked out of the window, watching out for Neha, it became their regular habit to eat together. Most of the girls ate in the cafeteria, only a few brought lunch boxes from home. Neha went to the cafeteria a few days and couldn’t bear to eat there one more day so a few days later she joined them.

Neha stormed into the room and slumped on the bench, her head hit the mound of books resting on the desk and her brown curls splaying everywhere. She shook her head and let out a frustrated sigh.

“What happened?” Dia’s tone filled with concern for her friend. She fished through her book bag and opened her box; Neha sat up sighing and popped my potato fries into her mouth.

“I’m sick of colleges and classes…” Neha said with an exasperated sigh, Dia smiled at her friend’s statement; it has been only few weeks since they joined the college and there are three more long years ahead.

“I’m going to kill Shekhar Kammula…”she huffed. Dia didn’t understand what S.K had to do with her frustration or college.

“Don’t you get it? After watching his movie, I thought college would be fun but here we are everyday working on our score, assignments, weekly tests, internals, labs, externals and what not?” She huffed and puffed.

“So did I…”Asha admitted after listening to Neha’s rant. Asha was a chubby little thing, chubby cheeks, pink face, little nose and cute little pink lips, She resembled the pink teddy bear that was so huggable.

Dia was trying hard not to laugh at her friends.
“You can laugh all you want but that is the fact…”Neha pouted and that did it, Dia’s musical laughter filled the air, resulting in some of the boys to turn their head.

She froze at her very own sounds of laughter and she switched back into that calm, gloomy Dia. Neha pitied her; she knew that Dia was afraid to laugh wholeheartedly and there was something stopping her whenever she broke the walls that she carefully built around her.

“I mean this college is so boring… they won’t even rag us not even outside the campus.” Neha sulked.

“May be they are too chivalrous to tease girls…”

“That’s not it Teddy bear…”Neha shook her head.

“Hey, have you heard of anyone being ragged in the campus or outside?” Neha shouted, eying the boys who were busy doing something in the corners on their side of the classroom.

“Nope…”They chorused.

“See… our seniors are practically useless…” She said flailing her hands in a dramatic effect.

Dia’s head snapped towards the rear end of the class when someone cleared their throat, she recognized the boy from her first day of her college. He was glaring at Neha.

“You are so dead, girl…” Asha whispered.

<TRYING TO BE NORMAL>
Dia and Asha couldn’t help but laugh at Neha, she was practically calling for it. Neha wrung her knuckles as she wrote the line “I’ll never disrespect seniors” for what seemed to be like 90 times.

“You should stop writing and concentrate on the class…”Dia mumbled.

Professor Mitra caught Neha once or twice as she scribbled on the paper, she changed her tactics this time, her eyes never left the board and her hands never left the paper and if the professor eyed she would pretend that she is jotting down the running notes.

Neha stretched lazily and threw the paper at Dia. "You finished?" Dia asked.

Later that day when they headed towards the bus the Senior walked in with a questioning look.

"Here take it..." Neha shoved the paper into his hands and ran into the bus before he could say something.

"He is so going to get for this..." Neha scowled.

The girls occupied the front seat and the cool wind helped to chill Neha’s raging fury... She was back to her usual cheery type as Asha joined in the chatter.

A bike dashed through the roads, raising a load of dust behind its back. Everyone craned their neck to ogle at the bike and biker; the bike looked like a massive hunk and the biker looked like an eye candy with his flexing muscles behind that black jacket. Dia gasped as she realized that he was the senior, Aman, the one she bumped into the very first day, the one who told Neha to write that Cheesy line 100 times.
As Dia watched Aman walk towards the bus, her vision clouded.
A wavy haired boy in his place, thin, piercing blue eyes, Roman nose, sensual lips…

“Shaan…” Dia gasped.

“I’m sorry; I really didn’t mean to hurt you. Please…” Ishaan begged oblivious to the stares of the passengers that alighted from the bus.

Dia snapped her head away from him.

“I’m not leaving this place until you come, you know me…” She could see the seriousness in his eyes; Ishaan was never the one to back up on his words, he was a pampered and a rich spoiled brat and Dia knew exactly what he was.

She sighed and alighted from her friend’s moped, throwing a quick apology to her.

“Thanks…”He hugged her and she wiggled away from him.

“It doesn’t mean I forgive you for what you said…” Dia pointed.

Her flash back ended as she heard the faint voices of her friend and she blinked back the tears before anyone could see them.

Aman tapped at the door and windows crying out loud for none other than Neha... Dia had a bad feeling about all this and gripped Neha tightly; she didn't want her to get hurt like she did... She squeezed her eyes closely shut and praying that she never wanted to remember him again.

"What...?"Neha bent over the window and called after him.

"You are not supposed to be riding the bus to home..."He said and titled his head in the direction of his bike.

"No... I'm not coming anywhere near you or talking to you until I get this settled in front of dad..."She said and slumped onto the seat, crossing her arms over her chest and pouting.

"Sissy...You know we can deal this later." He suggested with a wink.

"There is nothing you can offer to keep my mouth shut..." she said and snapped her head away from him.

"You're Dia, right?" Dia felt nauseated, she was a bundle of nerves as she was being directly spoken to.

"Tell her to come down or you'll have to face the wrath of your seniors..." He said and jumped out of the bus.

She stood motionless; the strong sense of dejavu hit her, tears trickled down her eyes. She blinked back them, a lump formed in her throat. She listlessly watched at him and Neha.

"What if I allow you to ride the bike?" Aman asked popping his head suddenly at her window.

Neha jumped at the idea and got down without much explanation to any of them.

"What is happening? Why is she going with him?" Someone from the class took the words right out of her mouth.

"You don't know! Aman is Neha's brother... "Asha said with a proud smile for giving them that piece of information.

Dia relaxed a wee bit knowing that he was probably not going to hurt her and scolded her mind for always having negative thoughts... The bus sped off through the winding streets and finally halting at her stop. The bus ride helped to collect her.

She startled as someone honked right next to her and cowered in fear. Aman glared at her sister for freaking out that poor girl.

"It's only me..." Dia peeked at the person who spoke in a familiar tone.

"It's you..." she said breathing sharply. I should stop dwelling in the past, she chided herself.

"It's me..."she winked.

"Hop on..." she said tilting her head towards the back seat which is occupied by her grinning brother.

"No. It's fine... I'm just 10 paces away from home..." She said and she wanted so badly to be inside the confines of her house.

"Who said anything about taking you home?" She asked.

"We are going to coffee day and you’re going to come with us..." she added quickly.

"No...It's fine. I'll just walk home." Dia said turning quickly away from her.

By the time she got home, Neha was leaning on to the gate of her house. She frowned at her. She is not seriously making me go with her; I can't go...Dia thought shaking her head.

"Since you so adamantly declined to come with us..." she said pushing open the metal gate and walking in like it is her house.

She tapped her feet waiting impatiently as the bell buzzed.

"You don't have an extra key on you, do you?" she inquired.

Dia nodded 'no'. Granny opened the door smiling when she saw Neha walking in and Dia tagging along with her. It's just her second time that she visited this place but she seemed a part of this place like she was always here, she slumped on to the couch and skipped through the channels.

"Hello, granny..."She greeted her.

Granny brought us two glasses of freshly made juice.

"You're really an expert cook, Granny, most of the curry you ladel in her box goes into my stomach. Your hands do magic with potato fry... You should definitely show our cook how to make delicious meal... I always wanted to meet you from the day I tasted your food and here I'm looking at the world's best cook. "Neha showered praises on granny to which she blushed deeply.

"There he goes...Aman is back with pizza boxes. I guess."She said and getting up from the couch.

"Why didn't you tell me that Aman is your brother?" Dia asked.

"I thought you already knew..."she said sipping her orange juice.

"If he is your brother then why did he...?” She cut her off with her laugh.

"At college, I'm your senior and I'll act like one..." she quoted his lines.

Aman was actually a nice guy but Dia couldn't warm up to him since she still had trouble with guys around her. They left after what seemed to be an hour, the house felt so empty suddenly and Dia missed the ringing sounds of their laughter.

Dia picked up the glasses and the left over plates. She threw pizza box into the dust bin and went into the kitchen where granny is busy chopping the vegetables. Granny smiled as she dropped the plates into the sink and rinsed the glasses and stacked them in the shelf.

"She is a nice girl..." Granny said and she nodded knowing that Neha made quite an impression on her.
**************
The days passed quicker than expected and Dia began to ease up and occasional share a comment or remark with the boys in her class and with Aman she felt really comfortable around him. He was not anything like the guys she met in her past, he was caring and gentle.

"What is it?" Dia asked as Neha plopped on her chair with a Cheshire cat grin.

"Guess what, the fresher's party is planned next week..." she said her lips set in a wide smile.

"Wow!!! I can’t wait for it..." Asha said clapping her hands.

"Why are you so excited all of a sudden, huh? Let me guess, the little Miss. Devil likes being ragged by her seniors..." Rihan said with a crooked smile flailing his hands towards Neha. She glared at him.

"Did I miss something?" Riya butted in.

"Don't you dare...?" Neha snarled.

"He called her Miss. Devil so you know..." Asha broke into a fit of giggles.

"Oh! Honey, did he call you that, actually?" Riya said biting back the smile.

"Thanks to you... now people know my freaky name Neha Devi..." She said spatting at the last part where she said Devi.

"Who said anything about your name?" Rihan barely missed her slap.

"You deserve that name Devil..."He said rubbing his arm where her fingers made an impression.

“Neha Devi...That really sounds odd for a ultra modern girl now that I notice.” Dia thought out loud.

"Why can't, Granma choose something really cool..."She huffed.

"It's not really your grandmother's choice, It's your family lineage to tag that name to every girl born in the family..." Asha pointed.

"Sometimes I wish that you're not a family friend..." Neha glowered.

Dia knew exactly what she meant; she for one didn't want her friends to know about her past or about the things that she wanted to stay secret.

"When is this day?" Dia asked changing the conversation.

It's really interesting to see how Neha could skip so fast from foul mood to excited child.

The much awaited day has finally arrived, Most of the people were nervous to see what seniors are going to pull off this time.

"What is this I hear?" Neha said poking Dia with her finger accusingly.

Dia frowned at her, now what did she hear now?

"You better have a good reason to say that you aren't coming to the fresher’s party..." Asha said sliding down beside her. Neha was staring, hands on her hips.

What should I say that I could convince them to let me go this time, they would probably laugh off if I say that I feared dark or worse they would start question and that may lead… and I didn't even want to go there... Dia thought

"I...Um… I... can't go." She blurted out.

"What do you mean by you can't go? Is there any problem with the ride, seriously if that's it I can come and pick you up..." she cut her off.

"That's not it... I just can't go." She replied tentatively. Neha wouldn't drop it so easily.

"Is there any problem with aunt because I can talk to her..." Asha offered.

It might be a nice excuse to put it on mom; I can plead her to do this for me. I nodded trying to avoid eye contact with Neha so she wouldn't know that I was lying. I'm pretty bad at lying; mom said that my eye lids flicker rapidly whenever I try to lie. So good of me, isn't it? Dia thought.

Dia thought Neha has just let it go but she was wrong about her. She was stunned to see her all dressed in her living room that evening talking to mother, it’s a good thing that she told her mom about her problem and she agreed to play along.

She didn't miss her gleaming eyes as Anjali spoke something to her.

"I'm definitely in trouble." Dia sighed.

"She agreed... now go, get ready. We are going to have so much fun..." she cooed in her ears dragging her upstairs to the room. She fished through her wardrobe and held out to a designer wear. Let me tell you before you go expecting something like evening gown or cocktail dress or something like that. Dia was pretty stuck with traditional values and Anjali draws lines at leggings and Kurti's which Dia wear on rare occasions which was not one now.

Neha was wearing tightly fit jeans and threw a light pink shirt on it, she is not much of a dressing person either.

"Dia...Do hurry up. Aman is going to be pissed for waiting him up." She was pounding her feet vigorously on the marble which Dia was sure of having a dent now; she pounded on her door so hardly that she thought any minute it's going to break. Only god knows how a petite looking girl like her has so much energy. She was a little evil pixie just like Alice Cullen. She smiled at the apt comparison.

"You look stunning..." Neha said pecking Dia on the cheeks. Dia always wondered what people see in her to classify her as beautiful, the only thing that she liked in her is dimples.

"I like your dimples..." that familiar words rang in her mind causing her tremble at the voice.

"You need to pull your hair back so that people can actually see what a lovely heart shaped face you have..." Neha said pulling her hair back and pulled a clutch out of the drawers.

Dia looked at the reflection in the mirror, now that the hair is pulled back she could see the scar that ran through her chin and a little down to the neck, she shivered remembering how she got it.

"I don't think it's a good idea..." She mumbled tentatively feeling the rough skin under the scar.

"People can barely see it and trust me, it looks better this way." Neha said with an all knowing look and she faintly thought; does she know how I got it? Don't even go there; Dia chided her wandering my mind.

Neha half-dragged her through the entire flight of steps...Anjali stood by the door and pulled her into a hug and whispered into her ear.

"I know how you dread this but it's time you forget the past and move on...Be safe, darling." with that said she kissed lightly on her forehead.

It hit Dia for the first time what she was going to do as soon as the door closed behind her, she wanted to pound on the door and throw a temper tantrum until her mom opens the door and lets her in. She could feel the tension crawling into her skin; she couldn't face it not now or not anytime. Her vision clouded and she could feel her arms and whole body began to sweat profusely. She wanted to turn on her heels and run into the safe, confines of home. She will never be able to face the darkness.

"Are you okay?" Neha mumbled, eying her nervously.

Dia was deaf eared, her mind fogged with the screaming’s of the helpless her that night, and in the distance she heard a car honk feebly.

“Ishaan…What are you doing?” Dia shrieked as he tried to feel her up.

“Don’t you dare shout…”He slapped.
She slapped at his hands and wiggled out of his way, Ishaan grabbed her wrist and pinned her back against the wall with a vice like grip on her arms.

“You are mine and will be forever, don’t you dare cheat on me…” He slurred.

Dia was trembling with fear; she had never seen him like that. It took all her restraint to not to cry, she elbowed him in the ribs and made a dash to the exit. Ishaan staggered on the floor but seeing her run away from him only made him even mad.

“Dia…”He shouted for her.

Dia snuck in the dark alley, She was in no state to run, the drug was slowly kicking in, she shouldn’t have been so careless. It was so stupid of her to chug down a spiked drink.

Dia didn’t see Ishaan’s friend standing beside her with an evil smile playing on his lips, by the time she noticed his shadow it was too late, He grabbed her by the hair and pushed her towards Ishaan who was swigging the bottle.

“Gotcha…” Ishaan smirked.

“You should’ve never cheated on me…”he slapped her. His ring making a deep cut on her cheeks.

“Please believe me… I never did such thing. I love you…”Dia begged him trying to make him see the truth.

“Don’t believe her…she is just lying.” Ishaan’s friend coaxed him.

Dia understood that he would never understand her not until he was sober…She kicked the guy that held her in his shin and ran into the dark alley.

He growled and pulled her ankle when she landed on the dark road and something sharp pierced her skin and blood trickled and she fell unconscious.

Neha jerked her. "Dia..." She tugged her and walked her to the car, Dia felt her feet moving and she had no idea to where. She remembered the distinct screaming, ‘Don't you dare shout...’ She bit back the screams that threatened to make their way.

Aman watched moony eyed as Neha brought Dia out of her house, Dia looked so perfect in red, her flawless skin glistening in the moonlight. His gaze darted towards her light brown eyes that held his attention all the time; they held pain and gripping fear. He wanted to console her and say ‘everything is going to be alright’ and wipe away all the traces of fear in her.

"Dia..." He squeezed her hands, she flinched at this touch, Aman couldn't help but feel a tad bit sad about the way she flinched at his touch all the time. He knew that it has nothing to do with him but the feeling was always there in him, He slightly wondered if he could ever touch her without her flinching.

"Dia...It's me." he said with concern written all over his face.

"It's okay... you are going to be safe with me." He assured squeezing her hands and somehow his words eased up her.

<A night of events>
After the day events at the college, seniors planned the end of the day in a leased function hall, which was were the trio; Neha, Aman and Dia were heading to.
The hall was dark and the only light came from the globe of lights hanging directly over the stage that is set at the centre. Various colours of lights flickered casting an eerie glow to the surroundings; Music was playing out loud from somewhere. The hall seemed to be packed with many bodies swaying to the high music, Dia gulped as she saw the crazed people all around her. They were ecstatic and having fun, last time she was in such a place ended up bad and she was sure something was definitely going to happen this time too.

Her wobbly legs didn’t help her much, Aman eyed the change in Dia’s manner, He squeezed her hands gently and flashed his gentle smile.

“Come…” The music was so loud that he had to shout to make her listen. He pulled her towards a couch arranged at the corner seat with a few people sitting with cool drinks in their hands. Dia dragged Neha with her.

“Are you going to sit like this for the rest of the party?” Neha asked after a few minutes. She easily got bored sitting idle like that, It’s not her fault either she was a girl with full of energy and her sitting like that was never going to happen.

“Neha…Dia…” Ria, Asha, Rihan and few of their classmates joined them at the table.

“Hey, what are you doing here? The Game is on…”A senior came and rushed them towards the centre stage where there were all other juniors gathered.

The senior glared at Dia who sat glued to seat with pale stricken face.

“She is with me…”Aman shooed him off. Dia felt slightly relieved but she didn’t miss Neha shooting daggers at her brother as she was pushed to the centre stage.

“Are you alright?” Aman was worried about Dia, She didn’t utter a word nor make a sound since she came here, he began to worry that she was in shock or something. He could see the sweat beads rolling down her face even though the air condition was in full blast, he wanted to take her back to home but he knew that she needed to get out more than often or else she was never going to be normal again.

“I’ll get you something to drink…” he said. Dia grabbed his hands.

“Please…don’t go.”She begged at the verge of tears. Hearing her voice even if it was squeaky relaxed him a tad bit.

On the centre stage one by one each junior was being called and were asked to do something funny and embarrassing, everyone enjoyed the show and there were loud oooooo’s and aaaaah’s sometimes but none of them eased off Dia. She moved into the corner trying to hide the tears that slowly trickled in her ears.

Aman thought that Dia needed her time to get used to the darkness so he just pretended to ignore her and enjoy the show that his juniors put up. He glanced at her regular intervals to check how she was doing. Some of his friends spotted him sitting there and tried to drag him into action but he politely rejected them.

Aman being in third year, he had some command over the second years so when one of them tried approaching Dia, he would just wave them off.

“I’ll just get us something, it’ll only take few minutes…”He pleaded her, he was in desperate need of some water to quench his thirst.

He grabbed two cool drinks and headed towards her table. He watched her as he walked towards her, he noticed how her tiny frame shook whenever she thought someone was walking too close to her, she nervously played with her Dupatta and her thin lips quivered. Aman couldn’t help but wonder what happened that night.

“Here…”He said pushing the drink towards her. He finished the drink and seemed to immerse in the funny role play a person was enacting, It was something in the lines of a drunken wife beating her husband. And the wife was none other than his sister Neha, she was enjoying it way too much to his surprise, scolding and beating the poor guy. She managed well that slurred tone and staggering walk. He noticed some of his friends eying him and giving an appreciative wink as his sister spell bound the viewers with her talent.

Neha waved at them and dramatically curtsied to them and left the stage skipping in joy.

After few minutes Neha joined them at the table, she slumped on to the other side of the couch and grabbed the bottle. Aman swatted her arm.

“Whoa… what was that for?” she grumbled rubbing her arms.

“That is for Dia, go get another one…”He replied with a hint of joy as he saw her sister still rubbing her arms.

Neha narrowed her eyes at him and murmur something incoherently but Aman knew too well about her sister, she probably meant we’ll see at home. Neha being the younger one and a girl after many generations, she was pampered very much by her dad. She used that as a leverage to taunt her older brother.

“Dia…you must be thirsty?”

Dia slowly peeked at him.

“Dia…you must be thirsty. Take this, it’s zero percent alcohol…”Ishaan smirked.

Dia nodded and chugged down the contents… she didn’t know that she was thirsty until then. From the corner of her eyes she saw him grin like an idiot.
Her head felt funny and the world seemed to be fuzzy, “I feel funny…”The words came out in a slurred tone out of her mouth.

“It’s time…” Ishaan dragged her out of her cosy chair as she complained to put him down.

Dia jerked out from her past memories as someone shook her, Aman watched as she eyed the drink bottle as if it was something dark and ominous.

Neha slouched on the couch, she watched Aman staring nervously at Dia, and she kicked his shin trying to catch his glance. When he did, she raised an eyebrow and he just shrugged.

“It’s zero percent alcohol. See, I’m drinking and it’s not like you never drank.” Neha said.

Did she know? She thought but most of all Dia couldn’t take it anymore, her disturbing past taunted her mind. She was in the verge of breaking down, pushed past Aman and ran out of the hall and collapsed in an empty corridor breaking into sobs, she didn’t want anyone to see her like that so she slowly crouched into the dark corners.

“Why… Ishaan? I put my faith on you more than anyone and you decide to break it?” she croaked.

“I hate you for not trusting me enough…I hate you for not loving me enough… I hate you for believing your foolish friends words… I hate you for making me love you… I hate you for breaking my heart…” She sobbed, shouting into the darkness.

“I hate me more than anyone for falling for you in the first place…” She whimpered, crouching on the floor.

“I’m not going to waste any more time crying over you, mother is right, I’m only letting you ruin my life by clinging to the past and I can’t do that anymore… I can’t hurt the people who love me just because I lost something in the past…”she decided wiping away the fresh tears that slid down her cheeks.

Aman was staring at the space where he saw Dia sitting a few minutes before… Neha is swearing profusely thinking she was the reason that Dia is hurt; she didn’t mean to say that, it just slipped out.

“We need to find her…”Neha urged tugging at her wide eyed brother.

They ran out of the function hall and checked in the parking area, and made two rounds over the entire surroundings, they didn’t find her anywhere. Neha began to tense about her safety

“What if she decided to do something silly?” this question tormented him and by every passing minute and not finding her, pushed him to the edge.

“Dia…Where are you? Aman…where do you think she is gone?” Neha mumbled.

“It’s your entire fault, you can never keep that blabbering mouth shut…”He snapped at her little sister, running his fingers in hair.

Neha whimpered, she was never used to being shouted at, let alone her brother, Aman was always gentle and caring towards her no matter how much she pissed him off and now he was snapping at her.

Aman realized what he did when he heard Neha’s sniffling sounds in the dark; He ran to her and pulled her into a hug apologizing for his crude manner. Hugging her sister helped him to lessen the anger and think straight.

“Let’s go find her…”Neha said pulling away from his hug.

They went to the function hall, hoping they would find her in there. They went two different sides seeking every corner table in vain.

“Whoa…What’s the hurry?” Asha screeched when Neha bumped into her.

Neha quickly explained the situation, Asha dumped her glass and ran after her out into the corridors, Rihan and Ria agreed to help, each of them went in different directions calling her name.

Aman checked out all the corridors except the one where the grills were locked, he seriously wished that she was there, he didn’t know what he was going to do if she was not there. He ran as fast as his legs could carry. He saw the silhouette of a sleeping form in the dark corners of the corridor, he slumped on to the ground and relief flooded him.

“I found her and I’m taking her home…You come home with Rihan…”He texted Neha.

Neha was frantically running hither thither when her phone buzzed, she pulled out and read the message Aman sent, she sighed knowing that Dia was safe. She texted the same to her friends and asked them to come back to the function hall.

Neha slumped onto the couch thinking what the hell happened just in a few minutes, she had never seen her brother so worried, he was usually calm and collected whatever the situation was, he never lost his temper, not on her. The way he looks at her, and his sudden interest whenever she mentioned about her at home…

She twiddled with her thumbs trying to make head or tail of all this weird behaviour, she thought of asking Asha what it meant but she all ready knew what she would say.

“Aw! So romantic, he is in love with her…” Asha would say fluttering her eye lashes in a dreamy way.

Neha laughed at the thought and then all of a sudden everything fell in place, she was right. My big brother is in love with her…With that thought her eyes sparkled with mischief.

“Huh, this is something, I could use…” she said rubbing her palms against each other, all ready plans forming in her little mischievous brain.

Aman carried Dia bridal style to her car, she stirred in his arms and snuggled close to his well defined chest resting her cheeks on his chest, Aman couldn’t take his eyes away from her, she was like an angel; peaceful and childish. All her worry and pain creased lines gone from her face.

He placed her in his backseat carefully, trying not to disturb her peaceful sleep. He did something he thought he could never do when she was awake; he leaned forward and caressed her cheek. She didn’t flinch at his touch and it brought a smile to his lips.

He drove slow, all the while glancing at her image in the mirror. She didn’t stir even when he tried to scoop her up for the second time.

Anjali looked horrified when she saw her daughter in Aman’s arms. Her gaze flitted between Aman and Dia; she continued it for a while unable to comprehend the situation.

“She is just sleeping…”Aman quickly said when he saw her mother’s face turning pale.

Anjali showed him to her room, Aman carefully placed her on the bed and Anjali tucked her in. She watched her daughter for a while, silent tears strolling down her cheeks. She pecked her cheeks.

“I’ve never seen her so peaceful not even in sleep over the last few months…” she said wiping away her tears.

< A new start>
Neha couldn’t wait to see Dia, she was excited about the new revelation, last night she ran straight to her brother’s room to taunt him but he was already in deep sleep and now she was going to put her plan into motion.

She waited until Aman joined at the table, it’s a strict rule laid by her mother that breakfast and dinner will be eaten together.

“Daddy, I don’t feel like going by bus, today…” Neha said.

“Sure…Aman will drop you at college.” Mr. Chowdary said dripping the idli in Sambar.

Mr. Chowdary was a business person, he was a middle aged guy, he radiates warmth and love, and anyone could warm up to his easy smile. Though he was one of the well known persons in the city his soul is still country. Aman takes after his father in looks department.

“No…No… I’m not going with him, he’ll drop me on the half way after all he can’t have a third wheel hanging in between them all the time…” Neha smirked.

“What…?” Aman scowled.

“Don’t pretend, I know everything big brother…” Neha started humming randomly lyrics of ‘burning love’ winking at her brother.

Mr. Chowdary, frowned and eyed his son who was twitching uncomfortably in his chair.

“Neha…Didn’t I tell you not to talk at the dining table.” Mrs. Chowdary scolded.

She was good 5’4 inches tall, petite looking woman and she had a commanding voice and an intense stare that put her children on the line. She was a perfect ideal for motherly figure. She worked as editor in the ‘Today’s times’ daily.


Days passed by and Neha didn’t let go any chance that she could use to taunt her brother, All Aman could do was glare at her and secretly smile at her. Neither Dia nor Neha brought up that night at the function hall.

Dia at last caged her heart and threw the key away, She was happy that she did so since then Neha even found her laughing once or twice and she thought that it all had something to do with her brother. She forgot all about that night, it didn’t even occur to her to ask her mother; how she reached home?

Dia was unaware of the fire scorching right behind her; Aman was in love with Dia, this was an open secret and Thanks to Neha for that. She never imagined that this will cause a rift in their friendship; if she had even a faint idea of it she wouldn’t have done so.

Dia was surprised to see a paper stuck at her desk one day, she put away her book bag and slumped onto the desk, It read:
Stay away from Aman or else I know your little secret and I wouldn’t stop to bring it out.

Tears welled up in her eyes, she ignored the first part of the paper and she re-read the last line making sure she read it right.

Neha saw Dia crying as soon as she entered in the class room, she noticed that she was holding a crumpled paper in her hands and pried it off her from her grip. Her face turned pale when she what was written on it who would do such thing.

“Dia…Please don’t cry. Someone is just playing around. It may not be even for you.” Neha consoled wiping away her tears and holding her close.

“I know that you don’t want people to know about you, anyone who knows you would know that it wasn’t your fault and who cares about what people think?” Neha didn’t know what to say she was never the one to console people.

“You knew…?” Of course why wouldn’t she? It was all over the news and newspaper pasted a big photo of her on the hospital bed with headlines “Drunken teenagers go overboard…” They never wanted to know what really happened there, they just gave the story as they saw it stating her as a drunken teenager that got into a fight with her boyfriend and ended up on hospital bed. They needed news and they got it.

Her house was completely swarmed by reporters a few days until they got hot news to sale. Dia couldn’t blame them either, they believed in what they were told, the version of story carefully edited by Ishaan’s father; the minister.

“Let’s skip the class…”Neha tugged her and led her to the backyard of the cafeteria where she was sure would give her some privacy. She texted Aman to come there.

Dia was still sobbing remembering her past, she was wrong to believe that her past wouldn’t disturb her present; she will always be haunted by her past. She wished that one night never happened in her life.

“It’s not bad as it looks… I mean there are lots of girls who get drunk and fight with boyfriends.”

Dia stared at her in disbelief. “I’m not like them and I never was and that’s the problem, I don’t want people to see me for who I’m not. You don’t know what happened that night so don’t you dare tell me what it’s like…” she glared.

Neha flinched at her cold voice.

“You tell me what happened then…”Neha said pulling the chair close to her and hugging her.

“Ishaan and I were childhood friends and neighbours. Ishaan was two years older than me but we clicked together since we knew each other practically since our childhood. Ishaan lived with his grandparents since his father never wanted his child to be brought up in a political environment. His mother pampered him and being the only child, he got pretty much everything. He was always possessive about his belongings so was he about me. He never liked me being friendly with other guys. He told me so...” Dia sighed looking at her friend who was all ears.

Dia has just smiled whenever she heard him saying that, She had never had any other friends apart from him since she was shy and an introvert. It would’ve made a difference if she acted at that time.

“Ishaan started accusing me for being away from him since I joined plus2, I never denied it since I was busy with studies and wanted to get admission in a good college but I never thought that simple ignorance would ruin my life forever.” She saw Aman joined them.

“For months our relationship was complex, we quarrelled all the time, I would walk away from him but Ishaan’s good humour would always win me back to him…Days passed and Ishaan began to accuse me saying that I had someone in my life that’s why I was ignoring him. I stomped away from him and never spoke to him after that but when I secured good marks in plus2, I couldn’t help but call him and share my happiness with him. After all he was always there for me since we were kids.”

She should’ve never called back that idiot deserves the silent treatment… Neha thought.

“Ishaan called home and asked mom’s permission to take me out on a treat, Mom didn’t object since she knew how good friends we were. That night turned everything upside down, Ishaan spiked my drink thinking I would spit out the truth in stupor and one thing turned to other and before I knew it, I was laying in the dark alley, blood gushing out.”

“He must have called his father who took care of the things in a way that it didn’t affect his son’s life but he forgot that it would affect the life of a little innocent girl in the process.” She cried.

It was the first time that she ever shared her past with anyone, she felt kind of relieved when she did unburden her grief. Neha has been holding her hands all the while.

They sat until the lunch break and then headed back to their classes, Asha ran to them as soon as she saw them entering… Neha put her finger on her lips and Asha nodded and left them alone.

The rest of the day passed and Aman tried to figure out who wrote that letter, He had a faint idea of who it could be but he didn’t want to jump to conclusions. He needed a plan to make her confess that it was her doing.

“Who do you think it is?” Neha said slumping on to her couch as she saw her brother staring at the piece of paper that gave away Dia’s secret.

“I’m not sure…” Neha cut him off.

“Just tell me already…”she said.

“Who was the first one to arrive into your class today…”he asked.

“A couple of guys and Asha, Ria, Sanju…” She said

“You are not going to believe who it is until you see for yourself…” He smiled.
“We can’t sit around until she does what she said she will do…” she huffed.

“We are going to catch her in the crime scene…” He smirked and left her scowling.

Impressum

Texte: I'm sole owner of this story.
Bildmaterialien: I don't hold any rights over this picture, It's something I found ol and thanks to the amazing aritist for this beautiful piece of work
Tag der Veröffentlichung: 15.03.2012

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Widmung:
To all my classmates and friends from college. To my loving family and to all my friends of bookrix for their constant support