*08*

Hello, late much? Apologies. So let's not waste more time here comes the update.

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Fun. Yes fun was the word. Seeing Shravan working in lab was nothing but fun. And being his partner all I had to do was stand aside and watch. And of course professors never really cared about us as Shravan was there.

"Are you sure that you are 18?" I whispered when he was trying to put a particular wire to a particular jack point. His eyebrows furrowed for a second then again he concentrated on that wire.

"Shravannn..." this time I poked his shoulder to which he stiffened and finally decided to glare at me.

"What Suman?!"

"I am asking are you sure that you are 18?"

"Is it a joke?" he mumbled, as he turned towards the table.

"Arey...listen no..."

"What?! Suman please concentrate."

"You are very boring by the way."

"Thanks."

Though I was never a girl who had avoided studies but somehow when Shravan was around I never felt like studying. Watching Shravan like that was a constant reminder that no one could be better than him.

"Lovely." Mrs Sinha literally clapped, "You my boy...that's just amazing."

Confused I looked at Shravan who was looking to the professor as if she was saying something he already knew. "Thank you." He just mumbled looking around, his posture was stiff eyes half closed. I mentally rolled my eyes, yeh ladka kabhi nahin sudhrega.

"What was that?"

"What?"

"Shravan she was praising you right? And you..."

"I didn't ask her to do so." He just shrugged, "And the most important thing is, she is more worried about her dress than this." He pointed towards the table, "praise-shm raise."

"That's rude." He seemed a little more irritated than normal. "What happened to you?" I whispered again when he closed his eyes with frustration.

"Nothing."

"You and your nothings." I huffed in annoyance. Lab was over by then and we walked down the corridor which led us to our next class. I looked at him, his eyes were detached, and he was looking straight at where he was going. "Are you sure? Is everything alright?" I mumbled again.

To this he stopped just in front of the classroom door, "Why do you think that I am lying?"

"I am not saying you are Shravan. It's just...just I hate it when you close yourself behind this..." I pointed at his face, which was blank.

.

.

.

Nani. suddenly he scribbled in his notebook and slid it towards me. I turned towards him slightly hoping the professor wouldn't see us. They are...taking her...I mean...with them.

They...Who? I wrote back.

My parents.

Okay...So?

I don't want her to go.

Why?

It won't be good for her.

Why won't it be! She is staying alone there.

After that when he didn't write back and I knew he had gone back into his shell.

With this little exchange, one thing I was sure of, that Shravan was facing some major problems at his home front. He belonged to a wealthy family, but I actually never saw him or heard him talking about his parents like he did about his Nani. Whereas his parents were a big name. 'The Malhotras' as media used to tag them.

"So what's the problem?" I turned towards him as soon as the class got over.

"Nothing."

"Oh come on Shravan!"

"They are too busy for their own good. And if she stays with them I won't be able to meet her."

"Why? You can always go there and meet her."

"No."

Okay that's odd.

"Why though?"

"It's too complicated Suman. I ...I..."

"It's okay Shravan you don't have to say anything but always remember that you have a friend here, Okay?" I smiled wondering what it could be that the boy like him who was so confident, behave like this whenever he mentioned his parents.

~♤~

"Let's go somewhere!" Both of us were standing on the stairs of our hostel.

Shravan looked at me with an arched eyebrow "We always go to the bookstore Suman."

"I know...That's why I am saying let's go somewhere else."

"But where?"

"Anywhere but that book store."

"But Suman?! Suddenly? I thought you like it there."

Mentally I rolled my eyes, "yes Shravan I like it there but once in a while I don't like 'that' there."

"That?"

"Arghh...never mind. You coming or not?! Let's go and watch a movie then dinner and then we'll come back. What say?"

"Movie...dinner... are you asking me on a date Miss Tiwari?" I turned to look he was sporting his famous lopsided smile and a flicker of amusement crossed his face.

Not bad Shravan Malhotra and joking?!

"If you do me the honor, certainly it is." instantly his smile broke into a full blown grin and I liked that. Somehow stressed and sad Shravan was never a favourite of mine. I reciprocated with a big smile "poor girls. They are going to be all green."

"Girls? What girls?" he was confused to that I got more confused.

"Girls girls. Those girls who love you."

"Who loves me?" his eyes went so wide that his eyebrows hit his hairline.

"Not 'loves' it is 'love' plural you see, I am talking about those girls." I laughed looking at his expression.

"What nonsense?! And moreover I don't care about those girls I am only interested in ..." he stopped abruptly.

And he looked mortified.

"In...Shravan...Oh my god you like someone...you didn't even tell me?!" He looked truly embarrassed. His cheeks turned red along with his ears. Though I was enjoying but back of the mind Sam's words were replaying. Hoping he wouldn't say something that we would both regret I tried to change the topic, "okay...okay leave it...let's decide what to watch."

.

.

.

Our ill luck struck again, not a single new movie to watch. In all the cinema halls were running the same two week old some Akshay Kumar movie.

"So now?" Shravan looked at me from the screen of his mobile still scrolling down the page of some site that showed the name of the current cinemas.

Disappointed I shook my head, "I am not watching that film."

Suddenly he laced his fingers with mine and turned towards his room. I was too shocked to see him like that, holding my hand, something that Shravan never did.

"We are not going to your room." I blurted out without thinking and that made him stop in his tracks, embarrassed I bit my inner cheek, "I mean this side of the hostel is for boys, I can't..."

"I know Suman. It's just I am going there to take my laptop. And it's still not 5 yet. So there won't be any problems." I looked at my watch which read 4.15pm, so not breaking any law I accompanied him to his room and stood before his room's closed door.

"Wait here." he went into his room and came out holding his laptop in one hand and grabbed my hand in another, "Let's go."

"Where are we going?"

"Trust me and come." I rolled my eyes, Shravan and his secrets.

~♤~

"Wow!!!" was the first word that came out of my mouth involuntarily. We were standing on a wooden bridge that ended in the middle of a lake. Sun was ready to set, tinting sky with his last rays. Birds were returning to their nests with their combined cacophony but still nature managed to hold it's silence. "What is this? This is so beautiful."

"Picturesque isn't it?"

"Yes. But what are we doing here?" resting on the railing I turned to look at him when I heard a silvery laugh.

"We will be watching films."

"Here?" I looked around, it had become more darker but still illuminated.

They say it right. Nature has its own light.

He took out a blanket from his bag and spread it on the wooden floor of the bridge. Then he took out his laptop and a small torch. "Anything else you have in there?" I couldn't resist the urge to ask to which he smiled and shook his head.

"What are we watching?" I asked when sitting on the blanket when he sat beside me after clicking the start button on the laptop.

"La Boum."

"La what?" I was bewildered enough by the surroundings and now the name of the film hit me hard, "It's not English?!"

"French. 'La Boum' means 'ready for love'. Don't worry it has subtitles."

"But can't we watch something normal like Hindi or English?" I pleaded with a soft voice while mentally cursing the moment when I actually asked this nerd to watch a movie with me.

"Trust me Suman, you are going to love it."

I sighed and concentrated on the film. It's an old film but a story of a teenage girl and her love. There were sad, happy, humorous moments. Surprisingly I loved the film, though it was difficult to read the subtitles and watch the movie simultaneously.

"That was...good...really good. I didn't expect it to be this good." I laughed when the final credits rolled out.

"I told you." he smiled.

"But one thing...I noticed you didn't read the subtitles you were just enjoying the film. How?" I asked when he folded the lid of the laptop.

"Because I know French." he shrugged.

"You...know...French?!"

"Yes." he shrugged again, "Why?"

"Shravan how many languages do you know?"

To this he sighed, "Couple of."

"Exactly how many?"

"French, Latin and little bit of German and of course English and hindi."

"Are you serious? I mean...this is ...this is ridiculous."

He laughed looking at my confused state, "I didn't have much to do apart from this Suman."

"What do you mean?"

Suddenly his smiling lips turned into a grim line, "My parents...Suman...They..."

"Its okay Shravan you don't have to." I whispered looking at his pained face.

He sighed heavily, "I am just not comfortable talking about this Suman."

"You don't have to then. Achcha, teach me something..." he visibly relaxed, "like how do you say 'My name is Suman' in French?"

"Hmmm...if I say word to word meaning then 'My name is Suman' is 'Mon nom est Suman' but 'Je M'appelle' or 'I call myself' is more common." he smiled looking at my panicked face, "it sounds tougher Suman but with little practise you can speak fluently. See...there are certain rules..." he started and there it was, that familiar spark in his eyes.

And this was the Shravan I loved to see happy and smiling. The Shravan I know was someone who was a silent martyr he would never voice out his pain. But whatever was bothering him, the only way out was this...his knowledge, his poetry and his solitude.

"Shravan...Shravan..."

He stopped looking at me, totally disoriented, "What?"

"Bouncers. Not getting anything." I laughed.

"Oh sorry. Okay...I'll teach you some other time. We should get back to the hostel."

"Hmm. But you didn't tell me how did you find out about this place?" We stood up to return.

"Actually..."

Shravan couldn't finish the sentence when we saw a long forgotten face, "Finally..."

"Shekhar?!" Both of us said in unison. But mine was a gasp and Shravan was a threat.

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