His Dusk, Her Dawn

Ayush's POV (iii)

I glued the tiny pieces of next two pages and placed them on top of the first page.

"Why are you so selfless? Don't you know people take advantage of you if you are too naive? Not to forget Shree and Mahek. Why are you so concerned about him? Did your stubbornness grow as you grew up? Why do you want to make everything alright?"

I shook my head as I noticed the amount of hand written notes Sandhya had made for Nikhil.

"I am sure you were awake whole night to make these. And look at what Nikhil did."

I spent next two hours repairing the notes, completely forgetting about my assignments. When I was done and setting the notes in a folder, my phone rang. I picked up the call, and Nikhil's voice landed in my ears.

"Bro, did you know what happened today?" Nikhil asked.

What was he so excited about?

"Please tell me the gossip," I replied.

"Umm... you okay, Ayush? Did something happen?" he asked.

"No. Why?"

"You sound angry, that's why."

I inspected my voice before speaking and realised that I was indeed feeling a bit of anger towards Nikhil unknowingly. Maybe I became too emotional because of the notes.

"Yeah, sorry about that," I said. "What were you saying again?"

"Sandhya got slapped by Rashi. Man, the scene was huge. I don't know what Sandhya did this time, but Rashi looked pitiful. What do you think would have happened between them? And you know who Sandhya blamed for siding with Mahek?" Nikhil informed.

"Going by the way you are talking, it must be Ved," I said.

"Exactly. Bro, I just don't understand what Sandhya's thinking nowadays. What has happened to her? She keeps getting in troubles and fights with everyone."

"Are you worried about her?" I asked curiously.

Nikhil was silent for a minute before his voice crackled back into the speaker. "Ahahaha... Why would I be, man? I am just concerned about ourselves. I don't want to get involved into all this drama."

"Basically, you do not want to get involved with Sandhya," I corrected.

"Yeah... I mean you can say it like that..." Nikhil mumbled under his breath.

"And Shree also doesn't want her near his girlfriend, right?" I asked.

"Yup. I mean he is a fun loving person, but he is really hot-tempered too. I am not a fan of violence is all I am saying."

"Yeah, I get it. Thanks for the information. I will check up on Ved. See ya."

"Cool. Bye, bro."

I hung up the call and called Ved. He picked up my call instantly and asked me about my health. I asked him about the incident with Rashi and Shree, and he confirmed what Nikhil had told me.

"Ayush, what I am supposed to do with Sandy Pandy? Why doesn't she listen?" Ved grumbled.

"Why are you stressing yourself over her? Let her do what she wants," I said.

"If I let her, then this world wouldn't be in peace."

"Ved, do you worry about her?"

"I do what?" Ved asked in shock.

I kept my voice calm. "I asked if you worry about her."

Just like what had happened with Nikhil, Ved was silent after I asked him that question, but it looked like Ved's soul had left his body. Fortunately, his soul came back.